BadAV

That is what the holdup was with DD. They were prototyping the small chips that approximate filaments, along with the light pattern and manufacturing process. As far as 6k LED being a blue tint, I have had several different sets of LEDs that were 6k to 6.5k; they all emitted a pretty pure white light. I believe you would be happy with the color.

CeeDee

Outside of the product itself, which appears to have a fan for cooling, I wonder if DD (Diode Dynamics) is going to make any special installation accommodations/options for us F150 owners. It sure would be nice to have everything either tucked into the headlight housing keeping the dust boot/seal fully intact, or a special boot seal/grommet that allows the led driver to be mounted outside the housing while maintaining a solid, moisture tight seal.

CeeDee

Rather than wait all this time, anyone consider 4x4truckleds Crystalux G9s??

Minus the fan for cooling, and a slightly different physical look, they seem to use the same 3 chip LumiLeds to mimic the factory halogen filament. They have a lot of good reviews on here on the forum and I believe run below 6000k.

I'm not trying to promote them as better than the SL1s, since I don't have them... Yet. I'm just stating what I've read and seen on here within the forum as another possible option similar to the DD SL1s.

mgrande

When they first unvieled them at SEMA way back it was in an F150 housing so I assume they took everything into account.

Diode Dynamics

iTrader: (1)

Hey guys! Appreciate the interest. We have indeed spent a lot of time working on these. It's been a long road, but we are excited to start shipping soon. We've sold a few hundred sets to F150 owners so far, so there will be plenty of reviews soon!

To answer a few questions, first, they do fit correctly with no modification. We designed these around the F150 right from the start. They fit perfectly with the factory dust cap, and are compatible with the factory electronics.

Yes, there are other good bulbs on the market, but are proud to say that ours is the only one engineered from the ground up, designed, thoroughly tested, and manufactured right here in America, by us directly. This is not a rebranded product that's one size fits all.

I believe the time and effort we've building this ourselves simply results in a product that performs better. That is not just anecdotal- it is proven by the photometric measurements shown on our site.

We know our bulb will last at 185F and -40F, because we've tested it. We know the LED chips won't degrade over time, because we designed them to stay cooler (other bulbs with these chips run hot and will degrade in output after around 500 hours). We know the rubber on the O-rings won't degrade because we've run them through our environmental chambers. Speaking of chips, the SL1 is a true 5700K, which is a beautiful true white, without blue. Other "6000K" bulbs acrually run at 7000-8000K because they run too hot.

Basically, we know there's options, but the SL1 is the only LED headlight bulb that was properly engineered by automotive enthusiasts, with the F150 and application in mind. We believe that adds up to a product that simply works better.

Again, I appreciate the interest and I'd be happy to answer any questions!

Diode Dynamics

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, there's a lot of bulbs using these chips now, and again, there are some good ones! But the issue most suffer from is spacing between the chips, because the LEDs need to stay cool. It's the main mechanical engineering challenge for these bulbs, and the reason we have patents pending on our cooling method.

It is easier to get the heat out of the chips of you have more space between them, but then you lose optical focus. The majority of bulbs you see now space them out or even add another chip or two to boost output. We are able to run ours at a higher power level with extremely tight spacing due to the thermally engineered heatsink. There's a lot more to cooling than blowing air at metal, and with correct thermal flow modelling we are really extracting the heat, keeping the chips cool and happy while providing high focused output. You can seriously feel hot air blowing out of our bulbs thanks to the flow-modelled heatsink paired with the specific fan and air pressure levels etc.

Now, these small optical details are differences that will be hard to tell to the naked eye on the wall, but every little bit counts in getting more light to the road!

Husker

iTrader: (4)

Will you have a "How To Install Video" available for the F-150 before the SL1s start delivering?

WhiskyBadger

I have highs and lows on order and cant wait to install them.

WhiskyBadger

Great suggestion, I hope they have a install video as well.

CeeDee

You had me at "no modification needed", "fits perfectly with the factory dust cap" and "We designed these around the F150 right from the start"

Very cool! I wish I could wait. But, unfortunately I have dark wet winter roads ahead. Mother nature won't wait. I look forward to seeing true comparison reviews that may be compelling enough to sway me away from the sets that I haven't even installed yet!