I got the replacement bulb today, and got to try things out tonight. I first went for a ride with the Silverstar bulb so I could see how much light it made, then I pulled up to the garage door and took a photo of the low and high beam pattern.
I then installed the LED and went on the same lap around the neighborhood. The light pattern is whiter and brighter. There is a definite vertical "top" to the light pattern - but surprisingly there is also a bit of one on the bottom of the low beam on the LED. You don't get quite as much light at the space just in front of the tire. The light pattern is far wider, and it lights up things on the side of the road better than the stock bulb. The high beam does shine higher and makes most things brighter - but I am not certain it shines as far down the road as the Silverstar did.....it could be that the LED light is so intense that your pupils are adjusting to the intense light.....and you just don't see as far down the road to where the light beam is not so intense.
It is a nice bulb, and Tocsik will be able to tell you how much of an improvement it makes to the stock headlight, it is easy to install and relatively affordable - but it does not convert the headlight into the kind of LED retina wrecker that some of the Harley and Victory motorcycles have (but they are not 6" diameter and cannot be installed into the stock headlight bucket).
This is the low beam on my 8" headlight with a Silverstar bulb. Notice the light has a flat top (vertical cut off) to prevent the light from shining up into the eyes of other drivers, and notice the way the light just sort of fades underneath the beam toward the bike.
This is the low beam on the same headlight with the LED installed. The light is whiter and brighter, and far more light is spread out to the sides of the light. Notice that this light also has a somewhat of a horizontal cut off under the beam - there is still plenty of light just in front of the bike....it just isn't linear like the other bulb.
Here is the high beam with the Silverstar bulb. It has a somewhat more rounded top as the vertical cut off goes away on the high beam. The central zone of the intense beam appears to be about 9 panels wide on my door (the area that is so bright it washed out the camera).
This is the high beam of the LED. The beam moves up higher than the low beam on the LED - but this light still has a vertical cut off. This may limit how well it lights up overhead signs. It still throws out far more light to the sides than the stock bulb does. The
I rode a lap around the block last night on my rural roads and never went faster than 30mph - I need to get out on the highway and see if this is a good highway bulb for interstate speeds (does it shine far enough down the road for 70mph and does the light bother other drivers). The only thing that bothers me about these bulbs is the fan....how durable is that thing?
Pages: 
