LED or Halogen Headlight? Which is Better For Driving & Why

The halogen and LED headlights are two of the greatest inventions in the field of the automotive lighting industry. Until now, halogen and LED headlights are dominating the automotive lighting market. Some customers prefer halogen bulbs as they are inexpensive and produce standard light beam patterns. However, in the last few years, a large number of drivers have found that switching from halogen to LED headlights has plenty of benefits.

When it comes to choosing the headlight bulbs, you may be confused: What kind of headlight is preferable for driving at night, LED or halogen? We’ve made a full comparison of these two types of car lights in different aspects. Go on reading the following passage, you will find the answer.

Differences Between LED and Halogen Headlights

To get a comprehensive grasp contrast between LED and halogen headlights, we had better understand the different characteristics between these two lamps.

From the chart above, halogen headlights are outweighed by LED headlamps in many aspects as we can see: compared to halogen headlights, LED lights are brighter, more energy-efficient, have less heat emission, and a longer lifespan.

Considering long-term night driving, LED headlight bulbs are much better than halogen bulbs. For these reasons, LED headlight bulbs have been the No.1 choice for some new non-luxury cars. Let us move on to have a deeper understanding of the differences between LED and halogen headlight bulbs.

What is Halogen Headlight?

Halogens are different from regular incandescent bulbs as they include a thin tungsten filament surrounded by halogen gas in a glass capsule. They give out the light when electricity passed, then the filament glows and tungsten will be evaporated. The halogen gas makes the temperature of the filament raised gradually until it almost reaches the melting point of tungsten (3400 degrees).

As mentioned above, halogen headlights are less energy efficient than LED headlight bulbs as most of the energy is wasted in heat instead of light. Halogen lights produce an average brightness of 700 lumens in low beam and 1200 lumen in high beam which is brighter than incandescent bulbs but they are far less than LED bulbs. Mostly, halogen bulbs used in automotive lighting normally emit a yellowish light.

About 90% of vehicles leaving from the factory are equipped with halogen bulbs. They are favored by automotive manufacturers as the cost of halogen bulbs is lower than LEDs and they are easy to be replaced.

What is LED headlight?

To make it simple, LED (Light-emitting diodes) headlight uses semi-conductor (or diodes) to transmit energy-emitting photons to give off light. It is the latest lighting technology and quickly gained popularity in the automotive lighting market.

Although LED headlights generate heat when lighting, they are equipped with an extra heat sink and high-speed fan for better heat dissipation. By keeping the LED bulbs working at a reasonable temperature, they can promise to last a long lifespan of at least 30,000 hours.

Besides LED headlights are favored by many drivers for the main reason that they illuminate stronger and brighter light with less energy consumption. They convert 90% of energy into light and less heat wasted, thus they are more energy-saving than halogen bulbs. Another reason is that LED headlight bulbs allow being designed freely to cater to the appetite of customers. Installing stylish led headlights makes car-lovers feel cool and confident!

With the ever-growing concern on road safety, we can see that more and more vehicles are coming with LED headlight bulbs.

LED Headlights Are Worth It!

By learning the definitions of LED and halogen light bulbs, it is obvious to find that changing your halogen to LED headlights usually has more benefits. Not only LED headlights have become the mainstream in automotive lighting, but they also offer wider pattern, more durability, and environmentally friendly than halogens. Continue to read, Let’s make a visualized contrast between LED and halogens.

Light Distance

By Comparing the light distance between LED and halogens, LED headlights give off 3600 lumens bright white light which is good enough to reach 300 meters ahead of the road. However, halogen headlights can only produce 1200 lumens dim yellowish light at maximum and light up 100 meters of distance.

Energy Consumption 

LED headlights are more energy-efficient compared to halogens, they emit more light and less heat than halogen lamps at the same energy used. LED headlights transfer over 90% of light with under 10% heat-wasting, while halogen headlight bulbs only convert 10% of light and 90% heat-wasting.

Lifespan

Do LED headlights have a longer lifespan than halogens? Here you get the answer: The lifespan of halogen is from 500 hours to 1000 hours and need to be changed about once a year, whereas LED headlight bulb can last as long as 30,000 hours to 50,000 hours, buying the high-quality LED headlight bulb, such as NAOEVO LED headlight, can last up to 50,000 hours, which is enough to make it through the whole lifespan of many vehicles. In a word, LED car lights have the longest lifespan among halogens and HID headlights.

Cost Effectiveness

The cost of buying new headlights is another concern for many drivers. LED headlight bulbs are more cost-effective than halogens for a long period of use. The cost of halogen is approximately ranging from $35 to $100 per pair and the average price is $50. According to 2022 estimated data, the price of LED headlights is around $100 to $200 per pair and $150 on average. A quality LED headlight bulb is capable of lasting up to 5- 10 times longer than halogens.

Assuming that halogen headlights should be replaced 8 times as often as LED headlights, and the average price of halogen is $50 and LED headlight is $150. LED headlights could cost more upfront, but after halogens have been replaced several times, the cost of halogen lamps is slowly exceeding that of LEDs.

Automotive Lighting Trend

Though easy availability and low cost are the main factors for the adoption of halogen headlights. Automotive LED lighting is estimated to show considerable growth in the coming years. The increasing demand in LED light technology is on account of high efficiency, road safety, and optimum brightness capacity.

Best LED Headlight Bulb Recommendation

After reading the above content, it’s clear that LED headlights have more advantages than halogens. How to choose best LED headlights has been another consideration. To provide you some references for LED headlight bulbs, we’ve selected NAOEVO S4 Pro LED bulbs as they fall into the high-quality headlight bulb category. This product is from the leading led headlight manufacturer in China.

NAOEVO S4 Pro LED Headlight Bulb

This S4 Pro LED headlight bulb has acquired lots of 5-star reviews from the customers with numerous compliments about what excellent light models (3 color + Flashing) and how simple the installation was.

Light Testing 

          

          

S4 Pro LED bulbs can satisfy the requirement of night driving as well as in different weather conditions. With 3 colors (6500K white, 4300K warm white, 3000K yellow) + Flashing modes, S4 Pro LED headlight kits are able to deal with foggy, rainy, and Hazy days.

S4 Pro LED headlight bulbs are designed as small as halogen bulbs, equipped with 1.0 mm ultra-thin copper substrate with dual-color chip on two sides which decreases the distance between two sides LED. In this case, it can make the thickness of the light source which is close to the filament of halogen. These bulbs also emit standard light beams without any dark area. The Installation of S4 bulbs is as easy as halogen, look up more installation guides on YouTube.

The S4 Pro LED conversion kits are equipped with a 7500RPM high-speed mute fan and 6063 aluminum heat sink for better heat dissipation. Its operating power can up to 30W 3600LM per bulb with up to 50,000 hours lifespan.

The S4 Pro Led conversions have passed the Frozen Testing, IP67 Waterproof, and High-Temperature Testing. Excellent performance in snowy, rainy days. A 2-year warranty will be available for your buying.

 Conclusion

Whether you choose to have halogen or LED headlights, both of them will still have their place in the world, and LED headlights are the future without a doubt. Come back to the question: “Is LED headlight worth it?” The answer is always yes. It is no surprise that LED headlights are perceived as the superior option to halogens because better driving visibility is always the supporter of piloting a vehicle.

After reading this passage, If you decide to upgrade to LED headlights. We are sure that you can find out which one is the best LED bulbs and don’t have to read some buying guide and search “What is the best led headlight bulb” or “Buying recommendation” again and again on the Internet.