LED headlamps - what's your view as a user?

[gbb]

Greater contrast which reduces the amount you see beyond the lit area. They have to have a sharp cutoff to stop glare and the light scattering.

Personally, I think LED and Xenon lights are great for the person is said vehicle but a nightmare for others who have to look at them.

My Mazda has incredibly white light headlamps, I'm assuming they're LED (but don't actually know)
I love them for the clarity...but when I first got the car I found myself reaching for the manual levelling switch ...that doesn't exist. Driving behind people it seems to me the beam is too high, I hope I don't annoy people with it, itwould never be intentional.

 

[lazybloke]

Matrix headlamps sound great, but presumably they have limitations in how far they can adapt to brows of hills, dips, bends in road, and so on, plus the sensors and 'brains' that control them can't be infallible, unless you keep the Pope in your glovebox.

They have manual override, presumably, in case it's every needed?
Am not suggesting it's like Boeing MCAS, but it's annoying when these automatic systems don't behave exactly as designed.

 

[icowden]

Matrix headlamps sound great, but presumably they have limitations in how far they can adapt to brows of hills, dips, bends in road, and so on, plus the sensors and 'brains' that control them can't be infallible, unless you keep the Pope in your glovebox.

They don't seem to. They seem to be pretty well programmed and drop out light as soon as they detect that they need to.

They have manual override, presumably, in case it's every needed?

I can force the lights to be either low beam or high beam rather than adaptive if that's what you mean.

 

[lazybloke]

They don't seem to. They seem to be pretty well programmed and drop out light as soon as they detect that they need to.

Sounds great. Mind you I thought the auto high/low beams on the Qashqai was amazing when I first saw it.
Not quite so reliable on my 2016 model; it seems to dip quickly, but seems reluctant to go back to high beams.

I can force the lights to be either low beam or high beam rather than adaptive if that's what you mean.

Exactly that.

 

[icowden]

Exactly that.

Interestingly (or not) on the ID4, the adaptive mode for headlights is never the default. You have to choose to activate it once you are driving by pulling the light stick. Otherwise you just get normal low beams and the ability to push the light stick for high beams..

 

[simongt]

I think LED and Xenon lights are great for the person is said vehicle but a nightmare for others who have to look at them.

Also a sod for those who are in 'normal' cars and are being followed by an SUV which by it's very extra height, usually means the headlights are level with your rear window. Thus you are forced to drive with your rear view mirror permanently on dip giving a less than good view of what else is behind.

 

[icowden]

Also a sod for those who are in 'normal' cars and are being followed by an SUV which by it's very extra height, usually means the headlights are level with your rear window. Thus you are forced to drive with your rear view mirror permanently on dip giving a less than good view of what else is behind.

That's the advantage of using intelligence drive matrix LEDs. They (in theory - I've never been followed by me) don't illuminate the part of the beam that they detect would dazzle the driver in front of them.

 

[Jody]

That's the advantage of using intelligence drive matrix LEDs. They (in theory - I've never been followed by me) don't illuminate the part of the beam that they detect would dazzle the driver in front of them.

I think that only occurs for on coming vehicles?

 

[icowden]

I think that only occurs for on coming vehicles?

No - also if you are behind another car. The matrix adjusts so that the upper half of the car in front is not illuminated whilst continuing to illuminate either side of that car and the road up to that car.

 

[Milzy]

I keep getting flashed in the new Audi but that’s just how the bright modern lights are. They’ll get used to it.

 

[Jody]

No - also if you are behind another car. The matrix adjusts so that the upper half of the car in front is not illuminated whilst continuing to illuminate either side of that car and the road up to that car.

You learn something new every day. I'm not massively up on this technology yet.

 

[icowden]

You learn something new every day. I'm not massively up on this technology yet.

This is an illustration showing that both the car coming toward and the car going away are in shadow as the led matrix adjusts dynamically:-

 

[sheddy]

Night driving in rain on busy unlit roads now fills me dread.
Fortunately I no longer need to.

 

[lazybloke]

Does anyone use yellow anti-glare specs?
Any good?

 

[simongt]

A couple of years ago, I bought a pair of Bloomoak 'Day / Night Driving Glasses' for about £18 on Amazon and I'm perfectly happy with them. Keep the night time dazzle down from oncoming traffic pretty well as sunlight during the day.
I bought my son a pair as he's an HGV driver and he's well pleased with his.
But bear in mind that the sensitivity of folk's eyes vary a great deal, so it's probably horses for courses.