The Best 9004 LED Headlight Bulbs in 2023

Get ready to learn all about the best 9004 LED headlight bulbs.

9004 LEDs are hugely popular, and you’re spoilt for choice. But that’s the problem; there are too many 9004 LED’s choose from.

But don’t worry; I’ve got you sorted. 

I’ve been working with and testing headlight bulbs for over ten years and have seen my share of good, bad, and ugly. I wouldn’t recommend something that I haven’t tried myself.

I’ve tested a stack of 9004 LEDs and narrowed it down to the best three for you.

Hands down, the best ones are the Firehawk 2023 New 9004 LED Bulbs. 

These are the best bulbs you can get your hands on for under $100. They last over 50,000 hours and are super easy to install. 

Read all about Firehawk next, followed by two more based on price.

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Why are the Firehawk 2023 New 9004 LED Headlight Bulbs my best pick? Easy, these babies are bright, super bright. I’m talking 20,000 lumens per set; that’s a whopping 500% brighter and 250% better night vision than halogens. 

And, unlike some lights with a few seconds delay, these switch on immediately, perfect if you lose the sun or drive into a tunnel.

Color Temperature

Most of you know by now that 6000K Xenon white is my favorite Kelvin color. Why is it my favorite? White gives you sharpness and clarity on the objects in front of you.

The Kelvin scale is quite broad. Softer yellow colors begin at 1700k and move up the chart to blue at 27,000K. 

Neat Features

What I also appreciate is the super-focused beam pattern, and its 360° adjustable lock ring, giving you ultimate control of where your beam goes.

Anti-glare technology also means no dark spots or shadows, and you won’t accidentally blind oncoming traffic. 

Flashing and flicking is no issue here; these bulbs provide a stable light flow.

Durability and Longevity

Firehawk’s 9004 bulbs are IP68 waterproof, are not affected by radio interference, and have been tested at temperatures from -45°F to 150°F. Extreme weather doesn’t limit the output of these bulbs.

Firehawk says these 9004 LEDs will last up to 50,000 hours, and my testing confirmed that’s about right. 

Heat Management

Let’s talk about the cooling system. The silent turbofan operates at 12,000 RPM, making these bulbs last up to 100 times longer than halogens. 

Don’t be fooled by the size of the fan. During testing, the maximum temperature got to 122°F; no problems there at all.

Installation

I really like the design; they’re the standard size of a stock halogen bulb. They fit easily into your lighting housing and were super easy to install; I had them done in less than 15 minutes.

My Tests

I tested these with a lux meter that was 20 feet away, and the results impressed me. I made the comparison against standard halogens, and the difference was instantly noticeable. 

Projector

The initial light output from Halogens was a 725 lux rating, and the FireHawk 9004 bulbs were a whopping 1,332 lux! 

I kept the test going for 27 minutes because it’s the average commute time in most US cities. Even after 27 minutes, they still performed at 88%, so 1,172 lux. 

Reflector

The reflector test was equally impressive — a 2,280 lux rating versus Halogens, which was much weaker than the halogen’s 910 lux rating.

During the projector output, I noticed a bit of fuzziness in the top center, and of course, that famous lower center area was also weak.

I picked up two areas of scattering, too, just to the right of the top center fuzzy area and again in the lower left, but it’s not considerable.

What Other Drivers Are Saying

This 9004 LED bulb is hugely popular. Over 5,000 reviews on Amazon give it an average rate of 4.4/5. The number one positive comment is just how damn bright they are. 

The negative seems to be about the ease of installation; then again, others, like me, say it’s straightforward. I’d put this down to older vehicles.  

Summing It Up

All-in-all, these are the best 9004 LED bulbs you’ll get for under $100 a set. They’re insanely bright and have an excellent cooling system. 

At a 50,000-hour lifespan, you won’t need to replace them often either.

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You don’t need to spend a fortune on 9004 LED headlights. The Nilight 9004 LED Headlight Bulbs are just under $40 a pair and, for that price, are an excellent choice.

When you first look at them, they appear to be average LEDs, but as you’ll discover in my testing, that’s not the case at all. 

So here’s a look at what they offer.

Brightness and Color Temperature

Firstly, they’re nice and bright. 10,000 lumens per bulb makes them 350% brighter than regular halogens, and they have a far-reaching beam. That’s perfect for multi-lane highway driving or on country roads so you can spot the wildlife looking to cross.

The Kelvin color is a cool white 6000 kelvins; that’ll make seeing things in front of you much clearer and sharper. If you prefer a softer yellow, you’d need to go down to around 2000 Kelvins. 

Neat Features

The hi/lo option provides a super focused beam pattern, with no dark spots or shadows and, most importantly, no glare to infuriate oncoming drivers. No scattered light means more safety on the road.

Durability and Longevity

The Nilight 9004 LEDs have a built-in driver and are CAN bus-ready. They contain a CSP chip with an IP rating of 67, which means they perform in extreme weather conditions, including snow and fog, without radio interference.

Nilight states that these 9004 LED bulbs will last 50,000 hours.

I love the energy-saving feature. In fact, 65% of the energy of other LEDs, thanks to the premium aviation aluminum heat sink and a powerful yet silent 10,000RPM turbo cooling fan.

Installation

These bulbs are the same size as standard halogens and were easy to install. 

My Tests

Now for my test. As always, my LED is positioned 20 ft away from the bulb, and here are the results. 

Projector

I got a huge surprise, a good one! The Nilight 9004 LEDs generated a 1,437 lux reading, almost double a standard halogen; wow. 

Even after the magic 27 minutes, I still got 1,173 lux. These are above-average results for 9004 LEDs. 

There was a slight blurring at the top and a bit weak in the lower center area, which is pretty standard for headlights, so there’s no surprise there.

Reflector

The reflector output numbers were equally as impressive, 2,690 lux and 2,196 after 27 minutes. 

I noticed the light was well controlled, slightly broader, and deeper than regular halogens. 

After 27 minutes, the maximum temperature reached 129°F, slightly higher than average but not a big issue.

The reflector light is surprisingly well controlled, with a slight scattering on the lower right side, but negligible.

What Other Drivers Are Saying 

The Nilight 9004 LED bulbs consistently rank in the Top 20 of Amazon’s LED headlights, and the reviews are mostly positive. There are almost 7,000, and the overall rating is 4.5/5. 

The positive comments overwhelmingly state that they’re much better than stock halogens. 

The negatives suggest that modifications are needed to be made to the light fittings on vehicles over ten years old for them to be installed correctly.

Summing it Up

Despite the low price, the Nilight 9004 LED bulbs aren’t ‘budget’ in performance and are well worth looking at.

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PREMIUM CHOICE

At the top end of the cost scale are the Hikari  Future Titanova 9004 LED bulbs. Even though they’re a ‘premium’ item, you’ll still get away with paying about $130 per set.

Brightness 

The bulbs have six LED chips, three more than most others. 

Hikari claims 65 watts and 30,000 lumens per set. Yes, they’re incredibly bright, which is very handy for nighttime off-road driving. 

Hikari says they provide 15,000 lumens each which I find hard to believe as I’m yet to test any bulbs that go that high. But check out my test results a bit later. 

Also, the DOT stamp on the driver is a little misleading. The Department of Transport doesn’t actually approve items, and I’m sure you’ll find lights this bright have restrictions on where you can use them. 

Color Temperature

The Kelvin color is a cool white 6000K, lots of nice vertical light there. I’m a massive fan of this color, and if you’d prefer more blue, you’d need to look at upwards of 15,000 Kelvins.

Neat Features

They have a customized light beam, which gives you maximum coverage but doesn’t add glare to oncoming traffic. There’s no flickering issue as they use a very sophisticated CAN bus system. 

Durability and Longevity

What I really like about the Hikari 9004 LEDs is the braided cables connecting the external driver. They separate so that if one needs replacing, the other remains in working order. 

Another huge plus is the lack of LED burnout. Due to the high current on start up, LED chips had a frequent burnout issue in the past. 

The Hikari has a 6A overload capacity, a threefold increase over the standard. As a result, you won’t experience this problem with these bulbs.

Hikari claims these 9004 LEDs will last 100,000 hours which, for me, is dubious.

Installation

Installation was straightforward; the bulb and the driver fit inside the most recent car models. 

My Tests

I expected big things from the Hikari 9004 LEDs during the test, and I wasn’t disappointed. 

Projector

2,220 lux! Very very bright. Where these bulbs stood out is after 27 minutes, they still operated at 85% brightness, so around 1,887 lux. That result makes these one of the brightest I’ve ever tested after this amount of time. 

So back to 15,000 lumens each, I’m not sure they’ll ever make it that bright, so I feel they may want to be more realistic in their statements.

I was impressed with the light stability. Even that familiar weak spot in the lower front wasn’t as apparent as those from other LEDs

Reflector

The reflector result was also excellent! A 3,590 lux rating and 3,052 lux after 27 minutes. The light band is full, with much more vertical light than your standard halogens.

Hikari states 65 watts; I tested them to almost 57, which isn’t bad at all. The temperature after 27 minutes was 195°F. For that level of brightness, that’s actually quite cool.

The unique design of the Hikari Titanova 9004 LED makes for a very controlled light pattern, with a slight thinning on the top and bottom right, but the rest was very full. It’s a great deal of vertical light.

What Other Drivers are Saying

Customers of these 9004 bulbs are more in favor than against it. Over 2,000 reviews on Amazon, a 4.5/5 rating with 77% giving it five stars. 

The main positive comments are how bright they are and easy to install. 

The negatives agree with me, over-promoting what they can do; the lumens and lifetime hours seem exaggerated. 

Summing it Up

The Hikari brand of headlights gets talked up a lot, and in the past, I’ve been a little underwhelmed, but this time, the 9004 Titanova LEDs live up to the hype.

 If you have that extra cash, these are the ones to buy.

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