Have spent a bit of time doing some night riding lately, and in spite of the new technology of the front LED headlight, I am somewhat underwhelmed. Spent some time googling, but the only comments I can find in Reviews is how well the LED light works...
What am I missing?
My Legacy Valk and ST1100 have 60/45 H4 bulbs (stock was 45/45) , and the night time use is, well brilliant. Big differences between low and high, with great full patterns.
On the 2014, it casts a very wide pattern on low - so wide, that it spreads great light for prolly 80+ feet in width - heck, it lights up the shoulder of the opposite lane of travel! Seriously, it does. But I swear the width is more than the front projection. While handy for dear spotting in the woods, not so great for spotting 2x4's or tire "alligators" shed from our local leviathans of the road. But that's a rant for another time...
Then when I switch to high, I get a nice little ... little being the operative word... spot going forward, in addition to the wide spread of the low beam. But there remain gaping holes in the pattern coverage on high beam.
By contrast, the Legacy Valk and the ST1100 lights coverage does not have the same holes. They provide uniform, effective light everywhere, and I feel much more comfortable with these lights going down the freeway at 75 at night coming home from work. Even when considering the "Fog Lights" that the PO installed in the 2014 front cowl; these seem too low to be really effective; they definitely add light, but it is almost too diffuse to be of much help in lighting up dangers in the dark. Maybe that's why they are called Fog Lights...
By contrast (little joke...) I added 4" Clearwater Krista dimmable LEDs for driving lights on the Legacy Valk - at 3000 lumens each, they should be called daymakers. Quite literally. Maybe 30 miles of my commute is on mostly empty freeway, which at this time of year is pitch black. As good as the Legacy Valk H4 bulbs are, the Kristas manage to provide functional lighting about 1/2 mile ahead - first time I have been secure in not outrunning my headlights - yet are dimmable to look like Moto Cop lights during the day. Which has the added benefit of ..influencing... cagers to move their dumbasses out of the fast lane, obstructing traffic doing 65 and yacking on the phone... but again, a rant for another time...
It's not like there is any adjustment on the 2014 Valk LED, like making the low pattern narrower, or the high pattern ...bigger. ???
