Headlights: Osram LEDriving vs. Ed's Replica HID

For those who opted for Osram LEDriving headlights, I'm guessing your weren't able to personally back-to-back compare them to Ed's Replicas HIDs in terms of performance (beam pattern, cutoff line, reach, etc.) but did you come across any online discussions that helped you decide on the Osrams?

I know the theoretical comparisons of color temperature, installation ease, perceived quality, cost, etc., but I'm really more looking for performance comparison data, which I'm guessing just isn't out there yet.

I doubt there will be honest comparisons to previous gen headlights. I would say buy what has the least issues and you like the styling of the most. Then buy some headlight protection film as generally aftermarket headlights have poor clear coats on them (including the ones I got from Ed that started to peel after 6-8 months of every few weeks getting washed by a pressure washer).


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OSRAM makes a set for the VII too: https://www.osram.com/ecat/LEDrivin...g/com/en/GPS01_3113435/PP_EUROPE_Europe_eCat/

Frankly? I'd go with OSRAM. You know they're quality and have ECE certification.

There's a long thread about these lights on the GolfMk7 forum. I don't think you'll find the direct comparisons you are looking for but they are certified in Europe which suggests a minimum level of quality. In my experience Osram makes quality products and I don't think these headlights are any different. Been running them for at least 6 months now. Never once had a flicker or issue of any kind. I have also not seen any condensation but I'm in Los Angeles and the car doesn't see much rain, general humidity or significant temperature swings. I go through a touchless car wash once a week though. The cutoff is clean and although it looks high against my garage wall I have yet to be flashed.

Coming from the halogens it's as close to a literal night and day difference as I could ask for. I don't regret a single thing about getting them. And that includes my misadventure with a deadbeat seller in my fool's errand to save $150 that involved a 3-month PayPal dispute.

Long story long for those who are bored, haha... seller, from France, sent a box and (in my opinion) purposefully didn't include a street number in the shipping address, which should've been copied directly from PayPal. Fortunately I had set up text updates for tracking and I saw when it got to my local post office and was marked undeliverable, to be returned to sender. PayPal policy is that if the recipient of the shipment fails to pick it up their right to a refund is waived. I went to the post office the day before they sent it back and picked it up, only to have received a box with a single broken halogen headlight in it.

Contacted the seller via email, PayPal, and the forums and was told their postman picked up the wrong box. After promising to send me my headlights they naturally stopped responding to all communications though they were still active on the forums. Opened a PayPal claim and included pictures of the literal trash I have been sent. Still I was told that I needed to send it back to France to get my refund, on my dime, within 14 days and including delivery confirmation. So I coughed up the money for expedited shipping of a relatively large box of garbage to France.

The seller never went to their local post office to pick up this box and on three occasions PayPal closed the dispute in the seller's favor stating that I never returned the "goods" to them there was never a delivery confirmation. After elevating my case 5ish times it was finally closed in my favor and I got the refund of what I initially paid, which equated to taking a $100 loss on shipping trash across the Atlantic.

By this time I had already ordered and received my Osrams from an actual vendor, which I should have done in the first place. Still worth it, lol.

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I’ve owned lights from BEC in the past and they weren’t that great. I have the Osram lights now and they’re amazing, but sadly I’ll be selling them this week. My daughter’s Golf was totaled and insurance repaired the car a few weeks ago with brand new Osram lights. We started having issues with the right wheel hitting the fender liner when turned to the right and found a bent control arm and bad steering rack which put the repair cost over the threshold of totaling the car. I’ll be removing the lights from the car tomorrow and listing them for sale. I also added Lamin-X film to the lights to protect them. If you’re interested let me know. They were used for about a week before the car went back to the shop. I’m buying another Golf TDI tomorrow but it has the bi-xenon lights and the Osram lights aren’t compatible with the harness.

Thanks, Cuzoe and Barry. Very helpful!

i'd honestly try upgraded halogen bulbs "silverstar ultras" (same company as osram BTW) or some of thoes rallye night breakers or what not, before dropping money on aftermarket projectors assemblies.

Ed does have crazy stupid black friday sales right now, which begs the question if he knows his quality has tanked or if the mk7 market is drying up and is willing to take it off the top to sell more (BTW you can reach out to him and pay him the same dollar amount in CAD as if you'd pay him in USD)

740GLE said:

i'd honestly try upgraded halogen bulbs "silverstar ultras" (same company as osram BTW) or some of thoes rallye night breakers or what not, before dropping money on aftermarket projectors assemblies.

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BTDT and they are a waste of money, albeit a small one. Barely noticeable difference.

Looking to upgrade from the pathetic oem halogen headlights in my new to me 2015 GSW SEL TDI. I looked at the BEC HID conversion and the OSRAM LED at the link above. The OSRAM LED states not for left hand drive/US. Why would that be and can i assume this is generally ignored?



How durable is the lens material on the BEC and OSRAM products? Are there any conversion kits with glass lens that any of you are aware of?


Curious to find out what the lumen ratings are for the above products. Plenty of info on color ratings but nothing on actual lumens.

Glass went away in what the late 90's?

Best bet it a protective film to prevent oxidation/impact, prob the best to install before they go in the car.

Ya, glass lenses went away last century, however, i recall partaking in a group buy several years ago to upgrade to glass lense units on my 03 ALH. Thought maybe there may be some custom upgrades out there. Thanks for the suggestions.

Mark

brew1 said:

The OSRAM LED states not for left hand drive/US. Why would that be and can i assume this is generally ignored?

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This is all I see on the OSRAM site:

This product is not suitable for left-hand traffic.
These products are not for sale in the US.

I am ignoring these. We have right hand traffic here, like Europe.
I bet they are not for sale here due to the cost of regulatory certification.
I have used a lot of European lights in the past on Mk2 VWs.
Back in the 80s these lights were glass, and round, and not very aero.

BarryT82 said:

I’ve owned lights from BEC in the past and they weren’t that great. I have the Osram lights now and they’re amazing, but sadly I’ll be selling them this week. My daughter’s Golf was totaled and insurance repaired the car a few weeks ago with brand new Osram lights. We started having issues with the right wheel hitting the fender liner when turned to the right and found a bent control arm and bad steering rack which put the repair cost over the threshold of totaling the car. I’ll be removing the lights from the car tomorrow and listing them for sale. I also added Lamin-X film to the lights to protect them. If you’re interested let me know. They were used for about a week before the car went back to the shop. I’m buying another Golf TDI tomorrow but it has the bi-xenon lights and the Osram lights aren’t compatible with the harness.

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You wouldn't by chance still have them for sale? Just curious about your price and if they got any damage from the accident.

The Osrams are not certified in the US. I'm not aware of any aftermarket headlights that are. They are not suitable for right hand drive vehicles (left side traffic). They are suitable for a left hand drive vehicles, right hand traffic like in the states. Once installed you can see the beam pattern has the uptick on the right side for street signs.

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StL2.5 said:

You wouldn't by chance still have them for sale? Just curious about your price and if they got any damage from the accident.

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No, he would not. ;-)

jverheul said:

No, he would not. ;-)

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Did you get them installed?

jverheul said:

This is all I see on the OSRAM site:

This product is not suitable for left-hand traffic.
These products are not for sale in the US.

I am ignoring these. We have right hand traffic here, like Europe.
I bet they are not for sale here due to the cost of regulatory certification.
I have used a lot of European lights in the past on Mk2 VWs.
Back in the 80s these lights were glass, and round, and not very aero.

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I went to Germany over the summer and was told that if I drive into a country that drives on the opposite side of the road that I have to apply a film to the headlights. I’m assuming that it changes the cutoff so it doesn’t blind oncoming traffic. The driver’s side light on cars driven on the right side is aimed lower to prevent this.

I am considering some kind of improvements as well, driving on the highway at night with the low beams is pretty sorry, anything over about 50 MPH and you are overdriving the stock headlights. I found this interesting article about the 3 kinds of headlights, according to the testing results halogen is still a better choice in many cases. https://www.consumerreports.org/hea...-be-brighter-but-often-lack-clear-advantages/

BarryT82 said:

Did you get them installed?

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Why yes, I have.

I need to do some aiming as the right one is a hair high. I am guessing that is the big threaded color at the forward bolt? First impression: Light from these is so uniform and powerful. They have a very well designed optic in my book. I'd actually like a lower color temperature for color rendering, but I think I will get used to 6500k. Its not too bluish.

jverheul said:

Why yes, I have.
I need to do some aiming as the right one is a hair high. I am guessing that is the big threaded color at the forward bolt? First impression: Light from these is so uniform and powerful. They have a very well designed optic in my book. I'd actually like a lower color temperature for color rendering, but I think I will get used to 6500k. Its not too bluish.
I think the only blinker you get is the sequenced strip across the bottom, but I have not looked to see what that is like in the dark. Glad I have mirror blinkers too.

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If you look at the top of the headlights you’ll see two adjustments one shows L& R with arrows and the other shows U&D with arrows. Use a screwdriver to turn the adjustment screws. They do have dynamic blinkers. You can purchase matching dynamic blinkers for the headlights. I have a new set of smoked lights sitting in my garage.

My misgivings about the blinkers were unjustified. I had just had a glance at them from above, not from the vantage point of another driver. They look pretty good once you walk away from the car.

Do you mean matching dynamic blinkers for the mirrors? That might be cool.

I have dynamic blinkers all around including the mirrors. The sweep of the mirrors and the Osrams match up almost perfectly, much to my surprise, but it looks pretty sweet reflecting off the car in front of me in the turning lanes.

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Cuzoe said:

I have dynamic blinkers all around including the mirrors. The sweep of the mirrors and the Osrams match up almost perfectly, much to my surprise, but it looks pretty sweet reflecting off the car in front of me in the turning lanes.

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Lol I have dynamics in my mirrors as well as my Ed’s headlights and they do match pretty much perfectly from what I can tell. Tis nice to watch the reflection. And people from time to time make a double take


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jverheul said:

My misgivings about the blinkers were unjustified. I had just had a glance at them from above, not from the vantage point of another driver. They look pretty good once you walk away from the car.

Do you mean matching dynamic blinkers for the mirrors? That might be cool.

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They do match up with the motion. They’re smoked lenses. I did the power folding mirror mod and bought a set of them. The set that I have are new in the package.