Are modern headlights too bright?

[anonymous-user]

300bhp/ton said:

PSBuckshot said:

Just curious, do most of the people who voted 'no' drive a German saloon or Range Rover Sport?

I voted no and drive neither.

Not digging here just wonder what made you vote no?

[sharpfocus]

PSBuckshot said:

Just curious, do most of the people who voted 'no' drive a German saloon or Range Rover Sport?

No.

[Waugh-terfall]

sharpfocus said:

PSBuckshot said:

Just curious, do most of the people who voted 'no' drive a German saloon or Range Rover Sport?

No.

On occasion, but it's got 6yr old bulbs that seem yellowey and dim incomparison to those in my 2yr old Frenchy.

[300bhp/ton]

PSBuckshot said:

300bhp/ton said:

PSBuckshot said:

Just curious, do most of the people who voted 'no' drive a German saloon or Range Rover Sport?

I voted no and drive neither.

Not digging here just wonder what made you vote no?

I like to see where I'm going and I don't feel modern headlights are too bright.

I think the law should tidy up on people running high K level aftermarket HIDs that not produce lots of glare but also horrid colour casts. But I don't see HIDs as actually being an issue. A good halogen is just as blinding.

[80sboy]

300bhp/ton said:

PSBuckshot said:

300bhp/ton said:

PSBuckshot said:

Just curious, do most of the people who voted 'no' drive a German saloon or Range Rover Sport?

I voted no and drive neither.

Not digging here just wonder what made you vote no?

I like to see where I'm going and I don't feel modern headlights are too bright.

I think the law should tidy up on people running high K level aftermarket HIDs that not produce lots of glare but also horrid colour casts. But I don't see HIDs as actually being an issue. A good halogen is just as blinding.

I have to agree with you 300bhp/ton.

How much/often are people reaaaally affected by factory HID headlights? I do my fair share of driving at night and I generally don't find them a problem. More of a problem is when halogen lights aren't correctly adjusted or when the mindless leave their full beams on. But you'll always get that; At least HIDs are self levelling.

Oh I do drive a "German" saloon, with bi-xenon headlights. They are fantastic and I feel they vastly improve safety whilst driving at night.

The benefits outweigh the cons in my opinion.

I reckon this is just headlight envy

[anonymous-user]

80sboy said:

I reckon this is just headlight envy

I don't.

[Colonial]

PSBuckshot said:

Just curious, do most of the people who voted 'no' drive a German saloon or Range Rover Sport?

Nope.

German hatch.

[F i F]

@80sboy, I too was joking, obviously, but just trying to find out how sensitive they are because I do see this slowness to dip an increasing problem, especially on our rural DCs. Have heard people report that they aren't that good.

Is it the system? Is it dopy drivers? Is it drivers who think the system will react and when it doesn't have to dive for the dipswitch somewhat belatedly. Agree 100% that there is more problem from old style badly aligned incandescent lamps then OEM HIDs though, auto or manual.

We will have to disagree though that auto dip is to me it's completely unwanted technology, prefer to use Mk1 eyeball, a brain and operate a switch before the other vehicle even hoves into view, plus I don't want to be dipping because the system has detected the Christmas lights at the local garden centre or a house.

[Kickstart68]

kambites said:

I think I remember reading somewhere that a small proportion of the population have an oddity with their eyes that means they see strange ghost images of LED light.

I do. You get a series of dots from the flicker of the leds when you glance away from them. Thought this was normal.

All the best

Keith

[80sboy]

F i F said:

@80sboy, I too was joking, obviously, but just trying to find out how sensitive they are because I do see this slowness to dip an increasing problem, especially on our rural DCs. Have heard people report that they aren't that good.

Is it the system? Is it dopy drivers? Is it drivers who think the system will react and when it doesn't have to dive for the dipswitch somewhat belatedly. Agree 100% that there is more problem from old style badly aligned incandescent lamps then OEM HIDs though, auto or manual.

We will have to disagree though that auto dip is to me it's completely unwanted technology, prefer to use Mk1 eyeball, a brain and operate a switch before the other vehicle even hoves into view, plus I don't want to be dipping because the system has detected the Christmas lights at the local garden centre or a house.

Some systems are better than others I'm sure, I'm just saying that this one seem to work pretty well.

Like I said though, it doesn't remove driver responsibility. I'm sure there are loads of numpties out there who may have this sort of thing and think "great, I don't have to do anything now". Wrong. It's just an added convenience. So I do see where you're coming from.

Oh, it only dipped for the house momentarily - as we were facing it. I'm sure the people sitting in their living room appreciated it!

[qube_TA]

300bhp/ton said:

qube_TA said:

Used to use high-beams on older cars but there's no need on modern stuff, other than to flash someone out of a junction / change lane etc never get used. If you were giving it large on some country road in the middle of the night they'd be handy but I don't really do anything like that now.

Guess that comes down to preference, I use mainbeam a lot and think it's rather silly not too on some country lanes. Why would you want to reduce your visibility by not using them?

Because if I can already see where I'm going, then the thought to add brightness doesn't come into my head, never used fog lights on any car ever for the same reason. Also on a modern car it doesn't add visibility, just makes everything really bright to the point that any reflective surface can dazzle and I'm less likely to see any other source of light (i.e a bike coming the other way).

Maybe I eat too many carrots but I can see perfectly well without and usually better if it's slightly less light.


That said, on the 70's to 90's American cars I've had / driven they are a little crap on the headlight dept and even with high-beams on don't really do much extra so use them on those.

[F i F]

80sboy said:

Some systems are better than others I'm sure, I'm just saying that this one seem to work pretty well.

OK thanks, just asking for my own information then, if I may?

Am I correct in thinking the 5 series has the bi-xenon and a separate set of main beam units? Presumably the second set of main beam, (filament bulbs?) are also extinguished on dip, or?

The only ones of the auto dip HIDs have personally tried have been VAG where there isn't a second set of main beam units. The dip is generally excellent but the main beam is dire when out on wide open roads; quite OK on narrow winding stuff though. I've usually ended up with manual intervention based on Mk1 eyeball, reflection off verges and so on, so not really pushed the envelope regarding the auto dip.

Sorry if I'm being a pain, just interested in a system that is reported to work well.

[80sboy]

F i F said:

OK thanks, just asking for my own information then, if I may?

Am I correct in thinking the 5 series has the bi-xenon and a separate set of main beam units? Presumably the second set of main beam, (filament bulbs?) are also extinguished on dip, or?

The only ones of the auto dip HIDs have personally tried have been VAG where there isn't a second set of main beam units. The dip is generally excellent but the main beam is dire when out on wide open roads; quite OK on narrow winding stuff though. I've usually ended up with manual intervention based on Mk1 eyeball, reflection off verges and so on, so not really pushed the envelope regarding the auto dip.

Sorry if I'm being a pain, just interested in a system that is reported to work well.

No no, of course you may!

I know it has bi-xenons, but without looking I'm not sure how exactly the dips/full beams operate. The car is fairly new to us.

I know that the headlights are adaptive, so they turn with the direction of the front wheels. I also know that when you turn sharply another, random bulb lights up but only on the opposite side of the car??

I'll have a look later, I'm interested myself. I'll let you know what I find by posting on here later.

To an extent, it doesn't matter how bright your full beams are. If you're out on the open road, and there isn't anything other than the road or a shallow verge to light up, you won't see much. But then if there is a corner approaching, or something unexpected in the road, this is where full beams help. On a narrow road you'll notice the full beams more.

[fangio]

So it boils down to half-blind folk voting no and people with good vision saying yes!

[300bhp/ton]

qube_TA said:

Because if I can already see where I'm going

But not actually that far ahead. When you drive in day light, do you only look at the road directly infront of you?

Personally I like to see much further ahead.

qube_TA said:

then the thought to add brightness doesn't come into my head

The clue is in the names:

-dip
-mainbeam

The latter doesn't "add" brightness, it's often the same brightness just not angled down and to the left. So lights up more distance and more of the right hand verge/side of the road.

qube_TA said:

never used fog lights

Your choice, although I wonder if you've driven in thick dense fog at all? I say this as I have and in cars with and without foglights and those with are certainly better. They illuminate cats eyes better without causing the glare that mainbeam would, they also allow you to see the edge of the road, very handy in rural areas where you often don't get a curb or a white line marking the edge of the road.

qube_TA said:

Also on a modern car it doesn't add visibility, just makes everything really bright to the point that any reflective surface can dazzle and I'm less likely to see any other source of light (i.e a bike coming the other way).

Yet should that bike have reflectors or the rider be wearing reflective material, brighter lights would reflect more strongly and at much greater distance, vastly improving your visibility and knowledge of them being there.

[sharpfocus]

I don't care if headlights are brighter than the sun.

It's the shining them at my eyes that bothers me.

[Vocal Minority]

I understand people like a well illuminated road, which is all very well. You'll be able to clearly see the blinded driver swerve right into you!

• yes I am being glib here.

Though when someone says the pros outweigh the cons, bear in mind when you have them on your car you have all the pros, with the cons being borne by other road users!

But seriously driving in an Alfa GTV, when Xenon fitted cars pass I have to look right onto the nearside kerb a alot of the time to be able to pick out where the road is going.

That is however on dark country roads where I do the majority of my driving. On city roads/motorways its not a problem.

[varsas]

300bhp/ton said:

qube_TA said:

never used fog lights

Your choice, although I wonder if you've driven in thick dense fog at all? I say this as I have and in cars with and without foglights and those with are certainly better. They illuminate cats eyes better without causing the glare that mainbeam would, they also allow you to see the edge of the road, very handy in rural areas where you often don't get a curb or a white line marking the edge of the road.

To be fair the usefulness of fog lights varies from car to car...my old Vectra had quite good ones, as you say they lit up the edges of the road. The worse the visibility was, the slower I was going, the more helpful they got. They where especially handy in thick snow, where they would light up the sides of the road without reflecting loads of light back at me. The ones on my BMW are useless, they do very little.

[300bhp/ton]

varsas said:

To be fair the usefulness of fog lights varies from car to car...my old Vectra had quite good ones, as you say they lit up the edges of the road. The worse the visibility was, the slower I was going, the more helpful they got. They where especially handy in thick snow, where they would light up the sides of the road without reflecting loads of light back at me. The ones on my BMW are useless, they do very little.

I agree. I think the shape of the car/front bumper and where the drivers seat is in relation has an affect on how useful they are.

[sharpfocus]

fangio said:

So it boils down to half-blind folk voting no and people with good vision saying yes!

People voting yes with vision so good, that they struggle to see when cars approach them?!