Pete Trasborg
Brand Manager, Jp
Well, it's that time of year. The days have been getting shorter, and now you're either driving to work in the dark, heading home in the dark, or wheeling in the dark more than normal.
It's no secret the stock headlights on our Jeeps are horrible. Well, they work fine for on-road, in-town driving, but once you get farther from civilization, they just don't cut it. So we're left wanting something better.
We've bought aftermarket headlights in the past with H4 bulbs, sealed beam replacements that were supposed to be brighter, or have different colors. It seems that we only like one out of every two pairs we've tried over the years.
This year, like so many times in the past when the leaves start turning, we decided to get ahold of a bunch of lights and test them. From all the headlights we've replaced in the past, here are the things we didn't like:
Pattern: Does it put way too much light off to the left or right? Does all the light go to the ground right in front of the front bumper? Does it have decent range in both high- and low-beam modes? Rating system: a 1 will mean there's almost no usable light where it needs to be, and a 10 will indicate the light almost seems to know where you need to look at all times.
Light output: In other words, is the thing brighter than the stockers? This is largely a function of the bulb, and most of the lights we received came with them. We noted the wattages of the as-shipped bulb (all were stock except the Fatboy). But we aren't just talking wattage numbers here-we're talking about how bright the light appears to be. Rating system: a 5 will represent the brightness of the stock lights, so a 4 to 1 rating will mean it's progressively dimmer. A rating of 6 to 10 will indicate the light getting progressively brighter than stock.
Ease of installation: Again, from past experience, sometimes the headlight housing is physically larger or smaller, resulting in having to bend brackets or use weatherstripping to hold it tight. Rating system: a 1 will mean we had to use a hammer and then duct tape it in to get numbers for the other ratings, and a 10 will mean it fits as well or better than stock with no modifications needed.
DOT compliance: Some of you will care about this one and some couldn't care less. The reason we include it is that in some states, the state inspection people actually check the function of lights and make sure they're DOT compliant if they look to be aftermarket. What that means is that in some states, non-DOT compliance means you fail inspection, and in some cases, can't re-register your Jeep. Also, technically, it's illegal to run the non-DOT lights on the highway. We checked the light bulb and the headlight assembly for a DOT stamp. With that information, you can decide if The Man will have a problem with the lights.
With those criteria in mind, we did what we've done so many times in the past: picked up the 4 Wheel Drive Hardware catalog and went looking for 7-inch, round headlights. This time, though, we ordered six different pairs of headlights for testing and comparison purposes, in everything from mild to not so mild. There aren't any lights in the 4 Wheel Drive Hardware catalog that are likely to result in talking to Johnny Law, so any of them could be considered a viable replacement.
We're happy to say that headlight conversions have come a long, long way since even a few years ago. All the kits we tested were made of glass (which won't warp like some plastic kits), they fit without having to bend any headlight buckets or bulb connections, and the seals all seemed better than even some lights we bought a few years ago.
Part number: 0114950We got the regular, nondomed, nonxenon kit. There's also a classic look that features a near-exact replica of the stock Sylvania bulb. We already had a set of stock bulbs, so we skipped the classic look that's supposed to have the same light pattern this unit has.
Pattern: 6 (high beam), 6 (low beam)
Light output: 7
Ease of installation: 9 (as tested), 5 (if installed to work correctly)
Installation notes: While the lights installed just fine, after the retaining rings were tightened down, the lights were still loose in their mounts. The rim of the housing isn't the right thickness.
DOT compliance: While there are official-looking markings on the lens of the headlight assembly, there's no specific DOT or SAE marking. The bulb isn't marked either.
Testing notes: A remarkable seal adorns the back of this light, with three slots for the three terminals on the back of the bulb, rather than just a circular hole for the entire back of the bulb.
The low beams have a decent horizontal cutoff, but there's this goofy triangle toward the right side of the beam that's supposed to light up the side of the road. However, in use, they don't light up the side of the road as well as some of the others we tested. When we adjusted them out so they lit the side of the road better, there was a dim spot in the center of the pattern.
As well-developed as the low beams were, the high beams were the exact opposite-we'd liken the pattern to a sock stuffed with potatoes. Don't get us wrong, they light up the road in front of the Jeep just fine, but like the low beams, don't do much for the sides of the road. These wouldn't be the lights for curvy mountain roads, but if you're bombing down straight or mostly straight fire trails, they get the light out there.
Whether on high or low beams, when hitting bumps, the looseness of the housings became evident by the light patterns vibrating as we were driving down the road. Perhaps with some weatherstripping or something, the lights would be tight enough in the TJ's housings to not vibrate.
Part number: 01119950XWe went ahead and got the quad bar lights; we really liked the look of them when they were installed. As a bonus, they come with the mounting ears attached. No more messing with the bulb and the retaining ring while messing with the screwdriver and tiny screws. We got these in the Hyper White style and then swapped bulbs from one set of Delta lights to the other for the full Delta light experience.
Pattern: 6 (high beam), 6 (low beam)
Light output: 7
Ease of installation: 3
Installation notes: We thought these lights were going to be a treat to install because the retaining ring is built-in. However, once we got down to it, the holes in the built-in ring don't align with the holes in any of the Jeeps we tried them on. We ended up just cross-threading the screws in for testing. Also, the black ring looks cool around the outside of the light, but on our '01 test mule, it interfered with the pretty, chrome, plastic-trim rings that came on the Jeep. Still, we didn't have to drill, cut, or hammer anything, so it could have technically been worse.
DOT compliance: While there are official-looking markings on the lens of the headlight assembly, there's no specific DOT or SAE marking. The bulb isn't marked either.
Testing notes: Another remarkable seal adorns the back of this light, with three slots for the three terminals on the back of the bulb. However, the "city light" doesn't seal very tightly to the housing, which might cause moisture seepage.
We had the same impressions we had with the Delta xenon lights on both high and low beams as far as pattern is concerned. As for the Hyper White bulbs, yep, they are whiter. However, we didn't notice an increase in light output thanks to them-just whiter light than the xenon bulbs. They certainly pick up reflectors down the road, which we could see being useful in rainy or snowy conditions.
Overall, we really liked the appearance of these lights, but the middle-of-the-road pattern and problems with installation meant we were left with a real love/hate feeling toward them at the end of testing.
Part number: 70477For some reason, we remember trying these years ago, and they were sealed beams. This time around, they have a totally stock appearance-take an H4 bulb and put out a stock-shaped pattern (with a little more range).
Pattern: 9 (high beam), 9 (low beam)
Light output: 7
Ease of installation: 10
Installation notes: Slam-dunk install. They go in just like the stock lights do, with no drama at all.
DOT compliance: The literature included (read: the box) states they are DOT compliant, and the lens of the headlight assembly bears this out with DOT and SAE stampings. However, the bulb is not stamped as DOT.
Testing notes: On low beam, they aren't as wide as the In-Pro Car lights, but we still feel they light up the road just like we needed. They shine out to about five lanes (if we're in the center lane), and they shine pretty far without annoying oncoming traffic or people in front of our lifted Jeep. The solid horizontal cutoff of the pattern makes sure of that.
On high beam, there's a decent cone shape of light emanating from these things that will light up far down the road, but unlike many of the other lights, the area not spotlighted by the cone isn't left in the dark. There's still enough light right in front of the Jeep and off to the sides of the road to feel confident in not missing anything-even in high beam.
All in all, we really liked these lights. The appearance is, of course, boring. We went into the testing not really seeing why someone would pay $74, plus shipping, for stock-looking lights. Well, one reason could be they probably put out the best pattern of the bunch.
However, we would stuff them with the Fatboy bulbs, some high-wattage Hyper White bulbs, or snag some HID conversion somewhere for the best in brightness and the best pattern.
Part number: 5089925Rampage Products is new to the headlight game, and the company claims a simple 10-minute installation and 60 percent more luminescence than the stock headlights.
Pattern: 8 (high beam), 6 (low beam)
Light output: 6
Ease of installation: 10
Installation notes: Installation was really easy. In fact, these housings are perhaps a little (1/8-inch or so) smaller than the stock bulbs. When we went to bolt them in, there was some slop between the headlight housing and the metal cage that retains it in the Jeep. Once it was tightened down, we didn't have any problems with it.
DOT compliance: There are DOT and SAE markings on the lens of the housing, however, the bulb doesn't have any DOT stampings.
Testing notes: The rubber seal on the back of this bulb is very supple, almost more like a silicone dive mask than a rubber seal. Also, it somehow seems to click on the back of the housing. However, it has only a round hole for the bulb and some kind of sticker over a hole in the back of the reflector [Editor's note: The company says it's for moisture to escape], both of which could cause moisture intrusion. This is a very stout unit, with more mass than any of the other lights we tested.
Stout as they may be-partly due to the aluminum reflector and glass lens combination-while adjusting these lights, we noticed a goofy offset rectangle pattern on the low beam. We set the brighter part of the rectangle at our nominal 40-inch measurement for our lifted TJ and ran them.
After we dialed them in and noted the odd bright rectangles in the upper-right corner of the pattern, there were really no other quirks to mention. The low beam isn't nearly seven lanes wide, it's more like four lanes or so, which was kind of a bummer because we liked the wider coverage of some of the other lights.
High beam is where these lights really shine. With the narrower pattern, a lot of light is put down the road, and these lights end up lighting things up at a great distance. Also, the transition between low and high beams has an adequate amount of overlap, so while the highs shine far down the road, you can still see what's right in front of the Jeep just fine.
Part number: 920These are the only lights we tested that don't include the bulbs in the price. We tested them with some of the normal H4 bulbs from some of the other kits, but also ordered a set of the IPF X51 Fatboys for the high-end IPF setup (see "Look at Those Bulbs!" sidebar).
Pattern: 8 (high beam), 7 (low beam)
Light output: 7
Ease of installation: 9
Installation notes: The installation of the actual headlight housings went off without a hitch. Just like changing a stock headlight, any monkey could do this.
However, the part where our ham-fistedness came into play was loading the bulbs into the housings. Let's just say if it wasn't for computers, this author would be out of a job. Apparently, some of us lack the hand-eye coordination to install bulbs and not paw the glass, leaving oil on the glass and possibly causing premature failure.
DOT compliance: Neither the IPF housing nor the Fatboy bulbs are stamped with DOT or SAE markings. They're not DOT.
Testing notes: There's a remarkable seal on the back of the light that should keep moisture out quite well. It fits tightly to the glass and the base of the bulb. With stock-wattage bulbs, they were almost indistinguishable from the stock lights, save for the horizontal cutoff.
The high beam was decent, but there were two areas left to be desired. It kicked out light in the pattern of Saturn. Picture the planet with its ring, or rings, from the side. The planet is the conical-shaped beam of light. The ring is the horizontal beam of light we got right at the horizon. What we didn't like was that immediately under the ring was dark, with almost no light output to that area, sometimes leaving the edge and shoulder of the road in the dark.
We liked the low-beam pattern on these lights. It shined just as deep as the Hellas did, but with 80 watts, we would've expected better distance than we got out of them. We took the liberty of beating up on these lights more than the others. In the past, it has been our experience that the higher wattage the bulb, the more susceptible it is to burnout caused by vibrations. We weren't able to kill the Fatboys in the week we had them in the Jeep.
Part number: CW7007We opted to get the tri-bar-style, diamond-cut bulb. All the light housings use the same reflector; the differences being: with tri-bar, without tri-bar, or tri-bar with skull.
Pattern: 6 (high beam), 9 (low beam)
Light output: 7
Ease of installation: 10
Installation notes: These headlights installed just like the stock ones. With the same size and shape as the stock lights, there were no problems in installation at all.
DOT compliance: Neither the bulb nor the housing are DOT. If they are, it's a well-kept secret-no stamp or marking was seen.
Testing notes: There's a distinct horizontal cutoff on the top of the low-beam pattern on these lights. The high beams have a distinct cutoff on the lower edge of the beam. The cutoffs overlap by roughly 5-6 inches at 30 feet. We adjusted the low beams for 38-40 inches on the top of that horizontal cutoff. On low beam, it worked well and only resulted in getting flashed once or twice on a longish drive on a dark two-lane road.
Unfortunately, these lights need to come down a bit for the high beams to be really effective. At the 40-inch mark, the high beams were just too high. But when we lowered the lights to where the high beams were dead on (the lower edge of the beam just on the road ahead), the low beams ended up just over 30 inches at that same 30-foot mark. That made the low beams just a skosh too low to be usable at highway speeds.
There might be a happy medium for someone who uses both high and low beams frequently, but for us, we'll stick to that 38-40-inch mark.
Also, in the middle lane of a five-lane highway, we were able to light up both shoulders well. They would probably be able to do so on a seven-lane highway too. The width of the pattern is really usable. There isn't a deer or cop lurking on the shoulder that we won't see with these.
The IPF 7-inch, round conversion lights are the only ones whose price didn't include bulbs. Rather than order another set of 55-watt low-beam/60-watt high-beam bulbs, we decided to try out the IPF X51 Fatboy bulbs. Sure, the name isn't really politically correct, but it does describe the bulbs well.
Like the fat kid that got hazed in school, these bulbs are big down low. They're an 80-watt low beam with a regular 60-watt high beam. The literature claims they're equivalent to a 190-watt low beam/150-watt high beam.
At first glance, we were sure we had read that wrong. The low beam is a higher wattage than the high beam? Yep, it is indeed.
Then we got to thinking that they might be onto something. We use our low beams all the time. About the only time we use high beams is at speed off-road. So maybe having more usable light for 98 percent of our usage is a good thing.
We put them in the IPF housings thinking for sure we were going to get pulled over and hassled by The Man. We adjusted the lights just like the other five pairs with the normal-wattage bulbs, and were weren't even ticketed for obnoxious lights and didn't get high-beamed by oncoming traffic once.
As for light output, yeah these things kick butt. Having 25 watts more power than other bulbs on low beam really does matter. Of course, the extra wattage might mean that your stock Jeep wiring is screaming in agony, but we didn't pop a fuse or melt a connector with these like we have in the past with higher-wattage bulbs.
