ADVmonster H4 R3 LED Headlight

[Bob Sdaman_imp]

Glad to report that my fingers have thawed out enough to type this, and I think I'll be reading the grip heater thread shortly hereafter.

For now, I'll go ahead and confirm that this new H4 is a pretty good product. I'm astonished, actually. The light is so much brighter than the stock bulb, that I don't think I could ever go back to the normal H4 again. As others have done, I'll wrap this up and tuck it somewhere under the seat for backup, but if these things have anywhere near the expected lifespan as advertised, I don't foresee the need to ever replace it. It really is neat to see how much light reflects back from stop signs and speed limit posts, etc. It's incredible that so much light can come from that little tiny diode, no larger than the O on our keyboards.

I was looking at the stock H4 lamp, and I'm beginning to see why they designed this new R3 so differently from the others. As with the stock, most common H4s have the low beam placed directly above the aforementioned reflector cup, which would seem to direct the light upwards into the bucket. For the high beam, the filament is below, which is just where they moved to secondary LED. This seems to mimic an incandescent bulb as much as possible, with the only difference being a much brighter, whiter light. It really is a phenomenal difference.

I'm a bit surprised that others have recommended to go out to an empty road and adjust for the "high" beam. I would think this would be a better time to adjust for the "low" beam, as that's what seems to matters most. Once the regular beam is adjusted properly, who cares how high the secondary beam shines; the higher and further-ahead, the better it would seem. My main concern on the low beam is to extend every courtesy to other, oncoming drivers. If the directed beam is shining no higher than the bottom of their necks, I think the low beam is adjusted quite properly. I'm still fiddling with it a bit, but I think I have it just about right, and it still gives me about 50 feet of well-lit area beyond my front wheel. I'm not sure what the previous owner did, if anything, but I've actually had to rotate the bucket oh-so-slightly upwards to achieve this.

I'll likely report again as time goes on, but for now, I am one happy, rosy-cheeked cold customer.