Being in a lower car now, Mini vs my former Explorer.
I definitely notice this a lot more, and it's even worse the rare times I'm in the Midget at night.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:

quote:

Originally posted by IntrepidTraveler:
You missed the phase when cars had two separate headlights, one low beam and one high beam. You replaced the whole headlight, not just the bulb. Or more accurately, the whole headlight WAS the bulb. They had them in round and rectangular versions.

Man, I'm old!

Ya got me, I've never seen a bulb that was low beam only.

I've had multiple cars/trucks with separate high/low bulbs.
My 2016 F150 & 2018 Expedition both have a separate high beam bulb.
My 2 cars with sealed beam both had dual filament units, but our 87 Suburban had separate [and a 5 unit light bar on the roof]

HERE is an interesting article on the evolution of headlamps in the US, complete with pics. You'll see pics of both round and rectangular dual-lamp vehicles.

Isn't it ironic that as we got older , we bitched about not being able to see driving @ night because our headlights were not bright enough!

Now technology has listened and provided us with amazing bright headlights, and we are bitching about them being too bright!

The life as a curmudgeon is tough sometimes, but bitching is something that ( we ) all do very eloquently!

I drive a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.
The OEM headlights are so dim, a person sitting on the front bumper holding a lit candle in each outstretched arm would provide more useable light.
A year or so ago, I stumbled on a pair of gently used JW Speaker aftermarket LED 7" round headlights. They are DOT & Transport Canada compliant and are labeled as such. (legal for on road usage)
I have previous experience with the JW Speaker LED lights, they were sold as a factory accessory on my Harley-Davidson Road King for the high/low headlight and dual driving spot lights.

Link: https://www.jwspeaker.com/prod...off-road-headlights/

The Jeep Wrangler also has factory fog lights mounted in the front bumper. The fog lights are about useless with the OEM halogen incandescent bulbs. Each stock fog light bulb is about 250 lumens.
I installed some Diode Dynamics plug & play aftermarket LED fog light bulbs. Each Diode Dynamics LED fog light bulb is 1400 lumens.
So ~ 500 lumens for the pair of stock halogen fog light bulbs, 2800 lumens for the pair of LED fog light bulbs.

Link: https://www.diodedynamics.com/...p-wrangler-pair.html

I consider the stock factory forward lighting on my Jeep Wrangler to be so poor, it is almost criminal to sell a new vehicle with such piss poor lighting.
The LED replacement/aftermarket lighting has completely resolved the forward lighting deficiencies.
I installed the LED lighting myself, and I have them aimed very close to the upper legal height limit concerning my state laws for motor vehicle safety inspections. (beam cutoff hot spot height)

Is the new LED lighting extremely bright? Yes!
Is it offensive to oncoming vehicle traffic? Yes, but no more so than many new vehicles sold today.
I can now see clearly during nighttime driving. It was money well spent.

Last year we were towing equipment back to the house from the recreational property. Two tow vehicles, two loaded trailers.
The better half happened to be out in front of my Jeep on the 30 minute drive back to the house.
As soon as we arrived home, she came storming out of her Tacoma bitching. She stated she would NEVER drive at night again out in front of the Jeep.

I have a 2023 Toyota Highlander with the auto-dimming high beams feature turned off. I tested it when I first got the car but they didn't dim soon enough to suit me. I only use the high beams on dimly lit highways.

I also discovered that my clear fog lights cast a low, but wider, light that allows me to better see deer and hogs getting ready to make suicide runs. Those turn off when I use the high beams, which means that I rarely use the highs.

quote:

Originally posted by XLT:
my stock 2018 ford f150 led are bright enough that I get flashed all the time, when I flash them back with my high beams I'm sure they don't like it, but I get tired of it.

That's because Ford trucks are currently one of the worst offenders for shitty headlights with tons of glare that blinds everyone around. It's like Ford didn't even try to avoid it. The other worst offenders are Jeepers that either bought garbage upgrades or didn't bother to aim them when they replaced their stock headlights or lifted their vehicle.

One of the biggest problems around here are folks towing trailers, boats, RVs and/or having a bed full of firewood or other weight (especially this time of year) changing the angle of attack. The problem wasn't nearly as bad with the old "softer" headlights. These new ones fry your retinas.