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Cibies vs IPF Headlamp

Quadratec has them for 300 each free shipping. So 600 for a set. I'm sure there are cheaper places to find them around 500 for a set. If you know a cheaper place please do share.
 
yossarian19 said:
Biggest difference I've noticed is with an upgraded harness.

I built my own and it isn't so hard - I'd definitely buy the kit from Daniel Stern, though. I pieced mine together and couldn't find 10awg connectors. Made mine with 12 awg, which is plenty thick enough for 90w bulbs. 10AWG is way overkill.

Also, note that for $50 DS will send you everything you need to do it in 10awg and you don't have to hunt around with 4 different suppliers. Go with DS.

Call it $15 for bulbs (amazon.com Hella 100 / 90), $55 for hardware & wire (I shoulda gone with DS) and $40 for Autopals, I've got just north of $100 in my headlights and am pretty darned happy with them.

I'd have a hard time spending $150 on a pair of housings, $45 in bulbs & $139 on a premade harness, though. Why? Because the TruckLite LED headlights are coming down in price. Used to be north of $500 to get a pair of them. Just a short while later, you can find them for $400. Give it six months and I bet you can get them for $350. At that point, the LED upgrade will give you more light for the same price AND won't mess with your DRL / fog light setup. As it is, if you want to go high-end with halogens, you are spending ~$339. Why not spend the $60 extra at that point and get LEDs?

Man, what a nice Saturday morning soapbox session... now time for breakfast
Click to expand...

Generally agree with your points, but a couple things:

1) you don't have to pay $139 for a premade harness. No, I'm not going to suggest the yellow jacketed thing that's sold by many vendors, but Susquehanna Motorsports makes a killer one for about $110. They also sell components on their web site...

2) Have you tried dropping the LEDs into a stock XJ with fogs, and do the stock fogs still work correctly? I'm worried that either the driver's side high beam may glow at low power or else the fogs won't work at all.

3) You're right about pricing coming down though, but I couldn't wait for the LEDs to become reasonable to upgrade my lighting - the stock wiring apparently had degraded enough by the time I got my XJ that the relay harness plus Cibies made a world of difference after dark!

Had I do to it right now if I could find the LEDs for $350 I would definitely give serious consideration to going that route, but as it is I've had my Cibies in for over a year now and they've given me good value for the money (as in, I can see after dark!)
 
yossarian19 said:
Biggest difference I've noticed is with an upgraded harness.

I built my own and it isn't so hard - I'd definitely buy the kit from Daniel Stern, though. I pieced mine together and couldn't find 10awg connectors. Made mine with 12 awg, which is plenty thick enough for 90w bulbs. 10AWG is way overkill.

Also, note that for $50 DS will send you everything you need to do it in 10awg and you don't have to hunt around with 4 different suppliers. Go with DS.

Call it $15 for bulbs (amazon.com Hella 100 / 90), $55 for hardware & wire (I shoulda gone with DS) and $40 for Autopals, I've got just north of $100 in my headlights and am pretty darned happy with them.

I'd have a hard time spending $150 on a pair of housings, $45 in bulbs & $139 on a premade harness, though. Why? Because the TruckLite LED headlights are coming down in price. Used to be north of $500 to get a pair of them. Just a short while later, you can find them for $400. Give it six months and I bet you can get them for $350. At that point, the LED upgrade will give you more light for the same price AND won't mess with your DRL / fog light setup. As it is, if you want to go high-end with halogens, you are spending ~$339. Why not spend the $60 extra at that point and get LEDs?

Man, what a nice Saturday morning soapbox session... now time for breakfast
Click to expand...
Delcity sells everything you need to make you're own harness. Price is?? Depends on how much electrical supplies you want around. I buy all my electrical from them unless I'm needing something I dont have "now".

You'll still have a buck fifty in the Cebie's.

You can buy 100/80W bulbs from Bimmerspecialist for under $5 a bulb.

AutoPals are ok, but Cebie's have a much better beam patteren.

I would like to see to compare a set of those LED lamps. The low beam might be slightly better, but I'm really doubting they can out perform my high beams. In the right locations I can see close to a half mile. I just have my doubts they shine like that.
 
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Bringing up a dead thread.

So when Olympus Off-Road started selling H4 headlights with Cree LEDs I thought I'd give them a shot. Begged my wife and she got me a set for Christmas.

Put them in my Cibie housings and my impression is mixed. Low beam, they kick ass. Maybe even better than the Narva 90-100W bulbs but the lack a little in the high beam area. In my housings I almost couldn't tell the difference between high and low beam.

Now I'm trying to decide if I want to go back to the Narvas or not. I really like the light the LED lights put out on low beam but I'm slightly concerned about the beam cutoff. That distinct line you see on a garage door is gone. They seem to throw light around more than the Narvas do.

A plug to Olympus though. I told my wife about these and she tried to buy them. The website said they were sold out. I talked to Sam and he said they had one open but unused box so she snagged them. Thanks to UPS not keeping up with the Christmas rush they didn't show up till the day after Christmas. The same afternoon a DHL package showed up from China. Someone at Olympus, for whatever reason also had a set drop shipped from the supplier over there. Excellent customer service. I planned on buying a cheap eBay LED light bar for my roof. I now plan to spend extra to get it from them. I know they will take care of me.
 
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Did you take any pics of the LED's and beam/light pics? I've got Cibies and Narva bulbs... but my biggest gripe is the Narva 90-100W bulbs don't last very long on my rig for whatever reason. They are bright and have a great cut-off... but I've had them go out at the MOST inconvenient times.
 
I didn't because I'd burned another set of Narvas out when I had another relay stick. They were back ordered when I tried to buy them so I've had cheap bulbs in for the last few months.
 
FWIW

Turning the vehicle on & off with the lights on will reduce bulb life according to D. Stern. Makes some sense.
I know it's taking me some time to get used to the 'manual' light switch on the XJ after years of driving newer vehicles with Auto lights. But hey, I still miss the old floor dimmers.. yikes! I actually had a 23 yr. old ask me what that button is on the floor when I let him drive my '70 GS..

Gary
 
I have only used Cibie' headlamps since the 80's. Also I prefer their Aux lamps. Currently waiting on one lamp to complete my set-up on my XJ.
 
I run IPF's on my Renix XJ. The Cibies appear to be on par quality-wise with the IPF's I would run either of them on my MJ. First is an upgraded harness though.
 
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