No HID's on HD's?

mistermcgoo · October 24, 2019

So..

My 2018 1500 is at the dealer for service and they gave me a 19' 2500 Duramax High Country loaner. This is my first time driving a 2500, let alone a Duramax.. and man, this thing is sweet! What a beast. What totally shocked me though is why don't they come standard with atleast HID's? This thing literally has EVERY option imaginable, yet I was shocked to see that yellow hue of halogens reflected back at me from the car in front of me on my way home from the dealer. It blows my mind that such an expensive truck doesn't come with premium lighting. Even every trim of the K2 1500's came with them standard..

Edited October 24, 2019 by mistermcgoo

SierraHD17 · October 24, 2019

Chevs don't. GMC has their shitty HIDs in them which I do not consider an upgrade owning both, but people like them better because they are white light.

TXGREEK · October 24, 2019

Definitely awesome trucks but less comfy than your 1500 especially over bumps. I believe (may be wrong) that the 2020’s are going to have on new lighting.

Sent from Above

TXGREEK · October 24, 2019

Chevs don't. GMC has their shitty HIDs in them which I do not consider an upgrade owning both, but people like them better because they are white light.

Hey, I love my shitty HID’s!

Sent from Above

amxguy1970 · October 24, 2019

So what you are saying is the halogen lights are plenty good because you had no idea they weren't HID's until you saw in the car in front of you... So I guess HID/LED isn't the end all night and day difference so many crack them up to be? It is much nicer replacing a light bulb for $30 or headlight for $150 with a halogen than a $500 LED or $1500 LED headlight assembly. I will take halogen please and thank you.

Tyler

TXGREEK · October 24, 2019

I replaced my wife’s Yukon lights with HID, huge difference and then sold it and bought her a new BMW SUV with laser LEDs that move with a steering wheel, now these are awesome!

mistermcgoo · October 24, 2019

3 hours ago, amxguy1970 said:

So what you are saying is the halogen lights are plenty good because you had no idea they weren't HID's until you saw in the car in front of you... So I guess HID/LED isn't the end all night and day difference so many crack them up to be? It is much nicer replacing a light bulb for $30 or headlight for $150 with a halogen than a $500 LED or $1500 LED headlight assembly. I will take halogen please and thank you.

Tyler

Not sure how you surmised that bud? What I meant by the "car in front of me" comment was that I was driving home in the daylight and had no way of knowing what lighting the truck had until it was reflected back at me..

Geez, this wasn't meant to be a HID vs. halogen war thread. Just curiosity as to why top of the line 2500's don't come with "upgraded" lighting is all..

And my 18' 1500 is the first vehicle I have owned that has HID's and I can confidently say that these HID's are better than any halogens I've had in the past. And no, not just because they're "white".

Edited October 24, 2019 by mistermcgoo

SierraHD17 · October 24, 2019

The factory HID is a pathetic 25 watt bulb... it's terrible. I "upgraded" mine to a 35 watt D3S and they are still a pencil beam light. They could be good but that would require a housing and projector redesign.

That said the Chev low beams are a projector with a halogen and the high beam is a stand alone separate bulb.

Thomcat · October 24, 2019

30 minutes ago, TXGREEK said:

Hey, I love my shitty HID’s!

Sent from Above

I didn't love mine, I tolerated them. At least with halogens in separate reflectors you can always retrofit with more powerful LEDs and get brightness plus white light....especially useful on the 2500+ with separate reflectors for high and low beams. The HID projectors in my '16 were much better for lighting than the halogen projectors in my Malibu which is only useful as a daytime grocery getter, but at utter crap when compared to the LED reflector headlights in my '19 RST or the "D" lens LEDs in my Traverse. concept is simple math 6 is greater than 4 is greater than 2.

Driving on unlit back roads at night just crawling with critters casting to be hood ornaments I know good lighting from crap. I purposely take test rides of new vehicles at nighttime and spent the extra bucks for LED reflectors over lower line HID projectors. In fact projector lenses are a strp down from reflectors. Projectors take a perfectly good bright, white HID bulb and stick it in a single convex lens housing where it can operate at full brightness only on high beam, and when you switch to low a shutter comes down and cuts off the top half of the beam, not only reducing light but setting up a meniscus where all light is projected out the lower half and none out of the top where nothing is visible in the distance. Compare 2 HID high beams this with 6, yes 6, high intensity LEDs each in its own focused housing projecting all their light forward because with this setup the lows and high remain lit at the same time at full brightness. A throwback to the 60s where they used 4 headlights systems to get more tungsten light on the road. Retrofit the 2500+ beams with LEDs and the you get 4 LEDs forward on high while the projectors can only supply 2, no matter what bulb you a stick in them.

Running all 6 LEDs at night on high no more chance of critter hood ornaments.

mistermcgoo · October 24, 2019

15 minutes ago, Thomcat said:

I didn't love mine, I tolerated them. At least with halogens in separate reflectors you can always retrofit with more powerful LEDs and get brightness plus white light....especially useful on the 2500+ with separate reflectors for high and low beams. The HID projectors in my '16 were much better for lighting than the halogen projectors in my Malibu which is only useful as a daytime grocery getter, but at utter crap when compared to the LED reflector headlights in my '19 RST or the "D" lens LEDs in my Traverse. concept is simple math 6 is greater than 4 is greater than 2.

Driving on unlit back roads at night just crawling with critters casting to be hood ornaments I know good lighting from crap. I purposely take test rides of new vehicles at nighttime and spent the extra bucks for LED reflectors over lower line HID projectors. In fact projector lenses are a strp down from reflectors. Projectors take a perfectly good bright, white HID bulb and stick it in a single convex lens housing where it can operate at full brightness only on high beam, and when you switch to low a shutter comes down and cuts off the top half of the beam, not only reducing light but setting up a meniscus where all light is projected out the lower half and none out of the top where nothing is visible in the distance. Compare 2 HID high beams this with 6, yes 6, high intensity LEDs each in its own focused housing projecting all their light forward because with this setup the lows and high remain lit at the same time at full brightness. A throwback to the 60s where they used 4 headlights systems to get more tungsten light on the road. Retrofit the 2500+ beams with LEDs and the you get 4 LEDs forward on high while the projectors can only supply 2, no matter what bulb you a stick in them.

Running all 6 LEDs at night on high no more chance of critter hood ornaments.

Thanks for the education there, that was a lot of info I honestly did not know! I'm sure I'll be looking for LED's in my next truck as I've heard nothing but good things about them.

As someone coming from lower end halogen's housed in reflectors in all of my prior vehicles.. keep in mind, though not top of the line, they are still an upgrade from what I'm used to and I am happy with them for the time being.

Edited October 24, 2019 by mistermcgoo

Ozer · October 24, 2019

I have the retrofit stores Morimoto kit on my 2014 sierra, amazing output and high beams seem to shine a mile down.

It cost me $170 for the kit but i would pay that all day, very worth the upgrade. Look into those if anyone looking to upgrade.

SierraHD17 · October 24, 2019

I have the same morimoto lights in my 17 HD. As I said... pencil beams. I like seeing more than just the lane I am driving in.

TXGREEK · October 24, 2019

The factory HID is a pathetic 25 watt bulb... it's terrible. I "upgraded" mine to a 35 watt D3S and they are still a pencil beam light. They could be good but that would require a housing and projector redesign.

That said the Chev low beams are a projector with a halogen and the high beam is a stand alone separate bulb.

Doesn’t matter what watt the bulbs are, better visibility is BETTER visibility. My 18 GMC 1500 completely blows away previous 14 and 16 year models I’ve own with that 100 yr old halogen technology. Swap out a bulb with HO Led still not good cause of the inside design, I tried it with my wife’s Yukon and immediate disappointment.

Sent from Above

SierraHD17 · October 24, 2019

I have to disagree. I drive exclusively in darkness unimpeded by never ending city light pollution and I will take my stock 2013 Silverados lights over my 2017 Sierras anyday for vision and clarity. Not to mention the spread of light to the ditches off the roadway... The hids have that capability and are plenty bright but the existing stock projector limits it. And with the original 25 watt bulbs it came with from GM it was dimmer overall...

Edited October 24, 2019 by SierraHD17

Ozer · October 24, 2019

3 hours ago, SierraHD17 said:

I have the same morimoto lights in my 17 HD. As I said... pencil beams. I like seeing more than just the lane I am driving in.

i dont have that issue, in high beams they are pretty straight but mine are wide on low beams.

Can you turn the bulbs to get a more horizontal spread? Been a while, i cant remember if the bulbs can be spun.

You can also get some decent fogs and point them to the side a bit perhaps? Stock fogs are garbage, even with upgraded bulbs.

Edited October 24, 2019 by Ozer