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Brand new 2016 Outback 2.5 Limited - Opt7 LED low beams, high beams & fogs

28K views 97 replies 34 participants last post by  Rumford72 
#1 ·
Hey everyone! Just wanted to take the time to introduce myself. Very first post here on Subaruoutback.org. Just purchased a 2016 Outback 2.5 Limited in Tungsten Metallic. Only had it for about a week. It's my very first Subaru and I'm loving it so far.

First thing I'll be doing is changing out all the Halogen bulbs to Opt7 LED bulbs. Wanted to start this thread and post some photographs of before and after the install to give everyone a good idea of how these bulbs look/perform in a 2016 Outback. I just ordered them from Amazon last night and they will be arriving anywhere between the 15th and the 21st. As soon as they arrive I'll take a bunch of before/after photos to show everyone here on the forums, in case anyone else was thinking about pulling the triggers on these and would like to see how they look.

Excited to be a part of this community!

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#5 ·
So the OPT7 LED bulbs came in the mail this afternoon and tomorrow I'll be installing them and doing a little review. Boxes and packaging are all very high quality and the instructions are very clear. All wiring and harnesses included. Should be an easy plug and play. Thought I'd share some photographs of the packaging and lights themselves before I install them.




 
#10 ·
Ok so I did the full install this afternoon and it was incredibly simple. Instructions were easy to follow and everything was plug and play.

For the low beams since pull out the old bulbs and plug in the new Opt7 LED H11 bulbs. You have to connect the ballast and check to see if you need the polarity wires. Simple plug and play into the Outback's wires. Check to see if the bulb is working properly and then install into the headlight housing. For the high beams, it's the same process. Seriously took around 3 minutes per headlight.

The fogs were a different story. There are some tabs underneath the car that you have to pull out in order to access the fog light bulb. The bulb is a son of a bitch to get out. It's in there TIGHT! You rotate to the left in order to release it from the fog light housing...but again...those bad boys are in there tight so you gotta give it some juice to get them out. Once you have them free again...simply plug in the Opt7 fog light bulb and you're good to go. I'd say each fog light took around 10-15 minutes to install.

Here are a ton of photographs throughout the install process to give everyone a good idea of how the lights compare to the stock yellow halogen bulbs. In my opinion the LED bulbs are WAY brighter and so are a beautiful white with a tint of blue. Extremely high end looking in person. Very satisfied and will also take some more photographs tonight when I try them out for the first time in the dark.


















 
#14 ·
I just checked and my high beams do not come on with the DRL eagle eyes. I'm not sure if that has something to do with the LEDs not coming on until they have a signal for full power? I think i remember my high beams being on at half power before with the DRL turned on. But now they don't show up until I turn on the full high beams.


 
#21 ·
I just checked and my high beams do not come on with the DRL eagle eyes. I'm not sure if that has something to do with the LEDs not coming on until they have a signal for full power? I think i remember my high beams being on at half power before with the DRL turned on. But now they don't show up until I turn on the full high beams.
Very helpful post. Next time you're under the hood, could you please find out if the small fan in the high beam LED runs when the DRL is supposed to be on (i.e., light switch off, engine running, in gear and e-brake off)? I wonder if the lower voltage still triggers the fan to run but does not trigger the LED to illuminate.
 
#73 ·
Ryan, I got a set for low beam and am about to install. Did you use the included capacitors? It's been a couple months since your install, any issues? What's the difference between the low beam H11 and the "fog light H11" you got? (Any difference in the dimension of the led unit/capsule between low H11 and fog H11?) I wonder if the low beam H11 I got will also fit into my fog light's housing, if I later want to put HID in low beam and move the opt7 H11 for low to fog light. Appreciate your experience.
 
#29 ·
I installed the OPT7 9005 lights, but I did not change the other low beam or fog lights. From my experience with the OPT7 9005 high beams, the DRLs work just like the OEM lights. Only one LED in each light is powered and lights in the DRL half power mode, just like the OEM lights. The car does have to be in a forward gear for the DRL lighst to work just as with the OEM DRLs. Even with only one of the two LEDs in each light powered, the light output is still very bright.

The one thing I don't like about the OPT7 light is during turn signal operation. Normally when the turn signal is activated the DRL for that side turns off. However, with the OPT7 lights installed, the DRL light on the side with the operating turn signal still turns off, but the other DRL light goes to full power with both LEDs in that light operating. This condition, since it is very bright, can be rather disconcerting to oncoming drivers under low light conditions. Since these lights are not street legal, the unwanted attention during turning may not be desired.

Otherwise the OPT7s seem to be good lights and well constructed. From my experience Amazon is the place to buy. The manufacturer's website also has a lot of good information
Fluxbeam? LED Headlight - Opt-7
 
#20 ·
And yes I did turn on the DRL lights on the steering wheel and the boomerang lights light up by themselves with no high beams...obviously a full turn brings the low beams on with the boomerang and fogs..pushing forward on the stick is the only time the high beams ever come on.
 
#23 ·
Sorry to act lie a dummy here, Ryan, would you sum up what are the changes in the behavior of the original lighting AFTER you got done with your update? I read through the posts but I am confused as to what you said about the changes to the DRL's.
I understand, they are brighter of course, but since I am interested in these lights, I would like to know all of the changes to the cars lighting system when all is said and done --in other words -- What are the negatives when doing this?
Thank you,
Mark
 
#24 ·
Thanks for all the photos and data, those look great! What about aiming? My headlights are aimed properly, but the factory bulbs are already so bright that oncoming cars flash their lights at me. Sometimes I show them what the real high beams look like, I try to resist... I think people perceive the combination of the fog lights and the headlights as being low and high beams.

Oh yeah, any advice on where to purchase? Since you already did the research...
 
#27 ·
@Ryan Sands -- GREAT write up.
Very interesting to know about the behavior of the DRL's. I wonder if there is any other adverse affect either to the LEDs, fan, or car from running the lower voltage to the high beams.
Yeah, definite worry point. However, there is a post about disconnecting the leads for the DRL's, which might be beneficial. You lose the DRL's, but I don't see that as a big issue.
 
#33 ·
OK, I'm going to mention the Elephant in the room. After spending $300 on these lights, how do they compare in use to the old bulbs. Are they better? Worse? About the same? Life altering?? Life changing???
Yes, they're pretty to look at, but do they succeed in lighting up the road ahead better? Do they light up $300 better? Or did you just do this so the car would look cool at the Outback meets.
I've read allot about LED headlights, and the only ones that I've read are legal, are the ones from the factory with several, not just one or two LED's trying to take the place of a bulb. Like @2014Outback mentioned, Audi uses 7 LED's to produce the light needed to be of any value. Not to mention legal. That's another big problem with these "direct replacement" bulbs. They're illegal in quite a few states. I've also read that because of their design, they don't disperse or focus the light correctly because the reflector housing was never designed for such bulbs.

All I know is, you can buy quite a few bright white halogen bulbs for $300, LOL! *Said the man who spent $200 on LED turn signal lights*...
My three big concerns are;
#1 Are they legal?
#2 Do they produce more, better, safer light?
#3 What happens if a cooling fan fails? Can you just replace the fan?? Or do you have to spend another $100 to replace it???
 
#34 ·
OK, I'm going to mention the Elephant in the room.
Sure! Every time there's a good thread going SOMEBODY has to turn it into a wildlife conservation issue 0:)

For your other comments; excellent concerns and questions, especially about a fan failing. I will say that the LEDs in my A6 were the best lights I have ever had, bar none.
 
#37 ·
@TSiWRX
EVERYTHING I've been reading about LED headlight replacement bulbs state that the light disbursement, brightness, etc.. Is way off, and, illegal.
I'd say it's like the Blue LED halo lights, as well as the flood of other Red and Blue LED lights for sale to put on cars, is, um, illegal...
Just because you can buy them, doesn't mean your car will pass its next safety inspection, if your sate requires one.
So far, the only legal LED headlights are the ones car manufacturers have incorporated into their own headlight design.
Will one ever get caught with them and be given a ticket? That's up to you and what you're willing to risk.
It's like a statement Diode Dynamics made a while back, that because LED headlights aren't legal, they will not offer them for sale.
Not to mention that everything I've read states that the person changing over, hates them. Why? Because they just don't project enough light in the correct places.
I had mixed feeling about replacing the turn signal lights, but after reading ALLOT about them, I decided to bite the bullet and get a set. They are awesome! And project enough light to be a safe alternative to incandescent.
I'd say the only way I'm going to have LED headlights in the future is if the next Outback I purchase comes with them.

Don't get me wrong. I think LED lights are awesome! But, the caveat is the simple fact that the reflector system in cars without the LED's just weren't designed to properly reflect them in a manner that improves brightness nor safety. Plus, they're illegal...
It's a shame because they really do look nice!
 
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#39 ·
@KentuckyOutback -

Yup, legality is always a concern, particularly if the vehicle must pass stringent checks. As you noted, some states/areas are worse than others. And also as you well noted, "roadside" enforcement of lighting codes also varies by region, as anyone who's played around in the "Import Sport Compact" scene can well testify to. :) There are places where you can get by "cruising the strip" with strobes as long as you're not doing burnouts or anything else stupid, while in other areas enforcers will give you a ticket for a factory part they are ignorant of.

As for vendors and other vested-interest sources? If Diode Dynamics really cared, then they also wouldn't sell plug-and-play or even full-retrofit HIDs. Neither of those are "legal" in that same sense as plug-and-play aftermarket LEDs - Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply (but let me be the cynic here and suggest that Stern isn't a non-vested interest source, either; yet, before anyone flames me for being just that, they'll want to also hit Google for my screen-name/handle, including also "TSi+WRX" and see just how much my opinions have aligned with Stern's...and that's going to have posts on various Subaru community Forums going back well over 11 years).

Nothing is as neat as we'd like it to be.

:wink2:

Let's face it - the hate towards plug-and-play LEDs today is the same as what we saw during the last decade for plug-and-play HIDs. It's just that same new-kid-on-the-block syndrome. :laugh: Back in the early parts of the '00s, we lighting snobs would look down at those who simply installed plug-and-play HID kits instead of having taken the time (and expense...there was no one-stop-shop like TRS back in the day!) to do a full-optics retrofit. But even then, we still had to concede that, by the books, it still wasn't truly road-legal, no matter how far we went in the pursuit of "perfection." 0:) Now, plug-and-play kits have become accepted in aftermarket circles as long as one's projector optics can keep a reasonable cap on glare and provide decent cut-off. A decade ago, it was hard to be a moderate and make such statements and not get laughed at or incur outright scorn by the lighting purists.



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@Snoguy -

In terms of failures, I would recommend that anyone using any type of aftermarket headlamp setup (of any type) that they seek a system/setup with connectors which allow for easy re-installation of the factory lighting components and carry with them a spare set of OE-type incandescent bulbs. This can offset the potential for having one or even, worst-case-scenario, a pair of non-functional low-beams due to unexpected failure.

Heck, even with fully factory lamps, I still like to carry a spare pair, as long as one can access them reasonably easily, that is! :smile2:
 
#40 ·
@Snoguy -

In terms of failures, I would recommend that anyone using any type of aftermarket headlamp setup (of any type) that they seek a system/setup with connectors which allow for easy re-installation of the factory lighting components and carry with them a spare set of OE-type incandescent bulbs. This can offset the potential for having one or even, worst-case-scenario, a pair of non-functional low-beams due to unexpected failure.

Heck, even with fully factory lamps, I still like to carry a spare pair, as long as one can access them reasonably easily, that is! :smile2:
Exactly what I do. They change over is pretty quick after you've done it several times. I've switched back to the OEM high beams, as I don't really like the LED lights as high beams.
 
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