Well, after bugging Ryan Baker at RECON for almost a year now, here are the 2011 SuperDuty Smoked Version. I chose to go with RECON's Xenon Lamps. The install is pretty simple but does require the assistance to hold housings during wiring. Everything is plug-n-play, except RECON has added LED lamps at the bottom of the housing and around the projectors, which can be hardwired as parking, daytime running, or upfitter control or combinations of those. For simplicity I hooked them up to the parking lights for now using "bullet-type" quick connects. Fit and finish is excellent although I clearanced one mounting hole on the passenger side for a better fit. After one rainy night of use the Xenons are nowhere near bright enough so I will be installing Hella 80 watt low-beams and Hella 100 watt hi-beams to get the light level up. Also, I notice there is a drastic cut-off in the upper spectrum of the projector which I'm guessing so as not to blind oncoming traffic. I will raise the low beams slightly to get better throw. All adjustments require removal of the housing. I like the blacked out Euro-look over the stockers. All in all a B+....upgrade to an A if the Hellas pan out....A+ if the lenses were smoked like the Tailights.

 

Thanks for the info...any reason why you didn't go with HID? I thought with projector lenses you really needed to go with HID for them to work better than standard housings as the projector lenses will actually cut the light available from non HID bulb?

 

My first foray into the projector world so I'm still learning. Any advice is appreciated.

 

None other than I've read a few places that the projector lenses reduce the amount of light from the bulb so using something very bright like HID is required....not sure other than that. Maybe Recon can assist?

 

Andy, they look great! You may want to look at Retro Solutions true HID with ballast system for those man.

 

Aren't HID's illegal in some states?

 

Not that I'm aware of as many new cars come with them OEM. What some states are considering is making it illegal to install HID in a non HID projector housing....ie, an OEM housing\reflector as that causes so much scatter from HID that it can impair on oncoming driver's vision.

 

Those are really sharp Andy!! What did they set you back?

 

$650 less 15% discount

 

UPDATE:
I changed the low beams to the Hella 80 watt and high beams to Hella 100 watt. Huge difference in output. Now all I have to do is adjust the ride height.

 

Great!

Any chance you took a before/after photo comparison?

 

Only pics looking towards the truck. I will take pics tonight of the Hellas.

 

Nope, HIDs are perfectly legal in every state as long as they are in a headlamp housing certified for them. The problem is that many folks install HID bulbs in stock halogen projectors. These are dangerous and illegal in every state.

I don't know about that. Lots of new Toyotas use projector lenses and all but the top-line cars use halogen bulbs. My wife's 2011 Sienna is like this: halogen bulb in a projector-style lamp.

 

So I wonder if the halogen projector lens is designed for halogens or if the HID lenses are different? I don't have the answer, but am curious.

 

That's a very good question, but I'm pretty confident that the headlamps in the Toyotas that I mentioned are different between HID and halogen. I wonder what the Recon projectors are certified for. I bet halogen, as those are the bulbs that they sold Andy. Really misleading how they call their halogen bulbs "Xenon"...I think it's shady business of the highest level and that alone would prevent me from ever buying things from them. By definition xenon bulbs are HIDs, and their "xenon" bulbs are anything but.