corner led bulbs: jlevisw vs tower european bulbs

i made the switch over from filament bulbs in my corners to leds... when i got my leds from jlevi's store, i was pretty excited to put them in. unfortunately, they weren't very bright compared to the original filament bulbs, so i ordered some tower european bulbs from autolumination.com.. there are the results! these are the bulbs at 12V, FULL BRIGHTNESS, i.e., hazards flashing! *not* operating at 6V.

first of all, here is my control: stock filament bulbs on both sides.


now, left is filament bulb, right is tower european bulb... you can see that they're about the same brightness


here, left is jlevisw corner, right is tower european bulb... you can see that the jlevisw bulbs pale in comparison...


i thought what really matters though, is what you see at night... i don't have a control here (lazy ), but here, left is jlevisw corner, and again, right is tower european bulb...


same setup with angels on... now these angels, i did get from jlevisw and am very happy with. the jlevisw leds @ 12V look like my filaments @ 6V


unfortunately, i have to say that the jlevisw bulbs absolutely suck in my opinion. unlike the tower bulbs, they barely take advantage of the reflective housing in the corner.. these are the tower european leds, and you can see how all the side facing leds really take advantage of the housing..


jlevisw's bulb looks like this (right side). left side is stock filament bulb..


you can actually see in the above pic how the jlevisw corner bulb becomes very wide near the connector, which is why you have to shave the plastic housing in order for them to fit... see:



anyway, i don't mean to deliberately bash on jlevisw's product, but seriously, the tower european leds are sooo much brighter.. and that's what really matters. yes, the tower european leds are $60 for a pair and jlevisw corner leds are $20 for a pair, but in terms of safety, $40 extra is a small price to pay if you absolutely must have leds.

i actually sent an email to jlevisw's store asking why the brightness is so crappy.. here is their response:

It's because the LED's have a more focused light output. They do not "spread" light like standard filament bulbs, they project it in specific angles.

however... i would argue that the leds should then be manufactured to take more advantage of the reflective housing.. that's what it's there for..

another response from Nick @ JSW was that their corner led bulbs are superior because the circuitry is sealed in the bulb. i don't really think that's going to be a big deal, especially since the seal in the corner is already pretty tight. it'll be pretty hard for any water to get in there, and the circuitry for an led is really not all that complicated/delicate.

Should have gone with F1 AutoHaus...His stuff is just as bright or brighter from Auto Illumination...

Looks good BTW!

thats some old ass shiet right there..lol

talk to Mike hes got some serious sh it

I have those same JLevi bulbs too, I'm about to order some from Mike right now bc mine suuuck, no where near as bright as they should be.

I get all my LED bulbs from http://www.superbrightleds.com/
I just recently got a new batch of revised bulbs, will post pics when installed.

A very good review. We are aware of some of the limitations of our product and will definitely take your suggestions into consideration in the next version. We actually have been trying to construct a compact bulb out of aluminum using only high powered 1W LED bulbs - they are great, and the designs perfect, but for the white version, you would see the yellow powder in the LEDs, so we haven't proceeded

hey guys i have a 95 M3 and i just got the new V4 LED from umnitza. and they're crazy bright!! i just went to a couple local meets and i got a lot of compliments and people wanting to know where i got em from. and they were only like 25 bucks!!! hella worth it!!!