Biggray

Left: LED 2000LMs 6000k. Right: stock. I have to say stock halogen does flood projected area with more full light and more evenly.

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Left: LED 9000LMs 6000k. Right: HID 3200LMs 6000k Key point here is the pattern difference. HID does look better up close but not as significant projecting on the road.

Biggray

Just wanna help out those who are deciding between different ways to upgrade from halogen. I have tried two different types of LED bulb and a HID. To summarize...

1) when picking a light type, besides wattage, lm numbers don't always translate to brightness proportionately for those I tested. Maybe due to headlight housing design or inaccurate advertising. And 6000k colors are not always the same.

2) HID light pattern does look better than LED bulb (although can't match stock HID on my e class) but on the road it is not that significant to my eyes.

3) I tried two LED type bulbs. The one that works is most common design with LED chips on two sides of bulb and heatsink fan at the back. The other one has LED chips completely surround the bulb and also chips facing forward. I thought it will cover light pattern better but it doesn't, probably Mercedes projector design problem.

To summarize HID does produce better light pattern but not significant on the road. And I now use LED for cleaner design and easier setup as HID comes messier ballast and other parts but both are good as long as you have quality design products. Hope that helps.

Gmwml350

I put the Sylvania SilverStar Ultra bulbs in my ML 350 and they made a difference over the OEM bulbs. Maybe a 10% improvement. I am going to make sure my next SUV has the lighting package.

Biggray

ditto on the lighting package. i thought 2020 gle has xenon as standard at least. my mistake assuming too much based on other mercedes models i own that gle would have xenon standard.

kombifan

2020 has standard led lights.