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I recently came across a product that peaked my interest. It was an LED headlight kit that I saw on Amazon (and also on eBay) that had glowing reviews from hundreds of customers -- some of whom were past users of HID -- and was supposedly made up various technologies that allowed for it to perform similar -- if not superior -- to the current HID offerings & was far superior to OEM halogens. The product was the Opt7 Fluxbeam LED Headlight Kit & is sold by the Opt7 group.
Although am not familiar with their products, I was still interested in trying out this headlight kit as I have always been curious as to the performance of an aftermarket LED in an OEM projector housing. Currently, as most of you familiar with my thread know, I having been using a pair of 5000K Xtreme HID sold by our site sponsor @XenonDepot as my low beams for the past couple of months. They have performed perfectly thus far and proved their durability after surviving an accident I was involved in recently.
So why would I consider swapping to LED you might ask?
Simply because of some of the benefits LED has over HID which include: longer lifespan, higher durability, cooler running temperature, lower lumen depreciation, easier to install (since they usually don't need a ballast) & finally my favorite --> instant on w/ no warm up period.
With that said, here is my comparison of the Opt7 Fluxbeam vs. XenonDepot's Xtreme 5000K HID & the Kensun All-in-one LED headlight conversion kit. I am first going to briefly touch on each kit’s package contents & specifications, then move unto their performance & finally end with my conclusion.
** Package content & Specs **
Opt7 Fluxbeam
The Opt7 kit comes w/ two led bulbs, a pair of capacitors (item 1 in the pic) & reverse polarity wires (item 2 in the pic below). I ended up needing the reverse polarity wires in order to get the LEDs to work but didn't need the capacitors.
They have a 6000K color temperature and each bulb is rated at 3500 lumens with 30w of power. In addition to that, sitting at the bottom of the Opt7 bulbs is a dual 7000 rpm fan that serves as the cooler for the LED. It uses a CREE MK-R bulb & comes with 2-yr lifetime support warranty. Opt7 expect their LED to last the mundanely claimed 50,000 hr life of most LED on the market.
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Kensun All-in-One
The Kensun came with two bulbs and two pairs of glass filters. The filters do not make the LEDs any brighter but are simply to give the customer color options. Hence, one can give their low beams either a yellower look or more of a blueish tint if they prefer. I didn't use either.
Oddly enough, Kensun didn’t provide the color temperature rating of its headlight kit on the Amazon page but if I had to guess, they are most likely 6000-6500K being of the LED department. Their lumen rating come just shy of the Opt7 at 3000 lumens with 30W of power per bulb. It too comes with a full 2-yr warranty.
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XenonDepot Xtreme HID
As I installed my HIDs a while back, I wasn't able to get a picture of the package contents. So I borrowed a photo from Mr. @GreatAvalon thorough review of the XD HID kit which you can find here.
My set has a 5000K temperature (3000 lumens) rating with a bulb electric power of 35 +/- 3W & a voltage rating of 85 +/- 17V. The ballast have a dual voltage rating of 12/24V. Rated lifetime is between 2500 & 3000 hours at 35W & the kit comes with a 3-yr warranty.
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** Performance **
>> Cut off on the wall <<
For comparison purposes, here is the low-beam wall cut off (w/ the car approx 3-4ft away) of the Xtreme. As many on this forum already know, the Xtreme HID kit works very well w/ our Camry projector housing. Other than the “squirrel spotters,” their cut off is great.
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Next I decided to replace my right pax (passenger) side low-beam with the Opt7. Initially I wasn’t able to get it to work with a direct PnP (without out using any of the added adapters) & I ended up needing the reverse polarity adapter to get it to work. But the capacitor that was also included with the kit wasn’t needed for my application.
As I expected, the Opt7 came out whiter that the 5K Xtreme HID and almost make the XenonDepot Xtreme look yellow in the pics but in person they were pure white while the Opt7 portrayed more of a cool white projection. I was surprised w/ just how close the cutoff of Opt7 was to the Xtreme HID with the main difference being the steep climb which you can see as the right end of the Opt7’s projection compared to the Xtreme’s flatter cut off.
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Here is how they looked w/ my XenonDepot Phillips LMZ LED high-beams on.
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For this next comparison, I switched the Opt7 out for the Kensun All-in-One & right off the bat it was clear that the Kensun was the least bright amongst all the kits. As you see in the picture, it lacked the light beam focus the Opt7 had and it is very clear when compared tot the Xtreme HID on the left. This further caused me to put Kensun’s 3000 lumen claim into question.
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Here is how they looked w/ my high-beams on.
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In order to have as fair of a comparison as possible, I replaced my passenger side low-beam with the Xtreme HID & replaced the driver side with the Opt7. Surprisinly, the results were the same. The XenonDepot HID was still able to project a sharp cutoff and the Opt7 still conveyed the steep wing like cutoff that you see on the extreme left.
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Next I swapped the pax side with the Kensun and kept the Opt7 on the drivers side. As you can see, the Opt7 had a much stronger beam projection when compared to the Kensun.
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>> Note <<
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fit the Kensun All-in-One into my driver side projector housing due to its length. The Kensun bulbs were actually about 1.5cm longer than the Opt7. I would have had to remove my fusebox in order to fit it & I wasn’t willing to go that route. In case anyone was wondering why I didn’t do a test w/ the Kensun on the driver side low-beam.
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Lastly, here are some shots to give a comparison of the color reproduction btw the various headlight kits and my VLED 6K switchback parking lights. As expected, the LEDs were a better match than the 5K HIDs.
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>> On the road performance <<
Thus far, the Opt7 & Kensun performed acceptably with my wall projection test. So I decided to head out to the road to see how they would fair against my current XenonDepot Xtreme HIDs.
First up was the Opt7 (drivers side) vs. the Xtreme HID (pax side). The first thing that came to my attention was the whitish washed up color the Opt7 gave the plants & debris. It probably seemed that way as my eyes were adjusting to the 6000K color temperature after driving with 5000K for months. But it was apparent to me that the Xtreme HIDs provided a more accurate color reproduction which makes sense as it is closer to the traditional OEM 3200K halogen bulb color temp.
Furthermore, I noticed the Xtreme HID had a stronger light output than the Opt7. If you look closely at the pictures, notice just how bright & further outward the middle focus is. In comparison, the Opt7 seemed to start of strong for a few feet from ground level but fade away as the distance got longer.
![]()
*********
Next was the Opt7 (drivers side) vs. the Kensun (pax side). Not to my surprise, the projection of the Kensun was much weaker than both the Xtreme HID & the Opt7. If you look to the right side projection in the image & compare it the to Xtreme’s from earlier, the difference is pretty noticeable.
At this point, I knocked the Kensun out of the comparison to focus on the Xtreme HID & the Opt7 LED as it was clearly inferior to the others.
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*********
Below are pictures of the Opt7 & Xtreme HID installed on both low-beams. Notice how much brighter the overall projection of the HID is when compared to the Opt7. Also, notice difference in the the color reproduction of the plants. If you look closely at the Opt7 image, notice how strong the beam pattern is on the ground level but yet it fails to provide a strong beam at eye level.
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THIS was my biggest gripe w/ the Opt7. While driving around at night-time, it was very obvious that the Opt7 threw approx. 70% of its projection down about 6-7ft in front of my Camry and then just faded away at eye level after that.
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In these next two images, notice how the Xtreme HID's light projection is mainly focused on the fence -- at eye level -- whereas w/ the Opt7, the brown debris on the ground is well lit yet the light projection fades away by the time it gets to the fence.
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Secondly, the Opt7’s fans were extremely noisy! I was able to hear the 7000rpm fans running w/ my HU’s volume around 30/62 which IMO is too loud. It further leads me question the long-term reliability of the Opt7 as many Amazon reviews speak of the fan failure within a couple of months.
Moreover, several purchasers on Amazon had a similar complaint about the projection of the Opt7 in an OEM projector housing. Here is a quote from a reviewer by the name "Alan" who installed a pair of the Opt7 in his/her 2015 Nissan Murano SL AWD speaking of the same issue here...
** Conclusion **
If you made it this far — give yourself a pat on the back
— you might already have an idea of my final thoughts on the matter. As much as I appreciate the futuristic look the Opt7 gave my Camry (6000K does look nicer than 5000K IMO although not as practical), as well as the instant on feature & ease of install, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that as of this moment, the aftermarket LED headlight kits can’t hold a candle to a well designed HID kit (as you can find many $30-60 cheap inferior HID kits on Amazon & eBay) that one can get from a merchant such as @XenonDepot.
I went into this comparison test thinking (and hoping as I genuinely wanted to switch to LED low-beams) the Opt7 might be able to hold its own due to the raving positive reviews online. But this test has proven to be a quintessential case of why the public opinion isn’t always right.
Although am not familiar with their products, I was still interested in trying out this headlight kit as I have always been curious as to the performance of an aftermarket LED in an OEM projector housing. Currently, as most of you familiar with my thread know, I having been using a pair of 5000K Xtreme HID sold by our site sponsor @XenonDepot as my low beams for the past couple of months. They have performed perfectly thus far and proved their durability after surviving an accident I was involved in recently.
So why would I consider swapping to LED you might ask?
Simply because of some of the benefits LED has over HID which include: longer lifespan, higher durability, cooler running temperature, lower lumen depreciation, easier to install (since they usually don't need a ballast) & finally my favorite --> instant on w/ no warm up period.
With that said, here is my comparison of the Opt7 Fluxbeam vs. XenonDepot's Xtreme 5000K HID & the Kensun All-in-one LED headlight conversion kit. I am first going to briefly touch on each kit’s package contents & specifications, then move unto their performance & finally end with my conclusion.
** Package content & Specs **
Opt7 Fluxbeam
The Opt7 kit comes w/ two led bulbs, a pair of capacitors (item 1 in the pic) & reverse polarity wires (item 2 in the pic below). I ended up needing the reverse polarity wires in order to get the LEDs to work but didn't need the capacitors.
They have a 6000K color temperature and each bulb is rated at 3500 lumens with 30w of power. In addition to that, sitting at the bottom of the Opt7 bulbs is a dual 7000 rpm fan that serves as the cooler for the LED. It uses a CREE MK-R bulb & comes with 2-yr lifetime support warranty. Opt7 expect their LED to last the mundanely claimed 50,000 hr life of most LED on the market.
Kensun All-in-One
The Kensun came with two bulbs and two pairs of glass filters. The filters do not make the LEDs any brighter but are simply to give the customer color options. Hence, one can give their low beams either a yellower look or more of a blueish tint if they prefer. I didn't use either.
Oddly enough, Kensun didn’t provide the color temperature rating of its headlight kit on the Amazon page but if I had to guess, they are most likely 6000-6500K being of the LED department. Their lumen rating come just shy of the Opt7 at 3000 lumens with 30W of power per bulb. It too comes with a full 2-yr warranty.
XenonDepot Xtreme HID
As I installed my HIDs a while back, I wasn't able to get a picture of the package contents. So I borrowed a photo from Mr. @GreatAvalon thorough review of the XD HID kit which you can find here.
My set has a 5000K temperature (3000 lumens) rating with a bulb electric power of 35 +/- 3W & a voltage rating of 85 +/- 17V. The ballast have a dual voltage rating of 12/24V. Rated lifetime is between 2500 & 3000 hours at 35W & the kit comes with a 3-yr warranty.
** Performance **
>> Cut off on the wall <<
For comparison purposes, here is the low-beam wall cut off (w/ the car approx 3-4ft away) of the Xtreme. As many on this forum already know, the Xtreme HID kit works very well w/ our Camry projector housing. Other than the “squirrel spotters,” their cut off is great.
*********
Next I decided to replace my right pax (passenger) side low-beam with the Opt7. Initially I wasn’t able to get it to work with a direct PnP (without out using any of the added adapters) & I ended up needing the reverse polarity adapter to get it to work. But the capacitor that was also included with the kit wasn’t needed for my application.
As I expected, the Opt7 came out whiter that the 5K Xtreme HID and almost make the XenonDepot Xtreme look yellow in the pics but in person they were pure white while the Opt7 portrayed more of a cool white projection. I was surprised w/ just how close the cutoff of Opt7 was to the Xtreme HID with the main difference being the steep climb which you can see as the right end of the Opt7’s projection compared to the Xtreme’s flatter cut off.
*********
Here is how they looked w/ my XenonDepot Phillips LMZ LED high-beams on.
*********
For this next comparison, I switched the Opt7 out for the Kensun All-in-One & right off the bat it was clear that the Kensun was the least bright amongst all the kits. As you see in the picture, it lacked the light beam focus the Opt7 had and it is very clear when compared tot the Xtreme HID on the left. This further caused me to put Kensun’s 3000 lumen claim into question.
*********
Here is how they looked w/ my high-beams on.
*********
In order to have as fair of a comparison as possible, I replaced my passenger side low-beam with the Xtreme HID & replaced the driver side with the Opt7. Surprisinly, the results were the same. The XenonDepot HID was still able to project a sharp cutoff and the Opt7 still conveyed the steep wing like cutoff that you see on the extreme left.
*********
Next I swapped the pax side with the Kensun and kept the Opt7 on the drivers side. As you can see, the Opt7 had a much stronger beam projection when compared to the Kensun.
>> Note <<
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fit the Kensun All-in-One into my driver side projector housing due to its length. The Kensun bulbs were actually about 1.5cm longer than the Opt7. I would have had to remove my fusebox in order to fit it & I wasn’t willing to go that route. In case anyone was wondering why I didn’t do a test w/ the Kensun on the driver side low-beam.
*********
Lastly, here are some shots to give a comparison of the color reproduction btw the various headlight kits and my VLED 6K switchback parking lights. As expected, the LEDs were a better match than the 5K HIDs.
>> On the road performance <<
Thus far, the Opt7 & Kensun performed acceptably with my wall projection test. So I decided to head out to the road to see how they would fair against my current XenonDepot Xtreme HIDs.
First up was the Opt7 (drivers side) vs. the Xtreme HID (pax side). The first thing that came to my attention was the whitish washed up color the Opt7 gave the plants & debris. It probably seemed that way as my eyes were adjusting to the 6000K color temperature after driving with 5000K for months. But it was apparent to me that the Xtreme HIDs provided a more accurate color reproduction which makes sense as it is closer to the traditional OEM 3200K halogen bulb color temp.
Furthermore, I noticed the Xtreme HID had a stronger light output than the Opt7. If you look closely at the pictures, notice just how bright & further outward the middle focus is. In comparison, the Opt7 seemed to start of strong for a few feet from ground level but fade away as the distance got longer.
*********
Next was the Opt7 (drivers side) vs. the Kensun (pax side). Not to my surprise, the projection of the Kensun was much weaker than both the Xtreme HID & the Opt7. If you look to the right side projection in the image & compare it the to Xtreme’s from earlier, the difference is pretty noticeable.
At this point, I knocked the Kensun out of the comparison to focus on the Xtreme HID & the Opt7 LED as it was clearly inferior to the others.
*********
Below are pictures of the Opt7 & Xtreme HID installed on both low-beams. Notice how much brighter the overall projection of the HID is when compared to the Opt7. Also, notice difference in the the color reproduction of the plants. If you look closely at the Opt7 image, notice how strong the beam pattern is on the ground level but yet it fails to provide a strong beam at eye level.
THIS was my biggest gripe w/ the Opt7. While driving around at night-time, it was very obvious that the Opt7 threw approx. 70% of its projection down about 6-7ft in front of my Camry and then just faded away at eye level after that.
In these next two images, notice how the Xtreme HID's light projection is mainly focused on the fence -- at eye level -- whereas w/ the Opt7, the brown debris on the ground is well lit yet the light projection fades away by the time it gets to the fence.
Secondly, the Opt7’s fans were extremely noisy! I was able to hear the 7000rpm fans running w/ my HU’s volume around 30/62 which IMO is too loud. It further leads me question the long-term reliability of the Opt7 as many Amazon reviews speak of the fan failure within a couple of months.
Moreover, several purchasers on Amazon had a similar complaint about the projection of the Opt7 in an OEM projector housing. Here is a quote from a reviewer by the name "Alan" who installed a pair of the Opt7 in his/her 2015 Nissan Murano SL AWD speaking of the same issue here...
** Conclusion **
If you made it this far — give yourself a pat on the back
— you might already have an idea of my final thoughts on the matter. As much as I appreciate the futuristic look the Opt7 gave my Camry (6000K does look nicer than 5000K IMO although not as practical), as well as the instant on feature & ease of install, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that as of this moment, the aftermarket LED headlight kits can’t hold a candle to a well designed HID kit (as you can find many $30-60 cheap inferior HID kits on Amazon & eBay) that one can get from a merchant such as @XenonDepot. I went into this comparison test thinking (and hoping as I genuinely wanted to switch to LED low-beams) the Opt7 might be able to hold its own due to the raving positive reviews online. But this test has proven to be a quintessential case of why the public opinion isn’t always right.
