The Nissan Path

Can anyone explain the difference?
Which is better? A guy at a local auto shop today told me that
HID lights have multiple "stages" of brightness whereas
LED's only have the set color. Anyone know if there is any
Truth to that? I bought a set of blue HID today for my map
Lights and waiting for it to get dark to see how it looks.

Ummm for inside lights there's no such thing as HID's.
HID's are a type of headlight.
LED's are usually brighter but with a more focused light whereas incandescent bulbs throw a more even, diffused light. Though not usually as bright.

Bcraven22 wrote:Can anyone explain the difference?
Which is better? A guy at a local auto shop today told me that
HID lights have multiple "stages" of brightness whereas
LED's only have the set color. Anyone know if there is any
Truth to that? I bought a set of blue HID today for my map
Lights and waiting for it to get dark to see how it looks.

Bcraven22 wrote:Can anyone explain the difference?
Which is better? A guy at a local auto shop today told me that
HID lights have multiple "stages" of brightness whereas
peimar led lights only have the set color. Anyone know if there is any
Truth to that? I bought a set of blue HID today for my map
Lights and waiting for it to get dark to see how it looks.

I have always opted for led lights as they are bright but consume less power

If you are referring to headlights, LED is a relatively newcomer to the scene. They are now found in some new 2012 models as an added option (i.e. Accord). I haven't played around with any full LED headlights but if they are finally up to par with HIDs, they will be the way to go.

From previous knowledge though, HIDs are cheaper and brighter than LEDs.

I purchaded the universal putco interior led kit online, total 5 units. very satisfied. compared to the oem bulbs they are much brighter and use very little wattage. for 100+ bucks it was a bit steep but the results are worth the price of admission. as for hid headlights they have to warm up for 30 seconds to give some good light, much brighter than the sylvania ultras I had before and much nicer color than pale yellow. I went 6000k and they look nice. there is also plenty of room for your ballasts. I put led fog lights in and as expected they are not all that bright because they are not focused. I have however put a 20 inch and 2 10 inch rigid industries led light bars on my pathy and WOW those are bright.... but not without their cost, they have been worth it through pitch black Montana highways to see deer and other animals on the road. if you see any led headlights, dont waste your money because they are only good for running lights and not for any real visibility. I hope this helps.

HydroPonix wrote:I purchaded the universal putco interior led kit online, total 5 units. very satisfied. compared to the oem bulbs they are much brighter and use very little wattage. for 100+ bucks it was a bit steep but the results are worth the price of admission. as for hid headlights they have to warm up for 30 seconds to give some good light, much brighter than the sylvania ultras I had before and much nicer color than pale yellow. I went 6000k and they look nice. there is also plenty of room for your ballasts. I put led fog lights in and as expected they are not all that bright because they are not focused. I have however put a 20 inch and 2 10 inch rigid industries led light bars on my pathy and WOW those are bright.... but not without their cost, they have been worth it through pitch black Montana highways to see deer and other animals on the road. if you see any led headlights, dont waste your money because they are only good for running lights and not for any real visibility. I hope this helps.

Which HID kit/brand did you use? Have you had any problems with them? Have you thought about the projection headlight kits? I heard without the projection kits the light goes everywhere? Do you have high and low beam? Do you know if you can do both the halo kit and HID? Thanks for all your help. Sweet ride BTW

I purchased the JLM Xenon HID kit.
They are the first HID's I have ever dealt with.

They are pretty good, metal ballast, light blue hue. As I said install was not too difficult, as for problems... well, Ive had my driver side hid not turn on a few times, but that was an easy fix, I just had to turn off and turn on the lights again and that powered up the bulb. The passenger side for some reason is slightly more white than the other, but I think i'm the only person that notices that. The passenger side hid also has a very very light flicker, i only notice that when i'm behind another car (less than 1 car length) or up against a wall. Other than that, no problems. Surprisingly the stock headlamp units on the pathfinder seem to do an alright job focusing the light and there is little to no glare on other drivers, I have not had anyone flash their brights at me because of the HID's.
They don't have a true High beam function, when I hit my high beams it turns off the HID and turns on the secondary yellow light (halogen) which is like a regular headlight.

I have looked at projector lights, but the ones ive seen look kinda cheap and what I have seems to work so why put more money into that? Plus my LED lights take care of any extra light that I may need.

Here's some pictures for you





Here is the glare from the front at the same level as the lights and then at the bumpers height




Heres the output of the HID's





These are the "secondary high beam lights"



hope that answered your questions

how much was this kit??

I purchased it from a local hid seller for $95. install was a breeze. I would'nt know where to buy them except for online. if you look them up on google I bet you can find something. this kit came with all metal ballasts and dual halogen and xenon.

HydroPonix wrote:I purchased it from a local hid seller for $95. install was a breeze. I would'nt know where to buy them except for online. if you look them up on google I bet you can find something. this kit came with all metal ballasts and dual halogen and xenon.

Do you happen to have any good pics with the front LED light on? How much did that cost? Thanks

HydroPonix wrote:I purchased it from a local hid seller for $95. install was a breeze. I would'nt know where to buy them except for online. if you look them up on google I bet you can find something. this kit came with all metal ballasts and dual halogen and xenon.

Do you happen to have any good pics with the front LED light on? How much did that cost? Thanks

hey they were 120, I guess they were the high end ballasts. I actually am about to switch them out with some I purchased off of the retrofit source. they were 150 or so for the fog lights and like 165 for the headlight hids. that is including ballasts and wiring. I went ahead and did a fog light retrofit, I found that in this forum;

www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic.php?t=1568

was pretty straight forward took me about 2 hours to do and a definite upgrade. all I need to do is put in the hids.

I have also hopped on the retrofit bandwagon... that is a work in progress. I dont have the lights finished yet but I have some pics/ will do a write up in the future.

in the stock housing the hids create less scatter than in other vehicles I have seen and dont glare other drivers even in compact cars because the cut off is at their bumpers.

its a worthwhile upgrade but the ultimate upgrade is to throw quality projectors in the stock light housings. heres the pics u requested and some more of the retrofit in progress also the fog lights.

hids on

hids in housing

hids on at night, notice the cut off at the vehicle in front of mes bumper


fog light retrofit



headlight retrofit in progress


hope that helps!

oh and my bad man..... the rigid 20 inch was $600 and the 2 10 inch ren me about 300 each. install was a bit of a pain for the bumper, and wiring install for roof ones were kinda a doozy, had to fab my own roof mount;

www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic.php?p=5 ... ght=#52157

heres some pics of the leds in action












heres just hids on


heres with leds on in the same spot


I also ditched the rocker switch rigid sent me and went with one from OTRATTW. 20 amps did me enough;



that prolly answers your question better

btw anyone wanting or thinking about buying rigid leds, go through amazon, they were almost 50 to 100 $ cheaper; but make sure what your buying is what you want because rigid has spot only flood only spot flood combo and amber or pure white all are different by their code listing. just look up the series of numbers on the amazon ad online and figure out if its spot pure white or if its amber and flood![/code]

Those headlights with the one projector look great!!! How much for that??