There is a lot of misinformation out there about swapping out halogen bulbs for LED's. I've used Evitek's H4s on my ST1300, then on my VStrom, in one older car, and Evitek's in my '15 Toyota Highlander and now I've put one in my T3. The last is untested, but all of the others have yielded an incredible difference compared to the original halogen lamps.
Why Evitek? Mostly because Spiderman recommended them. He is a lighting engineer who decided that the LED's showed great promise but the early ones projected too much glare. He played around with making a tiny shield out of aluminum foil, then got in touch with a Chinese company (I think Evitek) and shared his development. His intent was not to make money, but to get decent LED lamps out there that performed. In the years since then most of the manufacturers have copied his idea and the design as evolved from what looked like an add-on to an integral shield.
I cannot suggest strongly enough that you read this whole thread on the ST-Owner's forum. If nothing else, you can decide for yourself if he is full of hot air or right on.
https://www.st-owners.com/forums/threads/headlight-led-f2-vs-f3-vs-nb35.177144/In a more recent post in that long long thread, I posted this: (see below) It gives Evitek's rep - Cindy Zhou's email address and what I paid for H4 LED's. Btw, the base separates from the emitter/fan part so the base can be installed, a rubber boot, and then the LED is inserted through the boot and base and locked in place. Be sure to turn it until it stops.
My recent post - should you not want to read the whole thread linked above:
I wanted to order a full set of LED lamps for my Highlander, and was utterly confused by Amazon, which does not give you all of the specs (one of my pet peeves of Amazon). After consulting with @spiderman302, this is what I learned.
The lumens posted by Amazon are sometimes suspect. Like the watts published years ago for Hi Fi Stereo amps, more are better so the copy writer guys play fast and loose with the numbers. He told me to go mostly by wattage. Some of the recommended lamps (by Spidey) on Amazon were very pricey, up in the $75 and north of there range. He also suggested a website of a guy who compares LED headlamps (I think this was given early in this thread). Prices for some of those took my breath away, well over $100 for a pair of headlight lamps. Additionally, the F2 and F3 designations appear to be a configuration used by Evitek, in China (remember Cindy?). This designation does not appear in Amazon descriptions and my guess it's a proprietary design or proprietary nomenclature by Evitek. F2/F3 is not an industry standard, but if you have an educated eye you can look at the pictures of the various lamps early in this thread and compare what you have just purchased and figure out yourself what you have. I find this buy first and figure out later unsatisfying, so I emailed Cindy: Cindy Zhou, cindy@evitekhid.com. They are only running the F3 design now (she told me this a few months ago). A pair of F3 H4's cost me $33 + $10 shipping + $2 Paypal fee two days ago. Shipping a few months ago was amazingly fast. If this thread is still active in a week or two, I'll post when I receive my latest purchase of H4's. Bottom line, if you have been without LED headlights this long, waiting another week or two is no big deal, unless you prefer Amazon's instant gratification.
