LED v Xenons

[Crockers]

Drove the car the other night and am disappointed with the active shadow LED headlights. I have set the reaction time to FAST. But I am constantly being flashed by other drivers - even when in the active dipped mode whereas in the old Xenon car with active shadow technology this never happened. Also I don't feel the shaded out part is as distinctive as before.

Also I'm not convinced the lights are as good either.

Is it just me ?? Will get dealer to look at it on the 3 month check up. Meanwhile I'm resorting to manual dipping. Don't get flashed doing that.

[Lexman8]

I use Adaptive Shadow wherever possible and have been flashed probably three times in 2 plus years and all of them in 'difficult' situations, eg brow of a hill.

Not sure what you mean by 'active dipped' as dipped beam is literally just that with no 'clever' intervention. It sounds as if your lamps are adjusted too high.

As to whether they are as good as xenons, I had xenons on the Merc and whilst the long-range high beam was slightly better, the near and mid-beam pattern and intensity is much better on the XC's LEDs.

[Haldex]

In 1 yr of ownership I have yet to be flashed by someone while using the active shadow hi beam.

We've had a few discussions on this forum (and there's a few on swedespeed..) on this topic- and the general consensus seems to be that the LEDs on SPA cars are as good as it gets.

For me personally, xenon vs LED - it's like night & day- current Volvo LEDs are by far the best headlights I've ever tested- and I've tried a few- including volvo xenons on my old V60 and currently active matrix on my company A4.

[WhatNext?]

Originally Posted by Haldex

In 1 yr of ownership I have yet to be flashed by someone while using the active shadow hi beam.

We've had a few discussions on this forum (and there's a few on swedespeed..) on this topic- and the general consensus seems to be that the LEDs on SPA cars are as good as it gets.

For me personally, xenon vs LED - it's like night & day- current Volvo LEDs are by far the best headlights I've ever tested- and I've tried a few- including volvo xenons on my old V60 and currently active matrix on my company A4.

Agree with above

suggest get it checked/calibrated by dealer

[Crockers]

Originally Posted by Bloke69

Agree with above

suggest get it checked/calibrated by dealer

Will do. Thanks guys.

[Quacker]

There are times and places where it is appropriate to use active shadow auto LED lights, and times where it is not. Trucks coming towards me over a brow of a hill don't like it because I shine into a driver's eyes long before the trucks lights become visible to the camera in my windscreen, which dips the lights.
Very very occasionally when following other vehicles on twisty roads it might not dip on the extreme right because it gets confused.
Not great on the motorway when oncoming traffic is way off in the distance and my car doesn't dip soon enough.

Otherwise they are great and compared to at least five cars I've had with Xenon and Bi-Xenon lights, these are in a different league division. Xenon is year 2000 technology while LED is year 2015 technology.

Lest there be any doubt, it is entirely up to the driver to decide whether to use the lights fully automatically or whether to take their responsibility and dip manually.

Must admit that after a period of using the automatic system and having changed to manual dipping, on a few occasions I've then forgotten to dip manually and been flashed. I always apologise profusely and vocally even though the oncoming driver does not hear me. On the odd occasion I've even used the F word and become slightly angry with myself. For the rest of those particular journeys, I sulk and only dip manually.

[familymangreg]

Agree, something doesn't sound right. Use them on our XC90 all the times into fully auto mode, absolutely brilliant, very rarely get flashed.

:wq

[mike95]

Originally Posted by Crockers

Drove the car the other night and am disappointed with the active shadow LED headlights. I have set the reaction time to FAST. But I am constantly being flashed by other drivers - even when in the active dipped mode whereas in the old Xenon car with active shadow technology this never happened. Also I don't feel the shaded out part is as distinctive as before.

Also I'm not convinced the lights are as good either.

Is it just me ?? Will get dealer to look at it on the 3 month check up. Meanwhile I'm resorting to manual dipping. Don't get flashed doing that.

I have not been flashed other than when in France but that is another story. However contrary to the general consensus I agree with you and don't think that they are as good as my old XC60. They are certainly much whiter and also brighter immediately in front of the car. However they do not have long range of the Xenons plus I agree that the shadow technology is not as sharp. In any setting it is also comparatively slow to go back to total full beam.

I do love the Thor's hammer day running lights though and the fact that the rear lights are on too. Every car should be like that for all the idiots that don't turn their lights on in dim light.

Mike

[PaulBendall]

Still getting use to the LED on my XC60. Initial impressions are that I like them over the Bi-Xenon with auto dipping that on my previous V40 and VW. I often got flashed with auto dim as they reacted very slowly but the shadow tech is much better (but not perfect). This tech is only going to improve and for now it is satisfactory on country lanes where I need it most

[MaDProFF]

I thought there was another thread same as this, getting the same answers in general

XC60 Adaptive LEDS works well for me, very rare I get flashed, sure there are different scenarios that cause it to falter, but in general best lights I have had on a car in a long time.

Best lights I ever had was on a Triumph 2.5 PI with additional Hella Spots, (late 70's) now they did light up the road a mile ahead