have any of the projector headlight kits panned out? I hate the stock headlights at night.. can't see a darned thing...

or just skip it and go to some lightbar?

Have to dim for oncomings either way.

 

Touchy subject Sam. Super quality products are very expensive but are designed extremely well. Cheap products work great can be problems for other drivers. There are a lot of options out there that provide plenty of reliable light but the cheaper options are notorious for blinding oncoming traffic. I have an HID setup from DDMTuning.com (which should be considered Walmart quality) that I got for less than $100. I had to turn down the headlight housings a bit to keep the light out of the eyes of other drivers. That seems to have worked as it has been a couple of years since I have been flashed by oncoming cars.

You also need to specify the color as the light can be yellow to obnoxious wanna-be-racer blue. I have the 4,200 HZ which is just a titch off white to the yellow side. It's very similar to regular lights.

I've used DDM's products for years on several vehicles and motocycles and off-road equipment. It's worked great for me.

 

I used the DDM Tuning lamps in my 2008, and was not impressed at all.

my Suburban and Prius can light up the sky, but I can't see to the corner with my $60,000 truck. the DDM stuff made it broad, but not distant.
I also had a problem that occasionally (3 times in 6 months) the DDM stuff didn't turn on at all.

there are newer projector housings, but are they any good?

 

I personally would go for additional lights, as it will add a lot more light, and you can always take them to your next truck. The stock lights on a superduty are the worst I have ever experienced on a vehicle, an Audi A6 I used to own with stock Xenon's got about 3 times the throw distance.

Cheap option, a couple of Hella/PIAA driving lights.
Expensive option, good quality light bar from either Baja Designs or VisionX.

 

I did the HID Projector mod to my existing headlight assemblies. Wouldn't do it again because: 1. It's a lot of work, pretty much a weekend worth. 2. Ensuring the lights are aligned properly is NOT easy when you are epoxying in the new projectors. Lots of opportunity to be just a little off which will make a big difference once on the truck. Mine are adjusted to the limit and one is on the edge of being a bit high when I'm towing.

Lights work great, WAY better than the stock. If I were to do it again, a LED bar in the bumper wired to a Upfitter would be the way to go.

 

The headlights on my 2000 F-350 did a much better job than the headlights on my '11 F-450. I have got to add lights.

 

Headlights don't get much better with the other MFR's either. My RAM doesn't do well. I also recently rented a Chevy and it probably had the best light pattern, but I really disliked everything else about the truck. I did have projector headlights retrofitted on my F-150 (that was a fun and hard to do project). Excellent light, but I hated the hard cut-off since it didn't light anything above that line at all. So those highway signs were not illuminated at all for me. Personally, I'd just do a light bar. That's what I wanted to do with my F-150 after the retrofit and that's what I'm still wanting to do with my RAM.

 

I went with the rigid e-series 20inch light bar on my 2012 f 350 it's a nice clean and simple install and it's the brightest thing I have ever seen it was money well spent

 

I take it you don't have a front license plate. this complicates matters..

 

Yah I guess that would complicate things having a front license plate recon makes a cool set of driving lights that fit into the factory fog light holes not sure how bright they are but they look nice

 

I wouldn't want to give up the fogs..

sounds like I'd either have to do twin 6's/8/10 on each side of the plate
or a pushbar with lights added..

and these extra lights will be flicking on and off a lot.. anyone have any experience with that? I have this one 1 mile straight, high fenced on both sides (no deer jumping), but the last 1/4 mile is unfenced and tree lined.
With an oncoming vehicle its SO dark. the county doesn't mow often, right now the 30ft sides of the road are near 3ft tall. You have no idea whats stepping out of the high grass.

 

I have projectors and they are a nice improvement, but not as bright as a light bar (Like the Randy Ellis one or the one from N-Fab). I'd go with a light bar and add Rigid (or whatever brand you want) light bar (20" or more) or at least 3 round lights (two fog and one driving).

I have the Recon fogs and they are not as bright as the stock, but they are the same color light output as the HID's in the Recon projectors.

HID low beam with fogs.

Brights/lows/fogs (I rewired the lights to all work together, I have to dim when traffic comes anyway).


Darren has the Randy Ellis light bar with 8" round lights (3). He seems to like it. There are two trucks with 20" Rigid LED light bars in town. They are significantly brighter and have at least 40' more light out put.

 

Oh yeah, to drive home the project-headlight cut-off with HID projector retrofits, here's a few pics:
Low Beam:


High Beam:


Notice how sharp the cut-off is, and the lack of light lighting up any windows or anything else. Then there's the light bar. I snapped this pick of my reverse lights I wired into my F-150, they were Rigids with only 2 LED's per light (I had 2 lights in the bumper). The F-150 had pathetic reverse lights so this was more of a necessity:

Beam Pattern:


Compared to OEM headlights at the same exact photography settings, so no mincing words here:


And the installed items on my bumper, yes those 2 little dots put out lots of light:

 

I have a 20" rigid lightbar on my truck and I am really happy with it. I have it wired to Aux#1 and I use it instead of my brights.

Here is a pic with the lightbar off:


Here its on:

 

Thanks Andre, I went with a Randy Ellis Design light bar and 4 8" 130W SS KC's. 2 driving and 2 distance. No regrets. Like you say, you gotta turn them off when traffic is oncoming anyway.





Although now I have a different bumper and only use 3 of the light it still GREAT