Has anyone tried this ADV monster H4R2 LED headlight?

[Steve]

These pictures were taken inside my shop, before any shelving was installed. The pattern on the wall is slightly distorted because I am pointing into a corner. The corner is straight ahead of the bike. This shows the actual pattern quite well.
Same order as before.

H4 low beam. You can easily see the angle off to the right.

H4 high beam.

ADV low beam. Note the distinct LACK of a pattern.

ADV high beam. Same lack of pattern as low beam, but with additional "pattern" for high, but it's a "critter in the trees" hunting light.

TruckLite low beam. The bright spot lights up straight ahead and the white line.

TruckLite high beam. The wall is too close for the pattern to fully develop, but you can still see how much better it is.

I am glad that you found good results with your new bulb. Maybe these pictures will convince somebody else that better lighting IS available.

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[limeex2]

Great thread for the older bike lights. Can even put these in my older truck. The link provided showed prices in the $30 range. Am I on the right link? Thats cheaper than most bulbs.

 

[Steve]

Hopefully you have read through this short thread to see pictures and cautions. For further reading before dropping some coin, click HERE. It is a longer thread, but also has a LOT of information.

Just to recap some of the cautions, look at my post #21 in this thread. Note that the "bulb" itself has evolved over the last couple of years, so some of the comments about it now might be irrelevant. It might have gotten better, it might have gotten worse.

Most of the comments/complaints are centered around the pattern that is projected onto the road. There is very little doubt that the LED is brighter, but that is no good if that brightness is not put where it's needed.

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[Guest]

I use the revision 3 pared with a Candlepower headlight reflector and it is about a perfect match. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the twist mount plastic base and solved that by using a new Candlepower boot under the bulb plate so it is a tight fit. They have a revision 4 that probably addressed that problem but I would not use the ADVmonster unless you pare it with a known good reflector that works with it for a lot of the reasons Steve mentions. I know my combination works but it might suck with another reflector.

 

[Steve]

In another thread from several years ago, I showed the difference in several reflectors using the same H4 bulb and ADV LED bulb. While the H4 bulb had pretty much the same pattern in each of the reflectors (I think there were three in this comparison), the LED was completely different in each one.

It it critical that the light source (tungsten filament or LED element) remains in the proper place, this comparison showed how different the results could be when it was moved. What was most interesting is that it moved in different ways in the different reflectors.

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[limeex2]

Its also what I found in my Versys. Led's need proper reflectors. When changed from a halogen to an Led the light was in the sighs,trees, poor. Dialed it down focused the light in front of me and the new found whiteness/brightness on low beam was able to give me a pattern were I'm not over driving my lights on low beam. High beam was great. My GS's wont get run at much night due to local deer population, but it makes the bike much,much more visible in the daylight that I feel its a worth while investment.

Oldvet66, can you possibly supply links to the system you are using?

 

[Guest]

I got my reflector at (https://store.candlepower.com/ca53mohe.html). You can't go wrong there, they are excellent reflectors. I wanted to use high power H4 bulbs so I also ordered their ceramic socket and a new weather boot also. I used to live in deer dodging country and even with the high wattage bulb I wasn't satisfied with it. I got one of the early ADVMonster CREE LED bulbs. It was better but not perfect and had a large heat sink. I replaced that one with I believe a ADVMonster H4-R3 because I wanted the flexible braided heat sinks. Great low beam just where it needs to be and a high beam that would light up both sides of the woods and bright enough that I would dim it if I was about to shine it on someones house. I was up in the Franklin West Virginia area on a local ride staying at the Loafers Glory. I was late to sign up so I had to stay at a B&B in Franklin. The Loafers Glory was about five miles out of Franklin on the top of a mountain with some very twisty roads and the deer were everywhere. On the night rides back to the B&B I was very comfortable enjoying the very twisty roads because I could see so far into the woods on both sides of the road that I had no problem seeing any deer running well before they became a problem. I did not like the plastic base on the light I got, it loosened up after taking it out once but it was an easy fix and has been great for some years now. They advertise a R4 version, hope they went back to the stainless steel base standard bulbs have if I ever need to replace it.