I’ve been recently noticing my headlights getting dimmer. They are the original ones since I’ve bought it. I’m looking at the kits on Amazon and eBay and considering them, but I want someone to tell me why that’s a better option than replacing it with the same halogen ones. Some one who has experience replacing the headlights on their H3 and actually drives at night. I don’t want to spend a lot if I don’t have to, I would like to just replace them and wondered about the led’s,as it’s getting harder to see at night and I think they’re so dim people are “flashing” me, so want to fix it before they burn out. It’s also dangerous as I can’t see as far without the fog lights being on. Real world experiences would be good to hear as it seems like everyone just wants to advertise their products.

 

Welcome to HF.

Depends on your budget. Cheap LEDs are cheap for a reason. The OEM buckets are not the best that is for sure, but a high quality LED replacement bulb can make a huge difference.

Any LED swap will require you to re-adjust the beams to not bling oncoming drivers. No LED replacement bulb would be DOT approved when put in the OEM Halogen Headlight bucket. That is the reason when you look them up they say for powersports, fog lights or off road etc... applications and do not say they are for headlights.

I and a few others have upgraded to S-V.4 LED Bulbs. I am happy with those. I did Halogen upgrades before on my old 07 and after burning a few out, moved to Sylvania Halogens when I sold it. Sylvania also makes LED bulbs that fit.



Others have gone the headlight (including reflector) replacement route. That requires disassemble and mods to fit.

 

When moving to an LED Bulb you have to make sure it is designed for your reflector so that the LED emitted light hits that reflector in the same position as the halogen light would, otherwise you just splash useless light all over without a proper beam pattern.

 

I've tried led bulbs. I'm back to halogen.
led pros:
Lots of light output
Led cons:
Poor direction of said light output, not a good fit for reflector type, cold running (unable to keep housing clean of ice/snow)

Don't get me wrong, led lights can work but in ordered to get them right it's way to much financial output compared to decent halogen bulbs.
A pair of good led for hummer h3: Diode Dynamics, Philips (Ultinon), Sylvania LED . I'm sure there's others.

Halogen ive run:
GP Thunder (I like these)
Philips 9008/H13
Sylvania Xtra vision 9008/H13
Philips Germany oem grade (Not super bright but really long lasting)
And plain old cheapest from jungle store and flee-bay

 

Several years ago I replaced the factory headlight housing with the 7" adapter ring from Lased Designs and a set of decent reviewed no-name 7" LED bulbs off of Amazon and think this is one of the most impactfull mods I've done on my H3. When I first got my H3 I hated driving at night because the OE lights were pathetically horrible. With the 7" LEDs its literally night and day different. There are a ton of choices on 7" LED bulbs on Amazon, so if you get one and don't like the light pattern you can easily send it back and get something different. The bulbs I got were $80 for a pair and they aren't the best in the world, but compared the OE set up they may as well be. 5 years in and they are still going strong.

I also replaced the factory fogs with a kit that lets me use a 4" LED driving light. These are great too for lighting up the ground right in front of the truck.

Lased designs isn't around any more, but their 3D printed rings have held up well in my truck. Plenty of wheeling and city/highway driving and nothing has broke or worn. There are now several sellers on Etsy who sell conversion adapters from the factory headlight setup. I purchased my LED adapters from ODCH3 and they are great. If you prefer metal, there's someone on Etsy making those too.

My advice, don't waste your time on LED bulbs that go in the schitty stock housing, but dump that junk and convert to 7" LEDs. You will be glad you did!

7 inch LED conversion low beams

 

The Doctor has spoken. I concur with every thing he said.
LED light output is just not designed for halogen light housings, but quality LED emitters are the way to go, good luck.
HeadlightRevolution.com is a place to look