If you’ve ever wanted to see a direct comparison between all the lighting technologies and how they perform against each other, we’ve just done that!
Headlights & Components Used
Halogen: E90 pre LCI halogen with the front plastic lens removed
Bi-xenon: E92 pre LCI bi-xenon standalone projector
Bi-xenon (upgraded projector lens): E92 pre LCI bi-xenon standalone projector with ZKW-R lens upgrade
Bi-xenon (upgraded projector): G5-BRT bi-xenon projector
Bi-LED: KYCS Bi-LED projector with LED bulb (low beam), high beam LED array twinned with low beam projector shutter
OEM Bi-LED: F22 LCI LED bi-LED projector
Upgraded bi-LED: KYCS integrated Bi-LED
All bi-xenon projectors used the same second hand bulb - expect much more light output when using a new set of quality bulbs like Osram Laser Nightbreaker!
Lux Comparison
Please note that we don't have state of the art measuring equipment (yet) - take all figures as approximations, and they've been rounded to the nearest ten. Lux is a measure of brightness (Lumen per square meter).
Measurements are taken from the centre "hotspot", but this isn't the entire picture - beam pattern size (width and depth) also play a major factor in how much usable light you have. For example, our Bi-LED setup has a much larger width and depth (beam pattern) but a lower brightness than a comparable xenon setup which is a smaller beam pattern but a higher brightness.
Need a hand deciding what you'd like in your custom headlights? Get in touch with us via the contact form and we'll be happy to help!
| Headlight | Low Beam (Lux) | Low & High Beam (Lux) |
| Halogen | 200 | 420 |
| Bi-xenon | 1500 | 3300 |
| Bi-xenon (upgraded projector lens) | 2020 | 3900 |
| Bi-xenon (upgraded projector) | 4210 | 8320 |
| Bi-LED | 860 | 6280 |
| OEM bi-LED | 1580 | 5160 |
| Upgraded bi-LED | 4660 | 5940 |
Photos
Photos were taken on an iPhone with locked exposure and focus - unfortunately the white balance isn't consistent between photos, but the brightness is accurate!
