Direct Replacement LED Headlight

[MonsterMaster]

I was browsing eBay when I came across this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ducati-Monster-LED-Projection-Headlight-black-Better-than-HID/173384351603?hash=item285e833f73:g:Z18AAOSwBY1bVzVl:sc:USPSPriority!32803!US!-1

Does anyone have this? And if so, how does it perform. Seems preferable to the expensive Motodemic kit as it's a direct swap.

[S21FOLGORE]

Is this a spam?

[MonsterMaster]

No.

[S21FOLGORE]

All right, then.

I would day, stay away from that eBay light, IF you actually want to see better at night.

Reason #1 Color Temp

The product description says, "color temperature 6000 K (Kelvin)".

That's WAY too blue-ish, to be actually useful for motor vehicle's headlight.



Short wavelength lights such as blue, purple are more irritating to human eyes, that's why they look brighter when you look into them.
Short wavelength lights WILL NOT focus on your eye's focal plane. What it means is, you can not see thing clearly with those head light, regardless the claimed light output. (Lumen).
When the condition gets harder (rain, fog, etc), things get worse. Those blue-ish white light scatters all over, your visibility will be greatly reduced.

And, you will get more, way more eye fatigue, because your eyeballs will have to work extra hard, trying to focus on things that they really can't focus.

Things illuminated by blueish light, always look slightly out of focus, which distort the depth perception, which can get you killed on a motorcycle.

Is that what you want?

Reason #2 light beam cut-off pattern not shown



The photo that's supposed to be the beam shot, very cleverly hides the cut-off pattern.
So, you don't know if those lights even have the cut-offs.

For the road use, you WILL need the proper cut-off.
Don't use the high output light without the cut-off on the public road.



6000 kelvin head light is practically a ricer's head light. (Going up to 8000 k, it is totally rice.)
With that headlight, you are going to turn your finely crafted Italian sport bike into the moving hazard (to both the other road users and yourself) ricer wannabe.

[Howie]

One flaw I have noticed on many aftermarket LED headlights and even some OEM is how visible they are to oncoming traffic, very important with motorcycles.

[ute]

All right, then.

I would day, stay away from that eBay light, IF you actually want to see better at night.

Reason #1 Color Temp

The product description says, "color temperature 6000 K (Kelvin)".

That's WAY too blue-ish, to be actually useful for motor vehicle's headlight.



Short wavelength lights such as blue, purple are more irritating to human eyes, that's why they look brighter when you look into them.
Short wavelength lights WILL NOT focus on your eye's focal plane. What it means is, you can not see thing clearly with those head light, regardless the claimed light output. (Lumen).
When the condition gets harder (rain, fog, etc), things get worse. Those blue-ish white light scatters all over, your visibility will be greatly reduced.

And, you will get more, way more eye fatigue, because your eyeballs will have to work extra hard, trying to focus on things that they really can't focus.

Things illuminated by blueish light, always look slightly out of focus, which distort the depth perception, which can get you killed on a motorcycle.

Is that what you want?

Reason #2 light beam cut-off pattern not shown



The photo that's supposed to be the beam shot, very cleverly hides the cut-off pattern.
So, you don't know if those lights even have the cut-offs.

For the road use, you WILL need the proper cut-off.
Don't use the high output light without the cut-off on the public road.



6000 kelvin head light is practically a ricer's head light. (Going up to 8000 k, it is totally rice.)
With that headlight, you are going to turn your finely crafted Italian sport bike into the moving hazard (to both the other road users and yourself) ricer wannabe.

Great read .....tha thanks

[E-man]

I have one of these LED replacement headlights for my 796 from MattGeko LEDs. One of the absolute best changes I’ve ever made to the bike!  

Color isn’t 6000k, closer to 5000k and nice and white. Light output is vastly improved from stock (even with a good PIAA bulb) and it’s a complete plug and play unit.   Highly recommended IMHO.

[S21FOLGORE]

Light output is vastly improved from stock (even with a good PIAA bulb) and it’s a complete plug and play unit.   Highly recommended IMHO.

There's no such thing(good PIAA blub).

They are P O S.

Look at the photos.

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=69572.0

Good head light bulbs are

Phillips, Osram, Narva, Wagner, RAYBRIG


Sylvania, PIAA are POS.
Yes, sadly, good, useful bulbs are usually NOT available at your nearby auto parts store (in US, anyway.)
(The only exception is Wagner, which you can probably find at local NAPA store. Also, their house brand "NAPA safetylite" outperforms PIAA, or Sylvania , by a huge margin.

[S21FOLGORE]

Also, take a look at the beam shot again, carefully.




Notice the super bright hot spot right front of the bike? It is there in both high beam and low beam.

This will cause your pupil to constricts, which means, you CAN'T SEE further ahead.
The headlight beam SHOULD NOT cast bright light right front of the vehicle.
(The low beam of that headlight is totally useless.)

The light was designed by amateur, who doesn't know the very basic about motor vehicle's lighting system.

Your headlight casting the super bright white light right front of you, of course you FEEL like you have bright head light.
But you can see less distance ahead.

[E-man]

The light was designed by amateur, who doesn't know the very basic about motor vehicle's lighting system.

Look, all your negative criticism aside, as someone who actually owns the light (and has been looking for better lighting for this bike for years now), I find that it works better than the stock unit. It puts out more usable light (in both high and low beam) and I no longer feel like I’m outrunning my stock headlight at 80-90mph. I feel safer with this light, “bright spot” or not.

I’m just thankful that like myself, other Monster 696/796/1100 owners finally have another lighting option available without having to drop $800 on a Motodemic unit or $700 for Kenstomoto.

[S21FOLGORE]

Sorry if I'm offended you.

The posts are not meant to be any sort of personal attack.
So, ... don't get upset.

I'm just pointing out what I noticed, which, unfortunately, pretty much all negative.(Not worth dropping $360)

As for your comment regarding "improvement over the stock headlight",
you realize that ...

Your comment suggest that you are comparing "PIAA bulb in stock light" vs this eBay LED light.

Also, reading your post gives the impression of you believing PIAA bulb in stock light was improvement over the stock bulb in stock light.

The simple fact is, "PIAA bulb in stock light <stock bulb in stock light".
You can clearly see the decrease in lighting performance, if you try back to back test.
If you thought it was an improvement, it is because of the placebo-effect.



Quite often, people believe what they want to believe, rather than the scientific fact.

So far, you have provided only your subjective information ( your personal feelings, perceptions).
Nothing to buck up how this eBay light works better than stock lighting system logically & objectively. (something observable and / or measurable).

So, I'm only pointing out that, looking at the thing objectively, it doesn't seem worth spending $360.

For reviewing or recommending hard parts such as headlight system, you need logical, methodical approach.

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=76305.0

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=69146.msg1375859#msg1375859

For those who are looking for more budget friendly lighting upgrade that actually improves the lighting performance, I suggest starting from those two posts above.
(If you don't mind a bit of wiring and electrical work, there's always the "relay + heavy duty wiring + high wattage bulb.
Which, actually fairly easy to do.)