Review of plug and play LED upgrades: low beam (LasFit H7 G2 Pro) and High Beam (LasFit VW-01)

tikal

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Apr 18, 2001
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Southeast Texas
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2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
That looks really good. They cheaped out on NMS Passat by having it share 1 light for both turn signal, brake light, and night light. No wonder NMS Passat cost a fraction of EU B7. My 2018 328d has a separate turn LED, but for US market, it is all red. It is interesting that when emergency flashers are on and you brake, the only thing that shows others you're braking is the middle light strip while outer are blinking. Dumbest thing to share same light. I feel US should switch to ambers for turn and be a separate bulb from the brake and ambient lighting
Exactly. For safety reasons first I do not understand all the tail lights being red. Regarding automobile designs, certain things really stand out as dumb in the US (maybe also in Canada but I am not sure). Sorry to be blunt.
 

Nuje

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Island near Vancouver
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2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
The idea to swap out the red turn indicator and make it amber LED actually came from someone here doing the same thing on a NMS Passat (although it took a lot more work on the Passat than on my GSW).
 

berks_tom

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Jan 23, 2006
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West Chester, PA
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2013 Passat TDI SEL
After reading this thread, I bought and installed a set of the LasFit H7 high beams. The amount of light you get from these compared to the regular bulbs is absolutely amazing. As stated by others, the toughest part is getting the bulbs to latch in place.

Many thanks to eugene89us for posting the photos of his installation.
 

tikal

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Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
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2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
Hello everyone, I got the LasFit low beams (H7 G2 Pro) via USPS directly from the company on March 29. The packaging and the bulbs were in good shape. I did some reading and watching a couple of videos and I armed myself with some additional patience to make the install successful last night! There was a little thought in the back of my mind that maybe I did not do it correctly because of the awkwardness of the installation and so forth (I used nitrile gloves). Definitively give yourself the time and space to install these LED bulbs so you get the least amount of stress.

I left the original dust covers off. They are too tight in my view for the fans to to their job properly. I guess the recommendation in this thread is to buy the generic 75 mm cap dust covers, right?

Also the instructions that came with the packaging are from the previous design with the cables, not this one (minor issue in my view).

So, I turned on the car and no error lights on the dashboard at start up, going from off to Auto and the On setting! (y) Everything good so far! No doubt the 2015 Passat now has a new set of powerful eyes. So powerful that when I put the high beams on my test drive I thought they are malfunctioning :D

If these low beams last for some years (maybe five or more) they will become one of the better $100 spent in all my TDI ownership since 2002!!!

Thank you very much to the OP and all who contributed to this thread. This is a safety issue that we need all to pay attention to!
 

eugene89us

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2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI SEL Premium
I would definitely get the 75mm dome covers. They are pretty cheap on Amazon and they create a very nice seal. The extra space is a must for better cooling.



I am so happy to hear they work flawlessly. That has been my experience with them. Cannot comment on longevity, since my experience started with the beginning of the thread. So far so good though
 

tikal

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Southeast Texas
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2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
Thank you eugene89us. Just ordered the dome covers from Amazon. Perhaps one can make some small holes in them to provide additional air flow and minimal dust intrusion.
 

eugene89us

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Mar 17, 2014
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Southern USA
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2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI SEL Premium
I reckon you could. In Mississippi, we have so much pollen, that I would probably caution against opening it up to elements. If you are in a relatively clean environment, it may help. But my decision was to maximize cleanliness inside over longevity of the light, since the light is easier to replace and the dome covers provide great bit of extra space
 

740GLE

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NH
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2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
i believe the headlight enclosures have enough other openings (how else do spiders get in?) I wouldn't want to add anything to the dust covers. Seeing the fans "should" work by moving air around the entire enclosure, it'll spread the heat around more than stock halogens
 

Tom in PT

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Twilight Zone, WA State
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2005 Passat sedan - SOLD; 2013 Passat DSG; both purchased new
I just ordered the LasFit H7 G2 pro low beams direct from the company for my '13 and am getting bulb out warnings for both left and right bulbs, which goes away after I turn the headlight switch to ON. Kind of annoying but I will live with it. I am keeping the dust covers on.
The light output is fantastic improvement over the stock headlight bulbs. I had hated the headlights since day one and wished I had done this mod years ago.
 

eugene89us

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Mar 17, 2014
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Southern USA
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2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI SEL Premium
Good evening, everyone, got another iteration of LasFit's prototype for rear blinker/tail/brake light. Initially, I posted about L1156 light that produced brighter LED than OE halogens, but was not really comparable to true factory LED brightness. Well, the new prototype, named T1156R fixes that problem. It does it so well that it makes adjacent light on the trunk lid to look so dim in comparison. See for yourselves. I am sure once all testing is done, LasFit should release these for purchase. Another great alternative and certainly improves safety, as these are MUCH easier to be seen:

First is the photo of the bulb in the housing. Lots of LED modules:


Second, lights installed during the day. Pardon the garage mess. The edge lights are the LEDs, the trunk lid lights still contain OE halogens:


You can tell the difference in brightness even in daytime:


And finally, compare the Passat with LEDs to my other ride with factory OEM LEDs:
 

eugene89us

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Mar 17, 2014
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Southern USA
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2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI SEL Premium
Here are a couple of videos with these installed. First, during the evening hours:

And here is the comparison of two cars at night, my apologies to the neighbors that probably think I am crazy:
 

watatrp

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Joined
Feb 29, 2008
Location
South Bend, IN
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04 Jetta tdi (gone) 2013 Passat SEL TDI
Good evening, everyone, got another iteration of LasFit's prototype for rear blinker/tail/brake light. Initially, I posted about L1156 light that produced brighter LED than OE halogens, but was not really comparable to true factory LED brightness. Well, the new prototype, named T1156R fixes that problem. It does it so well that it makes adjacent light on the trunk lid to look so dim in comparison. See for yourselves. I am sure once all testing is done, LasFit should release these for purchase. Another great alternative and certainly improves safety, as these are MUCH easier to be seen:

First is the photo of the bulb in the housing. Lots of LED modules:


Second, lights installed during the day. Pardon the garage mess. The edge lights are the LEDs, the trunk lid lights still contain OE halogens:


You can tell the difference in brightness even in daytime:


And finally, compare the Passat with LEDs to my other ride with factory OEM LEDs:
Please let us know if you get notification when these are available to the public.
 

eugene89us

Veteran Member
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Mar 17, 2014
Location
Southern USA
TDI
2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI SEL Premium
I just ordered the LasFit H7 G2 pro low beams direct from the company for my '13 and am getting bulb out warnings for both left and right bulbs, which goes away after I turn the headlight switch to ON. Kind of annoying but I will live with it. I am keeping the dust covers on.
The light output is fantastic improvement over the stock headlight bulbs. I had hated the headlights since day one and wished I had done this mod years ago.
@Tom in PT contact LasFit customer service. They will get back with you overnight, I think their main office is overseas. They will help to figure out why you get the bulb out warning. I still have not identified the reason why some have the warning and others don't. My 2014 should be identical to your 2013. Not sure of your trim, mine is SEL and I always keep the light switch on "AUTO". When it is in OFF mode, the car does perform the "cold" checks - you see the low beam flash 3 times (I think), but it still passes with no error. OTOH, when in auto, it automatically turns the lights on in dark places so I never see the "cold check". It seems same thing happens with 2015, some have no errors while other do. I wonder if it may be trim level differences? Do you have SEL or a lower trim? Maybe that has something to do with it. I would still urge to get in touch with them, they stand by their product. And they may come up with variants that do not produce this error. After all, they depend on reviews and feedback to determine if changes to internal electronics in these lights is needed. Same as we saw with high beams - 3 iterations later, we have an error free high beam. Maybe not as easy, but for us with "OCD", it is a great improvement! LOL
 

Tom in PT

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Twilight Zone, WA State
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2005 Passat sedan - SOLD; 2013 Passat DSG; both purchased new
My car is an SE trim, I contacted LasFIT to tell them about the error and this is their response:

"Since these bulbs can't add any canbus resistors, we don't have a solution for this issue. And this is a normal vehicle computer inspection, you don't have to worry about it. If you do not like that, you can also return them."

I am not entirely happy with this response but have bigger things to worry about so will live with it. In event, thank you for taking the time to post all your work on the light issue. I really appreciate it.
 

eugene89us

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Location
Southern USA
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2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI SEL Premium
@Tom in PT Thank you for your reply. Yeah, since the suckers are "screw in" type, I can see the limitations for sure. But I am surprised at the response. The lights are truly remarkable and the fact that they do not cause glare or at least very little, it is no surprise I have not been flashed. I am thinking maybe there are some type of coding differences between SE trims and SEL trims. I am curious if folks with 2015 models could chime in and see if the same is true for them. It may not be the year that is causing these differences, it may be the trim level only.

Hey, I am happy to have found these guys and definitely happy to share my experiences. I actually was in the market for Chinese headlight housing replacement, and when I had hard time finding prior options that were no longer on market, I came across a YouTube review of LasFit headlight V2 version. That started my saga with this company. So far, quite please with the results, it is actually very fun to drive this car at night compared to the past halogens.

About to tackle valve cover and timing belt. If the car survives that, I will continue to post here to help someone else out. I am saddened to see the TDi community shrinking, after all, these are really enjoyable cars to drive!
 

tikal

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Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
Folks, I really could not fit these dust covers for the low beams (H7 G2 Pro) :


I spend enough time and my hand were starting to hurt. I am not planning on taking the headlights out to put these dust covers. I think I am going to return them and either:

* Leave them open or
* Put the original dust covers back

Pros/cons thoughts?
 

eugene89us

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Location
Southern USA
TDI
2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI SEL Premium
Folks, I really could not fit these dust covers for the low beams (H7 G2 Pro) :


I spend enough time and my hand were starting to hurt. I am not planning on taking the headlights out to put these dust covers. I think I am going to return them and either:

* Leave them open or
* Put the original dust covers back

Pros/cons thoughts?
That is weird, it was a pretty easy fit. You have to make sure the cap is lined up, but I did not have much trouble fitting it in. Unless you somehow got defective batch? I think I start mine on one side and it slides in easily as I go around the circle.

I live in MS, so I bet our climates will be similar. The issue with leaving them open is the amount of pollen that will enter the headlight. Just a few months ago, I cleaned my engine bay and this weekend it was completely covered in pollen. OTOH, putting original cover will likely cause overheating due to reduced airflow.

Test your caps on the high beams side. They have the same openings, but high beam is visible there, so can give you an idea of what it feel like to get it lined up. I would try to put the dome caps on if I were you. My second option would probably be to sacrifice longevity of LED over dusting my headlight with lots of pollen. But that is just my preference......
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Good evening, everyone, got another iteration of LasFit's prototype for rear blinker/tail/brake light. Initially, I posted about L1156 light that produced brighter LED than OE halogens, but was not really comparable to true factory LED brightness. Well, the new prototype, named T1156R fixes that problem. It does it so well that it makes adjacent light on the trunk lid to look so dim in comparison. See for yourselves. I am sure once all testing is done, LasFit should release these for purchase. Another great alternative and certainly improves safety, as these are MUCH easier to be seen:

First is the photo of the bulb in the housing. Lots of LED modules:


Second, lights installed during the day. Pardon the garage mess. The edge lights are the LEDs, the trunk lid lights still contain OE halogens:


You can tell the difference in brightness even in daytime:


And finally, compare the Passat with LEDs to my other ride with factory OEM LEDs:
Let us know how those hold up over the bumps i installed LED amber blinker lights on our MK7 wagon and the added weight & length at the end causes them to pull down and out of the contacts, eventually needing to be reset.
 

tikal

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Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
That is weird, it was a pretty easy fit. You have to make sure the cap is lined up, but I did not have much trouble fitting it in. Unless you somehow got defective batch? I think I start mine on one side and it slides in easily as I go around the circle.

I live in MS, so I bet our climates will be similar. The issue with leaving them open is the amount of pollen that will enter the headlight. Just a few months ago, I cleaned my engine bay and this weekend it was completely covered in pollen. OTOH, putting original cover will likely cause overheating due to reduced airflow.

Test your caps on the high beams side. They have the same openings, but high beam is visible there, so can give you an idea of what it feel like to get it lined up. I would try to put the dome caps on if I were you. My second option would probably be to sacrifice longevity of LED over dusting my headlight with lots of pollen. But that is just my preference......
Thanks for the tips eugene89us. I will practice on the high beams side and then decide what to do.
 

VernK

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Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Location
Kelowna
TDI
2012 Passat 2.5L Gas
I fitted the low beams over the weekend, all very straightforward. Impressive improvement, makes the high beams seem useless. Those bulbs are meant to be here this week.

However, I managed to discover something to watch out for. The LED bulb is longer than the halogen bulb it replaces, and if you put it in crooked while fumbling around for the slots it fits into in the socket, it is possible to catch the edge of the thin metal bulb shield inside the headlamp and bend it to one side. Not only did it look bad, it also blocked part of the led bulb.

It wasn't too hard to correct though, I used two short screwdrivers (4 inch long shafts) as levers to bend the shield back into place. It is very thin metal, so it's easy to move around. I didn't get it exactly back in the original position, but you can't tell at a glance it's out of place.

Yours
Vern
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
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Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Not Passat related, but I picked up H7 and H15 for our Mk7 Alltrack.

Install was straight forward, I only had to pull the air box for the drivers high beam, was able to get low beams no issues. I did low beams for about a month, then just picked up high beams. OEM dust covers fit without issues, no external big resistor packs needed.

I did notice the low beam bulb wasn't 100% vertical, its clocked about 5 degrees to either left or right, i forget. High beams seem stright. I don't know if there is a left or right for the low beams and i swapped em by accident. I'm sure this impacts the low beam cutoff but so far never was "high beamed" and I'd have to say the cutoff while not projector sharp, is rather good, if not the same as the halogen units. I haven't touched any of the leveling adjustments.

Low beams are bright and throw light down the road further than stock halogen high beams. With the lasfit highbeams installed, they don't offer much distance on the pavement. but do light up above the cutoff quite well.

Color temp is probably the biggest complaint, def 6K with pretty bad CRI, every one loves to toss out huge lumen numbers but omit junk CRI numbers, would much prefer something in the 5k or 4.5K for temp. Pavement and white lines have a blueish hue to them. It isn't bad enough that prevented me from buying the high beams, but just a let down compared to quality OEM LED units of newer cars.

All in using the promo codes, i think it was around $150 for the upgrade, curious if the wife will let me put them in the passat, they are pretty dim these days.
 

Nuje

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Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
Color temp is probably the biggest complaint, def 6K with pretty bad CRI, every one loves to toss out huge lumen numbers but omit junk CRI numbers, would much prefer something in the 5k or 4.5K for temp. Pavement and white lines have a blueish hue to them. It isn't bad enough that prevented me from buying the high beams, but just a let down compared to quality OEM LED units of newer cars.
Assuming they're not spraying light all over like cheapie LEDs will (and at $150/pr, I'd hope not), that 6K color temp would be a deal-breaker for me. At night on wet roads, 6K is just terrible - can barely see anything. Dry concrete road surface in Los Angeles, I'm sure they'd be awesome - but here (Pacific Northwest-adjacent), it's a bad idea.
 

740GLE

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NH
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2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
The gary pavement has a slight green hue to it. I wouldn't call the light "blue", it is just on the edge of "i'll live with it, vs return them".

I just know it'd be much better at say 5K with a higher CRI.
 

tikal

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Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
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2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
Ok, after some going back and forth, here is what I did with the help of a friend on the existing low beam dust cover to allow for some air ventilation (before it was without the dust covers for some months):









 

seahawkdodge

Well-known member
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Mar 8, 2020
Location
FL
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2013 Passat TDI
I have been running the Lasfit high and low beams for a year and a half. I have a 430am commute on a dark interstate, so they have been a godsend. Especially considering how terrible the OEM headlights are with halogens.

I have a BOW every time I start the car, but it goes away when I put the high beams on for a few seconds.
 

eugene89us

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Mar 17, 2014
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Southern USA
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2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI SEL Premium
@seahawkdodge You must have their original high beams without that extra module. Since they came up with module design, unfortunately it became more cumbersome to mount that little box, but the error is no longer present, at least on my 2014. I agree with you, those high and low beams are awesome. I would rate low beams as good as my BMW OE LEDs, while high beams are OUT OF THIS WORLD. I wish I had those for my Bimmer. They literally light up the road and the sky - watching for deer in our rural Mississippi is absolutely possible now while driving at night.
 

seahawkdodge

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FL
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2013 Passat TDI
@seahawkdodge You must have their original high beams without that extra module. Since they came up with module design, unfortunately it became more cumbersome to mount that little box, but the error is no longer present, at least on my 2014. I agree with you, those high and low beams are awesome. I would rate low beams as good as my BMW OE LEDs, while high beams are OUT OF THIS WORLD. I wish I had those for my Bimmer. They literally light up the road and the sky - watching for deer in our rural Mississippi is absolutely possible now while driving at night.
I am in central Texas, lots of deer and 75mph speed limit. The high beams are a necessity.
 

VernK

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Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Location
Kelowna
TDI
2012 Passat 2.5L Gas
Installed the high beams today. I made two small brackets for the resistors, stuck to the hood lock panel with Gorilla doublesided tape (roughly equivalent to a 3M UHB tape). For the weather seal, I cut a small rectangle in the dust boot just large enough to pass the two braided cables, and then and additional slit about 3/4 inch long, to allow passing the connectors through. Once everything was in place, I sealed the opening with liquid electrical tape, a brush on liquid rubber. That's kind of a new tape for the stuff, I discovered it way back in the 80's in the marine repair yard, where we used it to seal up hydraulic & electrical fitting from the salt water.

Pics in a few minutes

Yours
Vern
 
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eugene89us

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Mar 17, 2014
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Southern USA
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2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI SEL Premium
@VernK Hope you enjoy the high beams as much as you did the low beams. I love them both! They made things a lot safer.

I just realized it was over 2 years ago when I made the leap to low beams and made this thread. I didn't realize I would become a fanboi of this brand. The lights are still going strong. The fans seem to get louder after a year, but with our rattly engine you'd only hear them with engine off. I honestly expected them to burn out in a year. Let's see if they can go 3 years.
 
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