Which LED Headlights?

    Okay, before anyone get's on me - I search. And Searched. AND SEARCHED. And I Googled. And You-tube'd (Thanks Sam Owens!). And Amazon'd. And Ebay'd. And . . . . you get the idea.


    I figured out that the outside headlights are H3. And the center are H9. Which is the same as H8 and H11.


    I know we need Canbus capable LEDs. And needs to have the anti-flickering PCB.


    What I can't figure out is which LEDs are better. I'm not talking about which supplier/manufacturer, but what kind of LEDs?


    COB? ZES? Ribbon? 1 Side?, 2 Side?, 3 side?, 4 side?, Round? How many lumens is good? 6000? 8000? 20000? Fans vs Heatsinks? What's the difference between a $20 LED and a $100 LED?


    I know our supporting vendors offer quite a few sets. But there aren't enough specs listed to tell me exactly what I am getting. And I was able to track down the manufacturer of at least 1 set - and found them for 1/3rd the price. (Not 1/3'd off - 1/3rd the price - I could buy 3 sets for what our supplier was offering.)


    So, anyone got input?

    No, and I didn't spend nearly as much time as you put into trying to find out. For me, the selling point was a lifetime warranty from Brightest LED Headlights


    Are they perfect, nope, but they are good. I wish they had a farther throw via a bright, but part of that is the limitation on how Polaris engineered them.


    One of my winter projects is going to have something along these lines, figure out a "high beam" option to get a longer throw in addition to these lights.

    Yeah, I've found out that Polaris doesn't actually change the brightness of any of the bulbs to make the high/low beam. All they do is raise the center shutters - the light levels stay exactly the same. I've read about some people removing/modifying the shutters to get more light from the center.

    Nope, shutters in the center only. That's why it's an H9 bulb - that's not a High/Low bulb, only a single beam bulb. Stock Outside lights are H3 and also are single beam.


    If you do the Canadian conversion kits to add the 6 lights, those are actually high beam only (H4 I think) and don't come on until you switch to high beam.

    I got the Canadian conversion and removed my center lights. 6 lights across the front was too much for me. It also left a nice giant open hole right in front of my air filter. I wired them up so all 4 lights switch between low and high beams. I've tried 3 different sets of LEDs and none of them are any different from the others in terms of function and brightness regardless of price. All have been really bright BUT, they only throw like 6-8 feet in front of you. It's absolutely terrible. So bad that I now avoid driving at night. And yes, I made sure to properly level and aim them. Went through some dark ass road in Maggie near Blue Ridge and couldn't go more than 35mph because I couldn't see anything up ahead. They will be coming out this winter and be replaced with HIDs which was what I wanted to do first but I wanted to try the LEDs since there was less shit to install and hide like the ballasts I would need. Should have listened to my gut and gone HID. It was an expensive very time consuming lesson learned. There's a few people out there that swear by them and talk about how bright and far they throw but of the 3 I tried, the throw was absolutely garbage.



    ZZPerformance EST 2000 - Go Fast Not Broke

    FWIW - Many of the LED lights will cause static on the radio, especially when on AM. If that is a problem for you then you may wish to check them out for that issue.

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    2018 Slingshot SL

    Sunset Red

    Reading, PA 19606

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    Thanks Kyle and W3JNP.


    Yeah, I've heard about the radio static too. Seem to be on the ones without the anti-flickering module mostly. I've also got an aftermarket radio so we'll see what happens.


    Glad to hear about there not being much of a difference between the cheap vs expensive ones. I'm trying some "cheap" ones first that say they are canbus and anti-flickering capabile. They are supposed to arrive today so I'll install this weekend and see how they go. I also found some more expensive ones that seem to offer the same so I'm holding those to see how the cheap ones work first. Stay tuned.

    LEDs throw light fairly far, but lacks saturation. I too had LEDs and yanked them out quickly and went to 6 stock bulbs across and flipped the Canadian wiring to have them be on full time. Works great for me. Looks like garbage compared to those with HID or LED... but they function well.

    Joey | 2016.5 Base Black :BLACKSS:
    "Defensor Vindex" | "Born of Freedom" | "None Shall Pass" | "Deter. Defend. Respond." | "Supra Et Ultra" | "Valor Honor" | "Si Ego Certiorem Faciam... Mihi Tu Delendus Eris"


    "Dating a skinny chick is fun until you hit 110mph in the Slingshot and she flies out like a napkin... thumbsup.png" - 2W2X1

    Quote from 2W2X1

    LEDs throw light fairly far, but lacks saturation. I too had LEDs and yanked them out quickly and went to 6 stock bulbs across and flipped the Canadian wiring to have them be on full time. Works great for me. Looks like garbage compared to those with HID or LED... but they function well.

    I'm all about function over form.

    ZZPerformance EST 2000 - Go Fast Not Broke

    Quote from Kyle D

    I'm all about function over form.

    Same here. No bling or excessive lights on my SS. Just go fast and creature comforts.

    Joey | 2016.5 Base Black :BLACKSS:
    "Defensor Vindex" | "Born of Freedom" | "None Shall Pass" | "Deter. Defend. Respond." | "Supra Et Ultra" | "Valor Honor" | "Si Ego Certiorem Faciam... Mihi Tu Delendus Eris"


    "Dating a skinny chick is fun until you hit 110mph in the Slingshot and she flies out like a napkin... thumbsup.png" - 2W2X1

    Amazon (and presumably other sellers) carries adjustable beam led headlight bulbs. Here's a link to a specific type - https://smile.amazon.com/HIKAR…Adjustable/dp/B07GKPR452/. Just search for adjustable beam led headlight bulb and insert H3 or H9, as appropriate.

    Here's a pic from the listing -

    81k2aiyRjLL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

    I've been thinking about trying these since the adjustability should hopefully allow adjustment for max light down-road.

    BKL were these the ones made by Hikari? I just got some, I also am in the process of contacting Hella about the LED and Xenon 90mm lights that they make. Will keep you informed.

    Just a small town farmboy, handy with my hands and originally trained as a automotive technician. Lives in Swayzee Indiana.

    Quote from SlingByron

    BKL were these the ones made by Hikari? I just got some, I also am in the process of contacting Hella about the LED and Xenon 90mm lights that they make. Will keep you informed.

    Yep. I've been running the Slingmods 6-lite LED set since early 2016 in the stock headlight assemblies because the Hella HID-specific units are pretty expensive.

    Quote from BKL

    Amazon (and presumably other sellers) carries adjustable beam led headlight bulbs. Here's a link to a specific type - https://smile.amazon.com/HIKAR…Adjustable/dp/B07GKPR452/. Just search for adjustable beam led headlight bulb and insert H3 or H9, as appropriate.

    Here's a pic from the listing -

    81k2aiyRjLL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

    I've been thinking about trying these since the adjustability should hopefully allow adjustment for max light down-road.

    Very interested in seeing how these do for you!

    The smarter you get, the funnier I am.