LED lighting choices

[jmann]

I posted this on the general board with minimal response so thought I would give the tech board a shot.

I recently purchased the adapter ring that Darksider (Josh) designed and had manufactured for us Valkyrie riders so that we can enjoy the benefits of better lighting. Since receiving my bracket I have been researching the various choices of LED head lights and I must say there are a ton of choices ranging from inexpensive to very expensive. I was hoping that perhaps some of you out there who had purchased the same adapter might have already purchased a LED head light and might be able to provide real world experience with what you purchased. Some of the blogs I read the riders were critical of the beam of various brands and how on dark curvy roads you end up with dark areas in your travel path when leaning through curves. I am hoping that I can make one purchase of a light assembly and be happy with it without going through the trail and error phase. Thanks for any possible insight you can provide.

John

[bikerboy1951]

I think most if not all of them have a plastic lens covering the bulb.  The only one I know of that uses glass for the lens is HD, so it is possible to scratch the lens.  If you look on EBay and read the specs you will notice that the output for low and high beams varies quite a bit.
For example check out item #201667659412.  Low beam is 3600 lms and high is 4800 lms.  Others are considerably less.  Not recommending any seller or bulb, just giving you an idea of what to look for.  There are tons listed on EBay as well as other sites.
Happy looking.  The daymaker led is a vast improvement over stock or any other type of bulb you might install in the stock headlight.

Brad

[timmers]

John

I bought the JW Speaker 7" back in November 2014. JWS manufactures the Daymaker as well and their version was a little cheaper. The JWS light is so much better than the stock Valk bulb, but there is a definite light pattern. I cannot speak with experience about the cheaper versions available now, but from picts I have seen they appear to have a decent light pattern on par with or maybe better than my more expensive JWS.

I ended up complementing my JWS with LED spots and the dark areas are now gone. The most beneficial outcome of the spots is the lighting of the sides of the road. I did not realize how many deer are just off the roadway at night!

IMHO, buy the cheap headlight and splurge on some spots.