[Jason B]

The car I found has Laser headlights. Was wondering if anyone has ever compared both in an I8?
It's only for high beams going over 40mph it seems. They are, $6,000 option.

[vance]

Only works above 43mph, only works with auto high beam function. Meaning you can’t manually turn them on. It is, however, quite noticeably brighter than the regular high beam under 43mph. Is it worth it? Subjective but it also adds the second LED bar on the day time running lights which looks a lot better than the single one with the base headlights. Oh and the lasers cost $7600 (each) retail to replace if damaged. It mostly depends on how much you value the DRL look and how often you realistically use high beams

[evanevery]

Worth every penny. Quite a bit more light. See here:

https://www.bmwblog.com/2014/11/25/e...dlights-night/

[vance]

Blog is referencing European version of the lights which are significantly brighter than the weaker US version. You can tell the difference by the yellow warning triangle sticker (federal law to have it) on the US version. US version is still bright but nowhere near the EU one

[evanevery]

Originally Posted by vance

Blog is referencing European version of the lights which are significantly brighter than the weaker US version. You can tell the difference by the yellow warning triangle sticker (federal law to have it) on the US version. US version is still bright but nowhere near the EU one

Yes, the US requires a laser sticker but I've NEVER heard or seen any info regarding a difference in the headlight technology or brightness (vs Europe). Please reference the documentation which supports this!

[vance]

https://www.bmwblog.com/2015/06/23/l...ed-in-the-u-s/

Im sure there are more but that article says 2x for US and 3x for EU. Anyone that followed the laser light technology will know this is true as well. I have the laser lights also

[vance]

Also:

http://www.bimmerfile.com/2015/11/17...ing-to-the-us/

https://electrek.co/2015/11/25/bmw-i...n-the-u-s/amp/

“However it’s worth noting that laser lights in the US will be around 30% less powerful than their Euro equivalents.”

[evanevery]

Ack! Well, color me in denial...

Those documents are all from 2015 and appear to have been born of the same source info (as much of them is identical).

Is there anything more recent supporting this as well?

Denial aside, I'm wondering if this could be modified with coding (like cars with adaptive headlights)...

[vance]

I’m sure it’s a hardware limitation, not software. The laser lights in the Audi R8 V10 Plus are also weaker in the US compared to EU for the same reason