Recently switched from JLC Cree to 19LED 8W 5k V-LED Reverse lights.

I admit, the first 2 months I had the JLC Crees installed I was really hyped, happy, and proud to have them. It wasn't long after until I started realizing that I couldn't see shit on my navi back-up camera while in reverse.

The Cree LEDs shine light in a straight focused beam. It's so bright and focused that on the back-up camera display it just shows as a white hot spot in the CENTER of the navi. The left, right, above, and under is still dark and hard to see.

Not only does it still leave areas unlit, but the area that is in the center of the navi camera is still hard to see because the Cree LEDs are so bright that it's kind of hard to distinguish and make or see things in the back up camera.... Here's the picture of JLC and than V-LEDs..

JLC




JLC W/ BRAKES APPLIED (Somewhat lights up the areas that the JLC doesn't illuminate)


19LED 8Watt 5K V-LEDS (no brakes applied at all, just parking/e-brake)




No competition.... OK The JLCs do cost only $40, and the V-LEDs cost $50. Luckily for me, I purchased it from V-LEDs while they were on sale for only $34.99.

On a random note, I noticed when I'm driving alone my "Passenger Airbag" light doesn't light up and say "OFF".

When you guys drive by yourself in the car, does the "Passenger Airbag OFF" light illuminate? I'm assuming my air bag is disabled.... I'm pretty sure it's supposed to light up "OFF" until a passenger actually sits in the seat than the "OFF" actually turns off. Can someone confirm?

 

Yes...that is what it's supposed to do! Way to create a thread on one topic and try and self derail it immediately!

PS...thanks for this review...I've been thinkin about getting some USEABLE LED reverse lights and I've had some questionable experiences with a JLC vendor on the site and would prefer not to deal with him. Glad to know there's a better option.

J.

 

looks good! i might have to pick up a set if they go on sale. $50 is a bit steep for a pair of LEDs. and thats probably + shipping and tax too

 

this thread is hugely helpful to me .. i jsut bought the cree 921 bulb and it really isnt good i got them off ebay but its from a reputable dealer so im not worried about the quality of my bulbs but with comparison of what u showed im buying them.

i emailed the ebay seller already for a return and once i get my money i will be purchasing these

 

Nice comparison. Do you have the link to the exact model you bought ? I wanna make sure I get the same kind of results.

 

thanks
def need the v led ones

 

http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED-B...26829-1-3.html

http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED-B...07296-1-3.html

Pretty sure its these .. Atleast for my accord thats them but Im pretty sure were the Same.. Ones 5000k the other is 6000k

 

rofl thanks man. For some reason I was always under the assumption that the "OFF" light was supposed to be lit when no one is sitting in the passenger seat... IDK why. I do notice that it does light up 'OFF' as soon as I start my car, but about 5 seconds afterwards it turns off and the only thing lit is the words "Passenger Airbag".

My car is a salvage title so it had me thinking that my passenger side airbag was already once deployed and therefore doesn't have one anymore so maybe that was why the passenger airbag light doesn't say "OFF" when I 'thought' it was supposed to. Thanks for your reassuring words!

Mayor cheese linked it below!

Correct, these are the exact ones that I purchased.

I bought the 5000K (5K) ones because I noticed the JLC Cree ones were more on the 6k-7k side. They are very bright but has a blue/purplish hue to it. They are no where near WHITE when seen in person.

The 5k V-LEDs reverse are so crisp pure white... I couldn't have asked for it to be any cleaner looking. Matches 5k interior and 5k license plate lights spot on.

I'm sure both 5k and 6k V-LED reverse lights will be very bright, but I believe the 5k will have more usable light output. Just my opinion.

 

These are what mine look like the JlC but these are on my accord coupe .. My reverse lights are in my tail lights .. Yours are next to license plates which is why i get no light ..waiting for ebay seller to respond back hopefully accept my return so i can get my 30 bucks and buy the vled

 

Thanks for the reviews, i currently have the JLC ones aswell and probably will switch over when there's a sale at vleds..

 

The JlC look nice but arent bright enough

 

Thanks for the review. Looks like I'll be ordering some v-leds

 

Nice review, I am using some vleds from back in the day. They seem to do the job well enough but prob not as good as those new ones.

 

I'll have to pull the trigger on this too...my and my fiancees reverse lights are all show...can't see shit!

 

i told you these were worth it!!! glad you went this way, they really make a huge difference when backing up

 

Nice review

 

Thanks for the great review. This helps a lot in my search for a replacement for my stock bulb. Just got my windows tinted and am relying on the navi for backup more.

I was looking on the VLED site the other day and noticed they have another 921 bulb but this has 68 LED's but no mention of wattage (I assume it is the same as your 8w) or if it fits in our housing. The Tim the tool man in me says more LED's is brighter but I don't know. Another thing is the site shows no lumen outputs for their bulbs.

 

I'm sure those 68LED bulbs you see are brighter compared to the OEM halogen bulbs, but when compared to the 19LED reverse lights I really doubt they are "just-as bright". Reason I assume this is because the reverse lights are priced at $50 while the 68LED bulbs are only $35.

Also, the reverse lights clearly state they are 8watts while the 68LED ones don't say anything at all so i'm pretty sure it's safe to assume that it draws less power and therefore not as bright.

I'm not 100% sure though... My rear LED turn signals are 68LED and my front switchbacks are 60LED and they are no where near as bright as my 19LED 8W reverse lights. I see reviews of people using the 68LED as reverse lights so I'm sure you can run it without a problem, but I'm pretty sure V-LED would prefer for you to run the 8W 19LEDs as reverse lights instead due to brightness... Maybe that's why it actually says "High-Power Bulb" compared to the 68LED that doesn't list wattage nor "High-Powered"

 

My airbag light doesn't light up if no one is in the passenger seat that would be terrible to look at all the time!

Just a couple notes on LEDs if your interested, and no I don't have any of these models your reviewing. Higher wattage does not necessarily mean brighter, It all depends on the efficiency of the LED (measured Lumens/Watt) Also highly dependent on the color as most red,green,amber, blue LEDs are significantly less efficient then white.

Also if this bulb is sold as a reverse light it is probably being driven to its max and most likely overdriven to achieve extra lumens. It would most likely fail if kept on like a running light such as your switchbacks.

If I were you I would just wire up (1) Cree XM-L and it will blow all these pnp bulbs out of the water.

Heres one of my XM-L's only driven at 2A, max is 3A putting out almost 1000 lumens for one LED. One problem is you have to make it yourself .

 

Moar info & DIY.

 

Roger, that is impressive. deff more info on that.

 

Roger, do you have any pictures of how that looks on the navigation screen?

The only problem I see with that is that it's also like the JLC Cree bulb. It's DIRECTIONAL. I'd sure as hell would love to see how a 1,000 lumen LED would light up the navi display though. As long as there isnt any hot spotting at all like the JLC Cree than it would be a good alternative.

Also, how much $$ total in materials did you spend on making just 1 bulb?

 

I'll try to get some updates in a few weeks sorry guys. I just moved into my first house this past weekend and I have a lot of sorting and setting up of the new garage (and the rest of the house) plus work everyday My list is long and its not just car stuff anymore.


Directional yes BUT I found a solution its a lens called a virtual filament. I saw it inside this LED light bulb below then contacted the supplied who was able to sell me the lenses separately. Its the only lens i've found that enables you to still utilize the entire reflector with one LED light source. I have purchased probably 100 different lenses over the past year too.

This is just a side project for a DRL in the 07-08 headlights but it would probably work great as a reverse light too.

 

Roger, that is awesome. I settled on a set of cree bulbs I bought on ebay for 20 shipped, will post pics when they come in. had to keep it cost effective since I buy a set for me and my girl when it comes to a safety feature

 

Looks good. Probably be my next little project.

 

Yea I have to catch these when they go on sale.

I just have some cheapo Reverse LED's in the car right now.

 

was hoping they'd have another sitewide sale for vleds, but looks like right now they only have a select few stuff on sale..

that side project diy led looks interesting, can't wait for more info

 

...Reverse LEDs???

 

always knew the LEDS were better lol anyways guys!!! they are having another sale!!

 

ABP, those are HID's, no? I went that route, but ended up with a weird short so I reversed the mod (ironic!?!) Today I got my CREE's from ebay...WOW, they are bright. Good enough for me and only paid $20 shipped.

 

^ hmm how strange but i hear ya, LEDs r nice bak there anyways fellaz

 

thanks for the comparison thread. just got my V-LEDs for $40 shipped on sale

 

I got a pair of JLC cree bulbs, but these V-leds seem to be a lot brighter. I was thinking about buying a set of these and selling my JLC's.

Should I get the 6k or 5k for me 04 TL? I back out of a long driveway a lot and have tints and it's pretty hard to see. This is more for being able to see when backing up rather than looks.

 

Well, 5k would be more of a pure white, and like most would say, more usable light so that would be the "best" option if going this route for the best brightness.. the 6k would have a blue-ish hue to the light, and would not be as pure white as 5k. I just ordered some 5k on sale right now too, and plan to sell my JLC's..

 

Told you they're bright

 

I got a set of CREE on ebay, won 2 auctions for about 20 bucks each shipped...one for me, one for fiancee's accord. Took a few pics...Aside from being directional, we don't have reverse camera's so we're very happy with how much they light up behind you. Aside from being useful for YOU to see, it also helps people that might be walking behind your car see that you are backing up.

In comparison to old cheap LED

In comparison to OEM

Both CREE

Hard to capture the useable light, but trust me, it's good stuff.

 

I suppose the Crees are good if you don't have a navi and you use the side mirrors, rear view mirror to see.

But as for usable light on the navi display the v-leds 19-led 8w's a winner hands down.

 

Well, especially based on your pictures, I concur. I have about 20% tint on the back and I can't see anything without putting the window down and physically looking out anyway...with the old LED's, I couldn't see even when I WAS looking.

 

I got tints on my car as well, not sure what percent because they were on the car when I purchased it, but I had JLC Cree bulbs and just purchased the V-leds 5k 8w reverse lights. I could barely see out the window while reversing especially in a dark area just like rockstar143 said. I bought these(V-LED) because everyone said they were better. IMO the cree are much brighter, but both suck when reversing at night. So for a TL wo a reverse cam and with tinted windows, not to mention tinted factory mirrors, were pretty much S.O.L. So now I got two pairs of reverse LED's both which don't help me at all. The reason i bought LEDS was exactly for the fact to not have to roll the window down (I live in CT and sucks rolling the windows down in the winter lol) when reversing and I cannot really say one is better than the other for us without a cam.

 

Interesting, as i have a set of VLEDS sitting waiting for install, while i have my JLC ones currently on.. i have a navi so i notice the hotspots as well on the screen, however i use both navi and mirrors and look behind me as well while reversing (habit).. the back IS tinted.. so as far as just light output viewing from the rear, which ones give out more light?

i know that the vleds look more spread on the navi, but i also wanted to know which one was brighter by the output of the rear while outside or whatever.. if you get what im sayin... basically which are brighter overall.. without the navi in play..