Laser v LED v halogen: Headlights tested, compared & explained! Should you upgrade to laser?

Car technology is gradually evolving and one area that has exploded in terms of innovation and technology recently is headlights.

Should you be paying extra to tick the matrix LED headlight option? Or should you go all out and look for a car with laser headlights? We wanted to put each lighting technology to the test and wanted to compare halogen headlights against LED, matrix LED and laser headlight technology.

This is by no means a scientific test and while all brands will have differing levels of headlight technology available, we simply wanted to compare the headlight types, as opposed to the way each brand packages delivers their headlight technology.

For this test we use the 2020 Kia Seltos, 2020 Skoda Superb Scout, 2020 Suzuki Swift Sport SII and the 2020 BMW M8 Competition and BMW X5 M Competition.

Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Headlight technology: 00:46
Halogen headlights explained: 00:48
LED headlights explained: 01:55
Matrix LED headlights explained: 02:48
Laser headlights explained: 03:54
Country road headlight test: 05:33
Headlight lux meter test: 09:53

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CarExpert:

Paul Maric:

#howto #headlights #technology

[CarExpertAus]

Thanks for watching everybody! Just a note on a question a few of you are asking, why no HID/xenon/bi-xenon? This technology has almost entirely been phased out – most new cars on the market today have either halogen at the entry level or LED as they step up the model grade. So we didn't think it was worth including the technology if it won't be seen in the years to come.

[Dan]

Literally the first ever headlight review for new cars. I'm a headlight nerd. Thanks.

[workoutguru]

U should do a review comparing all the headlight technologies of all popular luxury cars such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz and Lexus

[kaflor]

While I was in Germany last time, I had a Volvo rental with the matrix LED lights. They were AMAZING. My co-workers made fun of me for geeking out over headlights.

[Pumxee]

Should’ve put the bmw on a dyno and the light meter directly in front of it.

[takundamapako]

I am a headlight nerd! for years, I have looked for a video like this, but have never found it. You have finally done it for me, and you did it very well!

Yours is one of the best channels out here, not just because of the headlight review, but all the car reviews are dope!
PS: Please do a video of the Mercedes Benz headlights, lets hear from an independent person just how good those lights are, coz Mercedes seem to make a lot hype about them. Perhaps do for Audi as well.

[fireball]

A very impressive result for the Skoda.
I got one big issue with it matrix LED though: I used to drive my bike going to the gym, returning by night on a bikeway 2m next to a road and I often got dazzled by cars. But as far as I recognised it, all the cars with matrix LED were still on high beams in my directions as I was passing by and I went blind for a few secs.
Driving a car I'm happy to see as much as possible, driving a bike I'm shocked some headlights are legal as it is REALLY scary to get dazzled by them.

Sry for spelling, not a native speaker

[pastorofmuppets]

Also worth mentioning that the matrix LEDs shade out reflective signs, which I have to say is a great idea. I have to turn my high beams off when reflective signs are so bright with good head lights.

[grantm]

I like those directional LEDs; 25 years ago when I was a young engineer in Mt Isa, my wife and I used to do the Brisbane drive (1850 kms) straight through. I used to turn the spotlights off after about 3 hrs because they would make my eyes sore from road sign reflections. I have to say I love the low beam on the Swift and Skoda as it shines the brightest light lower than the road signs. Great for avoiding eye fatigue. Lux is not everything.

[Steven-crju]

Great review. Head lamp illumination can be complex to assess since there are quanitative and quanitative measures. While "throw" and "spill" relate to far and near lighting, you could be measuring lumens for total light output and candela as a better indicator of beam throw or distance per steradian (per square metre, or 1pi steradian.) Measurements should factor weighting of human eye sensitivity around the 550 nm wavelength. Also, total light output is not always relevant since some bean patterns to the extreme sides may be unnecessary. Similar for head light center or hot spot may not be the same place for each car and you would need top mode your lux metre around the beam to find the most concentrated spot. And the angle where lux drops to 50% is your lumen conversion. Related to eye sensitivity, light output is one thing, but how much is reflected back is another and gets more into the wave length used in the emitter. LEP headlights can have the same lux reading or lumens, but they have much higher candela since they project those lumens much further.

[NomadicJulien]

Always surprising that 99% of car youtuber don't talk about car headlights. Always interesting. Could watch a headlight review for every single car

[stuartmunto]

Matrix LED is the perfect combination for performance, safety and cost.

[andy]

LED are great, except that, in my experience driving at night (I drive a little sedan), most of these are absolutely blinding for oncoming cars. I have had times where I literally can not see anything but bright white light, damn near driving me off the road.

I think they are an amazing addition to a cars safety system, but I feel that car manufacturers need to work on the software that controls where the light goes with "obstacles" and I feel they need to be aimed not directly at other drivers.

[Reepicheep-]

"Halogens are the bulbs You Used to have in your homes." Still do, for some lamps. CFLs, LEDs, and a couple others just get too harsh on the eyes after a while. Incandescent is good.

[us_er_Max]

Really good quality video! I've found it very helpful so thank you. I also think it would be cool to use a drone and see the illuminated terrain from above.

[Jackson-rfrv]

I literally have that same model Seltos. Same colour and all. Can confirm the lights are shit

[SuperZbx]

I think there is a way to test the laser high beam of bow cars stationary. U can use the rollers in those 4wd test videos, they might be able to trick the computer thinking it is driving at 60 mph while it is stationary.

[abhisheksavant]

In India, every Tom, Dick & Harry is installing after market led lights in cars & even in 2 wheelers. They drive in city with high beams on. I've lost count of how many times i've been blinded & lost sight of the road.

These days i just slow down or completely stop untill the vehical passes me. Can't risk the chance of running into the fields. And the way it looks...its only going to get worse as led's are getting cheaper & cheaper every year.

[jiikoo]

Just drove today my Škoda Superb and those matrix led head lights keep amazing me every time. It’s not often that you can drive in complete solitude and matrix leds are best when there is oncoming traffic or car in front of you. Sides of the road are full of light when normal led light has changed to low beam. Means lots of more safety when driving normal highway speeds. Nice to see that also in this test Superb matrix leds are simply superb. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[jesperdybdahl]

On my X5 with laser, it only activates when the high beam is set to auto. And then after about 5 seconds after it has activated the high LED, as if another set of high beams are activated. It is not as apparent as going from low to high LED, but it does gets another punch. The laser is not activated by turning on high beam manually, regardless of the speed. I can't say if it is brighter than other modern matrix LEDs, but is definitely brighter than the adaptive LED I had on my Mercedes. Thanks for a great video.