LED V.S HID Headlights, What Is Better? 🤔

May 12, 2022

When it comes to upgrading your headlights bulbs, what is the best option for your ride LED or HID’s???

The 4 main factors to consider:

Brightness ⚡
Price 💰
Reliability / Lifespan ⏱️
Installation Difficulty 😬

1. Brightness (Which Is Brighter?)

There is a wide variety of different brightness levels you can get when it comes to LED & HID headlights which gets measured in the unit of “Lumens”.

LED’s

On the lower and of the quality spectrum, you will find LED’s that produce around 3,000 Lumens per bulb. However when you look at top of the line bulbs that are designed specifically to be as bright as possible you can get LED bulbs with as much as 12,000 combined lumens (6,000 per bulb).

These Platinum Gold Edition LED Headlights are an example of LED’s that produce 12,000 lumens per set.

HID’s

When it comes to the brightness of HID’s theres no doubt that they are also a very bright option. In terms of lumens you will find that the range is actually very similar to that of the LED’s (3,000 to 6,000 per bulb

With that being said, I would personally give the brightness category a tie between these two types of bulbs.

Points: (LED = 1) (HID= 1)

But let’s compare these headlights in another area…

2. Price (Which Costs Less?)

Let’s say you want to buy a new BBQ. There’s some cheap ones, stupid expensive ones and then there’s the middle ground. Shopping for headlights will be quite similar.

LED’s

The average price range for a pair of LED headlights (2 bulbs) is $40-$90 USD.

There does exist specialty LED headlight models out there like RGB+W Headlights, however for the sake of this blog post I am talking about just basic, single colour headlight bulbs.

HID’s

On the low side HID Kits start around $115 and go all the way up to more than $300 USD! I have personally seen an online company selling an HID headlight kit for $417 USD which literally costs more than our entire Double Row RGB+W Wheel Lights setup! 😅

There’s truly no comparison in price when it comes to LED & HID and the LED’s win this one by a long shot!

Points: (LED = 2) (HID= 1)

The price of the product is only one part of it though, what about the price of installation?? 🤔

3. Installation Difficulty (Can You DIY??)

The difficulty of installation is a very important factor because of 2 reasons specifically.

Can you do it yourself to save money on installation?
If you don’t want to install it yourself how long will it take? (shop labour ain’t cheap!)

LED’s

A huge benefit of using LED headlights is that the installation could not be any easier. Almost all LED headlight fitments are simply a direct plug & play design.

Do consider the difficulty of removing your headlight housings. This step could potentially slow you down, for example, a 2015 Dodge Ram requires a longer housing installation process where a 2005 Dodge Ram headlight can easily be changed out start to finish in under 5 minutes!

HID’s

There’s a lot more involved with an HID kit than the LED.

The Ballast
The Relay & Harness

HID systems need to have a ballast between the HID bulb and the vehicles factory headlight plug in so it can convert the power coming from your vehicle to something that can be used to power the HID bulb.

However some HID kit’s are not able to plug directly into the factory plug in of your vehicle even with the ballast and in those cases you’ll need a relay to draw power directly from your battery instead.

Needless to say LED’s dominate in the sector of simplicity!

Points: (LED = 3) (HID= 1)

4. Reliability (What Lasts Longer?)

The main thing to consider when it comes to reliability is going to be the rated lifespan of the product in units of hours.

LED’s

Most LED headlights are rated for at least 30,000 hours of use and higher end sets like the Platinum Gold Edition bulbs are rated for an insane 50,000 + hours!

For scale, theres 8,760 hours in 1 year so these LED bulbs will last you for more than just a few years!

HID’s

HID’s do not have as long of a lifespan as an LED (typically ranging from 10,000 - 20,000 hours). The main reason they don’t last as long as an LED is because HID bulbs use gas and over time they gradually lose the chemicals inside the bulb that creates the light.

Points: (LED = 3) (HID= 1)

To recap, LED’s are easier to install, cost less money, are more reliable AND they do not produce any less light than a set of HID’s.

You know, there's a reason (or 5) why we ONLY make LED headlights for our customers! 😉

Wan’t some brighter headlights?

Give our Platinum Gold Edition LED Headlight Bulbs a try & you don’t absolutely love how much better you can see driving at night with them installed then just send them back for a refund.