Katana LED H11 Headlight Review

[arsh88]

Not sure what you mean by glare. Sounds like maybe you are wondering if they are too bright for oncoming traffic? I haven't had cause to drive at night yet, but that will change come Monday January 6, 2020. As an aside, do you have the specs on the OEM LED fogs? The lumens might help in a comparison.

Oh and I heard you guys got hit with ~14" of snow last week. ouch!

By glare i mean if it's scattering the light and blinding others. A projector focuses the light which is why we can use LEDs without issues on lowbeam. if you ever see a pickup truck with leds dropped in that don't have projectors (it's frequent up here) all it does is scatter light everywhere which blinds everyone plus gives that driver garbage light output. I'd imagine that fogs aren't an issue since they're low and not pointing up, but wasn't sure.

Also it wasn't quite that bad by me, but it was like 6" which still blows lol.

Im having a lot of trouble with the fans getting loud on mine. First pair I had sounded like one was eating the bearings right out of it, replaced it and theyre tolerable, but way louder than day 1. I hope Im not seeing a trend because I wont replace them with katanas

Loud as in you can hear it when the car is on and running, or just that you can hear it period? mine have always only been heard if the car is off but it's always been noticeable. Mine have actually gotten quieter as of late, which I hope isn't a sign they're wearing out. that said, even if they did only last me a year i'd buy them again in a heartbeat. the light output i get for $50 is worth it to me.

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[zenren]

Loud as in you can hear it when the car is on and running, or just that you can hear it period? mine have always only been heard if the car is off but it's always been noticeable. Mine have actually gotten quieter as of late, which I hope isn't a sign they're wearing out. that said, even if they did only last me a year i'd buy them again in a heartbeat. the light output i get for $50 is worth it to me.

I can hear them idling if I listen for them. They were dead silent brand new. Id probably just try the Hikaris next time, if theyre a tad brighter Id be happy too because I came from a Chevy Colorado with Sylvania Silverstar Ultras. Im so sorry to everyone in the oncoming lane when I was driving that, those headlights scatter so bad and I know it... up side was you could light up the back side of a hill

 

[gtman]

I'm happy with the fanless Cougar Motor low beams I bought. Just a tad brighter than stock but the white light matches the DRL perfectly. Very pleased for $40.

 

[BiiruBeefu]

Im having a lot of trouble with the fans getting loud on mine. First pair I had sounded like one was eating the bearings right out of it, replaced it and theyre tolerable, but way louder than day 1. I hope Im not seeing a trend because I wont replace them with katanas

Are you already using Katanas? If so, which one's? Mine are only a week old.

 

[BiiruBeefu]

By glare i mean if it's scattering the light and blinding others. A projector focuses the light which is why we can use LEDs without issues on lowbeam. if you ever see a pickup truck with leds dropped in that don't have projectors (it's frequent up here) all it does is scatter light everywhere which blinds everyone plus gives that driver garbage light output. I'd imagine that fogs aren't an issue since they're low and not pointing up, but wasn't sure.

Also it wasn't quite that bad by me, but it was like 6" which still blows lol.



Loud as in you can hear it when the car is on and running, or just that you can hear it period? mine have always only been heard if the car is off but it's always been noticeable. Mine have actually gotten quieter as of late, which I hope isn't a sign they're wearing out. that said, even if they did only last me a year i'd buy them again in a heartbeat. the light output i get for $50 is worth it to me.

Ah, gotcha. Thought that was what you were asking about and I apreciate the clarification. Will report back when I've had a chance to try them out. Might ask my shortie to drive oncoming tonight and get her input.

 

[The Vyzitor]

Those of you with LEDs installed, did your LED bulb click “lock” in to position like the outgoing halogen bulbs do? I notice my LEDs just rotate and get tighter until they are fully in position, but never have that satisfying “click” of being installed fully like the halogens did

 

[silverrascal]

Those of you with LEDs installed, did your LED bulb click “lock” in to position like the outgoing halogen bulbs do? I notice my LEDs just rotate and get tighter until they are fully in position, but never have that satisfying “click” of being installed fully like the halogens did

No click here either. Just sorta locked into place after rotating them into position.

 

[BiiruBeefu]

No click here either. Just sorta locked into place after rotating them into position.

ditto to silverrascal.

As additional info: it was possible for me to incorrectly install the Katana high beams. They JUST started to rotate into locked position but didn't complete. Rather than force it, I took another look and noticed I had the keys positioned incorrectly. I checked the halogen high beams and they have the same issue. Anywho, the take away here is if they don't rotate all the way to locked position you probably have the position of the keys incorrect. Just take the LED out and check the alignment. You'll probably have to rotate the entire assembly 30ish degrees.

 

[zenren]

Are you already using Katanas? If so, which one's? Mine are only a week old.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T8Z61J9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8
My original set still isn't 2 months old yet. I can't tell if the new one is making noise too, I didn't actually replace both, but neither sound like they are going to seize like the one I replaced, just loud

 

[BiiruBeefu]

Ah, gotcha. Thought that was what you were asking about and I apreciate the clarification. Will report back when I've had a chance to try them out. Might ask my shortie to drive oncoming tonight and get her input.

ok, reporting back.

Drove my first full week with the LEDs. Used Low, Low+Fog and Highs.

Noise: I never heard the fans.

Light: I drive some country roads to/from work and...oh...meh...GAWD. Nothing is sneaking onto the road without me knowing well in advance. The Lows projected just as ridiculously far as the Lows + Fogs, but the Fogs really showed the sides of the road. That is as expected given the static photos I posted earlier. One evening, my wife drove behind me in her 2019 Honda Pilot EX-L and now she wants me to look into upgrading her LEDs because these suckers out perform the stock substantially. We then drove oncoming and she did notice the Fogs were a bit brighter than expected (compared to Fogs on other vehicles and what my halogens were) and rivaled the Lows as far as an issue for oncoming drivers. She did say the Lows were perfectly acceptable and weren't an issue any more than any other oncoming headlight, just that the Fogs were brighter than you'd expect. That would be my only critique and is kind of in line with your concern (Fogs are reflective housing so scatter might be an issue). However, in a week's worth of driving, no one flashed their lights at me.

Recommendation: Go full bore on the Katanas. If Fog scatter is a concern then either upgrade to the LED housing and slap these babies in, or go with a Fog that has lumens comparable to stock. Problem is though, I haven't been able to find out what the stock halogens lumens are.

 

[BiiruBeefu]

Update: I am now 1.5months into my Katana LEDs and remain impressed as they are just as bright and quiet as the day I installed them. I drive most days to and from work M-F with the low/fogs on and have the highs set to autodetect. No one has flashed their brights at me, so the scatter from the fogs must not be that bad.

 

[MikeMike]

Testing of a very similar LED bulb, the Sealight H11, shows that your eyes are, as usual, misleading you. Tests performed in a Stanley/Honda projector, so results are directly applicable to the Civic.

 

[junooni176]

My Katana bulbs lasted 6 months before the fan started making hell of a noise. Contaced warranty and they wanted me to cut up the wires and send them a picture; did that and got the replacement bulbs. Hopefully these will last longer. No complaints about the performance though.

 

[BiiruBeefu]

My Katana bulbs lasted 6 months before the fan started making hell of a noise. Contaced warranty and they wanted me to cut up the wires and send them a picture; did that and got the replacement bulbs. Hopefully these will last longer. No complaints about the performance though.

Thanks. Will keep an ear cocked and try to update the thread periodically.

 

[BiiruBeefu]

MikeMike,

How does comparing a different brand of led to halogen have any bearing on the katana brand? Not sure of what you are driving at with your post. Could you point me to where you gathered your data? Without more info I cannot decipher the bar graph completely.

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