H7 LED Review:
I reviewed the H7 "Lifetime" LED bulb against a OSRAM 55W halogen H7 bulb. Here are some photos and observations. These are solely opinions:
Pattern: The LED has a very focused pattern. The Halogen spreads light out more. The LED has far fewer hot spots in its output. For reference, hot spots are bad because your eyes focus on them and not on other thing. Much like looking at the sun, the areas that are not as bright tent to be "black" to our eyes. LED Wins.
Color: LED is around 6000k where as the halogen is at 4000k give or take. LED is lots of white. The Halogen therefore has more color depth. There are differing preferences, but in relation to the average human being's eyes Halogen wins.
Brightness: The LED is brighter at the point of light (up close). The further the comparative distance, the closer the two performed to each other. Because of its whiter output the LED appears to be brighter than the halogen. However...
Visibility: not to be confused with brightness, this is solely about which allows you to see better. Halogen wins by a hair (in my opinion). While the LED is brighter in a sense the halogen more light to the outside. It's extra color depth illuminates more objects and is better received by the eye. After staring at both for about 30 minutes, the LED was somewhat straining to my eye compared to the halogen. It tried to makeup for its loss of color depth with brightness intensity.
Size: This is where the true problem exists for the LED. I'll start with the back. The back actually has a cooling fan on it, which extends the bulb about 1.5" longer than the halogen does. On the Golf IV lights I tested them on this meant that the bulb did not clear the rear cover. Modification would be needed. I've worked on many lights and I would say that the bulb would not clear 60% of the rear covers without modifications. It would be very model particular.
The front of the bulb is also a huge issue. It was too long. Reflector headlights have a cap (don't know what else to call it) that sticks out into the open area of the headlight and is used to limit where light gets spread across the reflector. On the Golf IV, the LED bulb was longer than the cap, which meant that I had to take the cap out. This was an issue because the same metal part that held the cap on also doubles as the bulb seat housing and clip. I solved that by using pliers to remove that cap, but that meant that light was free to shine wherever. Lots and lots of foreground light and glare.
Bulb itself: not at all conducive to being clipped down. The irregular shape of the bulb combined with the large fan/heat sink on the back meant that there was no way to retain the bulb using the clip....you'd have to come up with something else to hold it down. I would see this being an issue an a larger majority of headlight applications.
Other Parts: There is also a ballast like device that comes with it. It should fit fine in the MK4 housings. The MK5 and VI housings it might be tight. I would guess that you'd have to relocate those outside the headlight.
Availability: The LED is online only. Halogen is at every auto parts and bix box store in America.
MKV and VI +: These bulbs will require the use of a resistor/error eliminator. Otherwise the car will sense a bulb out and shut down the circuit. LED lights have little resistance compared to halogens. This set did not come with bulb error cancelers.
Price: LED kits range from $70-120 depending on which ebay seller you get it from.
Conclusion: LEDs have come a long way, but they are not there yet. I reviewed these because I was interested in carrying them, but after having them in hand I am not likely to do so given the cons against the pros, mainly in the install and size areas. In particular applications I could see them being okay. For the average person looking for a swap though they might be a pain and I would think that a good pair of performance halogens would be a better bet.
LED:
Halogen 55W OSRAM:
