Angel eye LED bulb recommendation please

T

Timmyboybunter

Senior member
 Bristol/Bath
I see a few threads on suitable angel eye bulbs, often with some ebay links which are no longer available.

I bought a set of 'Novsight' bulbs as recommended by 'SimpleCarGuy' on YouTube, but I think Amazon have done their usual trick of changing the available products sitting under one link (or the link was wrong!) as they're too long to physically get into the bulb housing (82mm, for the curious) so ar e being returned.

Reading around, clearly LUX 189's are the premium option - but at £210 plus a frankly p*ss taking £11.50 for delivery, is an eye watering amount of money.

HPB's are also recommended in many places, but I can't see a UK supplier.

My mate Dave installed 'Lumro' bulbs which I did look at a few weeks ago, but now can't find for less than £100.

There are hundreds of options on both Ebay and Amazon, all different shapes, sizes and designs (I'm now looking only at bulbs that are a similar size to a halogen bulb as many of them advertise) but many of them don't have the little break out box thingy which I believe deals with CANBUS issues/interference etc.

So long story short: can anyone personally recommend a recent purchase of LED angel eye bulbs please? I don't want to throw money away on something expensive when a generic cheap and cheerful Chinese bulb will do just fine. Alternatively, are any of the super bright halogen options (Osram, Philips) a viable alternative, colour wise?
 
I have tried various LED bulbs for the halos but never liked them due to the outer ring being hardly visible and overall all the ones I have tried are dimmer than the halogens. So right now I am using some Osram halogens cool blue intense, they are super bright but not quite pure white like LEDS but much better than stock which are very orange! You can pick them up for under 30 GBP:

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Lux are probably buying these from some factory in China and re labelling them and charging a huge mark up. The only positive to the lux from what I can see is the brightness they don't solve the issue with the outer ring. Frankly they shouldn't cost any more than around 80 to 100 GBP. For that money you should get a super bright bulb.

I was approached recently by a factory in China (as I always am) producing a new type of LED bulb, they say this gives light at the same position as the standard halogen and is true 360º light output, which if correct means the issue of the outer ring being hardly visible should be eliminated:

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It's still in development but they reckon they should have it ready in about a month. I am going to try and get my hands on a sample to test. Incidentally when I was testing the various LED bulbs I never installed the canbus resistors expecting the car to throw up errors when the engine was started but surprisingly I didn't get any!
 
Helpful reply as always - thanks :thumbsup:

Yes lots of info about the inner/outer ring difference in brightness, due to the design of the headlight. LUX claim they have manufactured their bulbs specifically to aim the light from their LEDs in the optimum direction for the optical reflecting into the outer halo trick to work (which possibly suggests they're not just rebranding? Not sure) but I am puzzled why all the LED bulbs - which vary immensely in LED placement location - seem to have a dimmer outer ring, whereas standard halogen bulbs don't seem to struggle. Possibly the standard halogens are just that much dimmer in the first place that the difference isn't so pronounced.

Those are Osram Nightbreakers you're running currently? Also good to know about the canbus resistors. I have Carly so presumably can code out any offending checks but I'm also conscious about the flickering I see mentioned in various places too (though most people state that if you have the DRLs set to always on, which I do, no flickering occurs).

I may park it for a while and see how you get on with those new N1 bulbs you mention - will be very interesting to see how they compare. LUX are mentioned all over the place as the go-to brand so they must be doing something right, but the price is a step way too far.

Keep us posted on the bulb progress please! :driving:
 
Not sure whether LUX designed these bulbs ground up specifically for this purpose or if what they say is just marketing speak but looking at some videos on Youtube where people have installed them to me the outer ring doesn't appear any better than the cheaper LED bulbs. I think where they might be different is the longevity and brightness, maybe.

I think the reason why the LED bulbs do not function as well as the halogen is due to not having true 360º light output and in some cases the point on the bulb where the light shines is at a different height to the halogens. When I was playing around with the LED bulbs I discovered that if I turned the bulb to a certain point it would illuminate that outer ring way better but eventually when it comes to its natural stop when installed the bulb has moved and the outer ring doesn't illuminate well. I didn't notice any flickering or the like but my halo are on all the time as DRLs.

This is why I am thinking these new N1 bulbs if as the manufacturer claims gives a true 360º light output and at the same height as halogens the results should be much better. Hopefully somewhere along the line I can get my hands on some sample to test.

The Osrams are their Cool Blue Intense:

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I got mine from Euro Car Parts but you can find them on ebay and Amazon probably for less than what I paid.
 
I just came across this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHwQud-J5hs

The LEDS he is using looks pretty good, they seem to illuminate the outer ring pretty well and at only $60, much better value than the Lux. Interestingly the light doesn't shine 360º but on their Amazon page it does say the light output is at the same height / point as the halogen bulb, so maybe it is positioned in the correct spot.
 
Ha, he has 2 videos about replacing the bulbs. It was the other one with the dodgy link to the bulbs I bought which didn't fit (same brand, 'Novsight', as in the 2nd video you posted).

Still undecided. I found the Osram blue bulbs for £28, but loads of reviews moaning that the colour is more yellow than the promised blue.

I have found a couple of options where the design allows the bulb to swivel within its housing, once it has been twisted into place within the headlight housing. May give this as a try as it seems bulb position is key to getting a reasonably well lit outer ring as you found.
 
Just looking on Amazon UK, it seems Novsight have a ton of different models on offer, bit difficult to work out which one is the same as the ones in that video which seem to do a good job. I did find this one which as you mentioned can be rotated:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOVSIGHT-Headlight-Bulbs-10000LM-6500K/dp/B07MDG7NSW/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=novsight+h8+led&qid=1595117741&sr=8-9

The Osrams are 4200K which isn't pure white and is still a little yellow but still they are way better than the stock bulbs, for pure white you need 6000 - 6500K. My image in the post above shows how the Osrams looks fairly accurately. You can find on eBay and Amazon sellers selling halogen bulbs marked as 6000K but it is impossible to get 6000K with halogen bulbs they are all around 4300K max.
 
Ok, experiment number one. Reviews seem to agree that the light performance of both these and the Osram Boost bulbs are a bit rubbish, but that's irrelevant I guess as all they need to do is light up the halos 😂

Will report back - probably in over a month when they show up.
 

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GRCmoto said:
How did they perform Timmy?
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Very pleased with them. Odd experience actually, which both me and my mate found (I bought a couple of spare sets and sold him one) - when first fitted, I was a bit underwhelmed at the difference as they still looked a bit orangey. Within a week however they had lightened up considerably and now give the white/light blue look I was after.

Can't think why other than some heat has made a difference, but well worth it for the price.
 
I bought the Novsight from Amazon back in September. I’m very pleased with them. This is the link to them on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07T6JT3ZR/ref=cm_sw_r_oth_api_fabc_HRRPJEBBECQBDNCXHHGZ
 
Thanks Timmy, I think I'll give this a try before heading down the LED route - I cant find a single example of an LED replacement that offers consistent positive reviews with regards to the outer ring being dim.
 
GRCmoto said:
ianl - Did they illuminate the outer ring well enough?
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as you say above, not as bright as the inner ring, but I don’t see how any type of bulb can fix an issue with bad design of the rings. My main reason for using them was to have white rings rather than the yellow they came with.
 
Thanks both, went for a pair of the Philips Diamond Vision - £28.

If theyre 80% better than the stock yellow I'll be a happy man.

James - as far as I'm aware the 2013 LCI bought with it white angel eyes.
 
Just be aware you WILL be underwhelmed at the difference in colour when you first fit them!

I'll try and grab a better photo at some point showing what they actually do look like.
 
For comparison, here is the Novsight vs the stock on mine (2010 pre-LCI).
 

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Bulbs arrived the other day, just fitted them. Couldn’t be happier.

For anyone who is concerned about outer ring illumination with the LED kits, just go for the Phillips diamond vision H8. Might not be as white as the LED , but it’s a direct replacement and is 90% there - couldn’t be easier to fit, and your guaranteed decent outer ring illumination.
 

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