I appreciate the difficulties in getting a fair and representative photo to demonstrate headlamp performance but accepting this here is mine for comparison, taken when evaluating my dedicated "E" marked LED headlamps from Powerful UK, the Land Rover lighting specialists.



Note the defined cutoff and lack of splatter and spill above, far superior to the high power halogens on the left in both intensity and width but more importantly in reduced splatter. Also note the contrast and how dark the bricks are above and to the right of the LED's cutoff, light that would otherwise have a component to add glare to an oncoming driver.

I fitted these in to my +4 (1997) last week. They are a straight swap-out for the filament H4 bulbs, &, WOW, what an improvement........🤷🏼‍♂️👍.

I am definitely going to be more comfortable driving in the dark in Morgie now.

Time to get some LEDs for the rear side/stop lamps, for sure!

Wow, I think from memory H4s are 750 lumens, the LEDs I fitted are 6000 so 16000 must be very very bright.
Don't other drivers at night get annoyed with the new bulbs?

I notice also the heat sink on the bulb is inside the headlamp shell. I have no idea how hot they get but my heat sink is outside the shell.

Bulbs

Be careful out there folks, lot's of dodgy untested stuff on't net, from the happy happy bulb co inc...etc

SORRY - Don’t know how to link to a posting and reply.....

The beam from Morgie’s headlights is exactly as it should be, but, now, the light is white - not yellowish. The top of the beam profile is flat and, from the short journey that I have made so far, none of the oncoming traffic has flashed/dipped/etc. In fact, the illumination to the offside is clearly below the bonnet level of anything coming towards me.

Additionally, during daylight hours, the original headlamps remain and Morgie continues to look as built.

One happy motorist🤗👍!

A very interesting article on LED headlights can be found on www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk. Click on “News”, then select page 2 and scroll down to select the article “Are LED Headlight bulbs the brightest”.
Some very interesting information which is worth reading by anyone considering LED upgrade.
It also reminded me of my biking days some many years ago when we all started putting our headlights on in the daytime. I then attended a police “ride to arrive course” and the advice was not to do that after all, as it impairs judgement of speed & distance by anyone seeing you coming. That seems to be backed up in the above article. When we see a bright light, we automatically close down the iris and in turn alter our perspective of the approaching vehicle.
So maybe bright ain’t always right??
I am sticking to standard H4.

I tend to agree. The brighter the bulbs, the more difficult it makes for oncoming traffic to see where they're going, so in turn, they try and fit brighter bulbs etc etc.......

Never ride my bike with a headlight, unless it's dark. Found the bobbing forks make people think you're flashing them out of junctions with disasterous results.

If I can't see very well at night, I reduce my speed until it's not a problem.

Years back in the America, one of the States (can't remember which, but Utah rings a bell) trialled compulsory daylight headlights for motorcycles and at the end of the trial found fatalities had risen ... at the time it was put down to 'target fixation' as the bright light approached oncoming traffic down the long stratight roads

K

I can see (no pun intended!) that judgement of speed & distance of other vehicles would be affected if you were dazzled by bright lights.

It is also difficult to judge speed and distance of other vehicles at night where there aren't any streetlights because you can only see the lights and no background of scenery or buildings to use as reference points for how fast the lights are traveling. But then again you wouldnt drive without lights in the dark even if legal to do so.

So whilst I would agree that having lights on, particularly on a motorbike isnt always beneficial, for most weather and light conditions I would say it is.

Police motorcyclists are different in being very visible because they have white fairings, helmets and Hi Viz decals so maybe that is better in the daytime than having lights on?

If you as a motorbike rider (or as a car driver, for that sake) keep your headlights on, you are at least seen and noticed. I agree that a very bright, dazzling light can make it difficult to judge distance, but the point is that I will be aware of the rider - in dawn, dusk, rain, fog, even bright sunlight etc. Just look at an oncoming car - which one will draw your attention first, the one with lights on or the one without? So here here all motorized vehicles are obliged to have their lights lit, 24/7. Works well, no increase in accidents after that law change was introduced. I do remember the discussion when it was to be introduced, smaller vehicles would "drown in an ocean of light" etc. The experience showed the contrary, surrounding traffic was more easily seen, on two or four wheels. Bright colours on bike and clothing is good, but a lit headlamp is much better for getting noticed. And light use can be regulated by law, vehicle and clothing colours hardly so.