[kip1]

I just drove my X5 in the night after the i8 and I must say that although the lights are cool with their blue hue and they are powerwise ok, the difference to my X5 lights is huge. In the X5 I drive with high beams on constantly and the adaptive high beams do the rest. The rotation in the curbs is magnificent and they are just incredible. I feel the lights in the high tech i8 are outdated and should have been the laserlights from start. I also feel that a cheap retrofit for adaptive high beams should be made availale. just annoys me that the 1 year older X5 has better lights. I see myself now wanting the laserlights bad, and only because of the adaptive capabilities. ..

[Epirali]

Originally Posted by kip1

I just drove my X5 in the night after the i8 and I must say that although the lights are cool with their blue hue and they are powerwise ok, the difference to my X5 lights is huge. In the X5 I drive with high beams on constantly and the adaptive high beams do the rest. The rotation in the curbs is magnificent and they are just incredible. I feel the lights in the high tech i8 are outdated and should have been the laserlights from start. I also feel that a cheap retrofit for adaptive high beams should be made availale. just annoys me that the 1 year older X5 has better lights. I see myself now wanting the laserlights bad, and only because of the adaptive capabilities. ..

I also feel the beam depth and power, specially for high beam, is weak with the LED lights....sigh...

Just to make myself feel better I drive the i3, where the inane high beams do nothing more than just change the color temperature of the low beam but don't actually extend the field by any significant measure (they aren't even LED).

[Baron UK]

Originally Posted by kip1

I just drove my X5 in the night after the i8 and I must say that although the lights are cool with their blue hue and they are powerwise ok, the difference to my X5 lights is huge. In the X5 I drive with high beams on constantly and the adaptive high beams do the rest. The rotation in the curbs is magnificent and they are just incredible. I feel the lights in the high tech i8 are outdated and should have been the laserlights from start. I also feel that a cheap retrofit for adaptive high beams should be made availale. just annoys me that the 1 year older X5 has better lights. I see myself now wanting the laserlights bad, and only because of the adaptive capabilities. ..

Thought mine had adaptive aka auto lights

[kip1]

Originally Posted by Baron UK

Thought mine had adaptive aka auto lights

They are auto on off, not adaptive. In traffic the difference is the adaptive actually work.

[Johan6961]

Originally Posted by kip1

I just drove my X5 in the night after the i8 and I must say that although the lights are cool with their blue hue and they are powerwise ok, the difference to my X5 lights is huge. In the X5 I drive with high beams on constantly and the adaptive high beams do the rest. The rotation in the curbs is magnificent and they are just incredible. I feel the lights in the high tech i8 are outdated and should have been the laserlights from start. I also feel that a cheap retrofit for adaptive high beams should be made availale. just annoys me that the 1 year older X5 has better lights. I see myself now wanting the laserlights bad, and only because of the adaptive capabilities. ..

Well, after my first night drive in my 2 weeks old car, I really hope there is something wrong with my lights.
Because if not, they´d be outdated not only today but also 25 years ago...

[kip1]

Wierd,In Germany I drove to Travemunde in pitch blackness, noticed they werent as good as X5,but not that bad... Doyou mean low/high or both?

[Johan6961]

Both, but especially the high beam

[kip1]

Originally Posted by Johan6961

Both, but especially the high beam

In a test the 4-series LEDs performed worse than the Xenons. They had a very strong frontal area near the car, but a relatively short beam.

http://www.autobild.de/artikel/auto-...r-4429428.html

IN the X5 the car is higher and I think they work much better as the beam goes further. In the i8, I think there is a similar problem as in the 4-series, as itis alow car. I feel they are adequate, but dont reach very far. It is not very dark here in the nights, so I will comment about the high beams more in the winter.

Then again, only in the S-class and Audi A3 did the LEDs perform as well as Xenons.

That said, I prefer the beam color of the LEDs, more like natural light. Very pleasant when driving in the night for long.

If I look at this video, they seem to be very close to what the X5 delivers,doesnt look very special to me. I think it has been saidbefore, the laserlights or minimum adaptive LEDs should have been SE from the beginning:

For comparison some other BMW: