What to know: the GTR Lighting Ultra Series 2 LED Bulb

The fact that this lightbulb is finally here makes me very happy. After a year of development, this product is finally ready for us. When we tried it, it outperformed the competitors. The brightness of this creature will astound you all.

Note: In the United States, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) regulates lamps, reflective devices, and related equipment. Despite the fact that these LED lights can be used to replace the original halogen light bulb, using them on cars that are registered for on-street use is illegal. This kind of alteration is only permitted in jurisdictions outside of the United States, where it is allowed in fog lighting applications or off-road applications. Click here for a more thorough breakdown of compliance and to learn more about how to assess if this kind of product is safe to use and permitted on US public roads.

The brand-new GTR Lighting Ultra Series Two LED headlight bulb is seen below. You may remember the first Ultra series, which was the most significant thing at the time. Since its release, the industry as a whole has seen some advances.

Like all LED headlight bulbs, the Ultra2 can be used to replace them. You remove the original halogen incandescent light bulb, replace it with an LED headlight bulb, and then switch it on.

However, this one is unique.

This lightbulb employs a multi-core flipped chip LED array, which was created especially for automotive purposes for the first time. We used the LED chip technology that the manufacturer had on hand in the past. After testing it on a potential PCB, we would determine what worked. However, this LED chip is now designed for a headlamp.

Because the Ultra2 is the only automotive-specific LED chip on the market, it performs far better than the others. Its design strikes a compromise between maintaining a cool temperature for optimal longevity and optimizing brightness.

The heatsink above is suitable for any use.

The connectors are more advanced than before. They are the finest of the greatest. If your vehicle has a great paint job, a music system, and gorgeous wheels, you want the Ultra2's best, most detailed lighting. It really is that easy.

All About The Lumens

When examining LED headlight bulbs, the brightness ratings are a major factor in everyone's confusion. Some claim 1800 lumens, while others claim 10,000. Specifically, each of the GTR lighting Ultra Series 2 bulbs has a luminous output of 3,900. The GTR lighting bulb is brighter than the Ledlightjeep T1 (above), which, according to their website, has 8,000 lumens.

Despite having 7,600 lumens, the GTR bulbs are brighter than the Last Fit LA series bulbs (below).

Despite having 8,000 lumens, the GTR bulbs are brighter than the Night Eye bulbs. Is that possible? The GTR Lighting Ultra2 produces twice as much light in a projector headlight as these but only has 3,900 lumens.

It's easy, really. Aftermarket lighting manufacturers all too frequently grab random chips and heatsinks off the shelf, literally take them out of a parts bin, and then simply assemble them. Once they're in a headlamp, they'll see what works. It wasn't the case with the GTR light bulbs.

We Do Lighting Better Because We Test

They took the LED chip and used engineering to determine what kind of heatsink was needed to keep it bright and at the proper temperature for the longest period of time.

Next, they examined the LED chips' optical alignment within the casing. Many of these lights have LED chips arranged haphazardly. Because it's not well-planned, they are less expensive.

If I told you, "Hey, I needed to make me a light bulb as cheap as possible," would you make the effort to conduct the testing? Will you design it such that it functions properly? Do you intend to ensure that it is as flawless as possible? Will you use the best high-quality products?

No. You will have to take some shortcuts if you have to create an inexpensive LED headlight bulb. The LED headlight bulbs from GTR Lighting don't look like that. The greatest of the best is what they're designed to be.

Your original halogen lightbulb uses between 55 and 65 watts of electricity. GTR Lighting Ultra Series 2 uses 42 watts. Because it uses less power, it is safe for use in any vehicle application. Previously, folks were afraid of melting their stock wire when they put stronger lights on it.

Nevertheless, GTR Lighting's LED headlight bulbs are more energy-efficient than your original ones, consuming less energy and producing less heat.

Like many other bulbs on the market, the GTR Lighting Ultra2s uses an LED chip with a high CRI of 6,000 K so that you won't get strange colors like green, dark shadows, or yellow. This implies that you will receive high-quality, really strong light in front of your car regardless of what you put in.

They can also fix any automobile or truck. Because their input power ranges from 11 to 30 volts, they can be installed on anything. They are also small enough to fit in a fog light, low beam, high beam, projector headlight, or any other type of light. Use the GTR lighting Ultra2 wherever a standard incandescent light bulb is available.

As is now widely known, the brightest and best-LED headlight bulbs cool using a heatsink that has an integrated fan. Previously, the idea was that if your lightbulb had a fan, it would be a failure point and cause extra issues. We discovered that it's not an issue at all when the proper fan type is used. Second, a fan-cooled heat sink cools down more quickly than a passively cooled one.

This holds significance since LED headlight bulbs require a well-rounded strategy. You will overpower the lightbulb, and it will simply fail if you have an extremely bright LED chip configuration and a subpar heatsink. That's not designed correctly if you have a large heatsink and a dim LED. You obtain the correct size heatsink for the right size LED chip here, which would be helpful.

It's also crucial to consider adjustable collars when choosing your next set of LED headlight bulbs. When installing an LED headlight bulb, the LEDs should normally be oriented precisely horizontally or between nine and three o'clock.

It will be an issue, though, if your mounting collar isn't adjustable and your headlamp is set up so that the bulb fits in at an angle.

Each of the many GTR Lighting Ultra Series 2 LED headlight bulbs has a mechanism that allows for adjustment. In order to line it precisely, the eight seven twists. To clock the collar to the exact position you require, you must undo a set screw within the H11. There is also a simple push-and-twist adjustment on the H4.

The many bulbs are all changeable to achieve the ideal beam pattern for any application. If you want to learn more about why it matters, see our other video, where we discuss the specifics of what happens. You'll probably need to index your mismatched bulbs if you put them in and find that they're not as bright as you had anticipated. They must be slightly adjusted to fit your headlight exactly.

This lightbulb is meticulously crafted from top to bottom. You now have these gorgeous Torx bits; this specially made Ultra shell, and black O-rings in place of that unsightly glaring red. The heatsink design is sleek and stylish.

After this turbine-style fan cover featuring the GTR logo, you have one of my favorite components: the flat cord that connects the driver and the lightbulb (shown below). This will make it fit better if you have to pass it through anything. With the GTR and Ultra emblems, the driver itself blends in well with the rest of the bulb.

You will have a difficult time finding a better wiring connector than these, I promise. Even the H13 bulbs, which are known for having poor connectors, employ Delphi connectors in the OEM form.

There isn't much better than that. The GTR Lighting Ultra2s will take care of everything if you want to purchase a lightbulb, plug it in, and have the best light output possible.

I've already tried these bulbs, so you can definitely tell that I adore them by now. I'll demonstrate why by installing these bulbs in the headlight of a Tacoma projector. They must perform; it's not just about their appearance and technology. These do, too.

We remove the original headlight housing from your vehicle and use the original halogen bulb for testing. Next, we test the proper brightness at a specific location in our studio using a digital Lux meter. We can then determine who is being truthful about lumens.

Given their lower claimed lumen level, the GTR Lighting LED headlight bulbs should have a lower lux rating than these. The truth will be revealed in a moment.

After that, we'll remove your halogen lightbulb, install the new LED headlight bulbs, and use a digital Lux meter to measure the brightness of the light output.

First, let's talk about your original halogen lightbulb.

This is the appearance of a standard halogen lamp for a projector. We measured the brightest spot on the wall at a maximum of 250 Lux, which is less than the 1000 lumens that they are known to have. 250 lux is equivalent to 1,000 lumens. Remember that when we discuss the other bulbs.

According to the Ledlightjeep website, the Ledlightjeep T1 LED headlight bulb has 8,000 lumens (see below). To give them credit, let's name the Ledlightjeep T1 4,000 lumens, as that's likely the total luminosity of both bulbs.

Being an adjustable bulb, it was only 270 lux at its worst, which is around the same as stock, and 330 lux at its best, which is slightly brighter than stock.

The beam pattern is a tad lacking, in my opinion. It has some strange shadows and tremors, and it's not as wide as the original halogen bulb.

This lightbulb demonstrates the significance of adequately aligning your lightbulb. Changing the direction and twisting the bulb will yield a wide variety of shapes. With only 330 Lux as our limit, we can do better.

We then evaluated an LED lightbulb made by Night Eye.

Compared to the old halogen light, this one duplicates the beam pattern quite well, although it lacks brightness. According to the Night Eye website, these have 8,000 lumens. Even if this light had 4,000 lumens, its maximum rating would still only be 330 because they are most likely merging both bulbs into one rating. The stock halogen is not significantly brighter than that.

Although it has a wide beam pattern, the Last fit LA series headlight bulb (below) does not have many brightness tests. The 7,600 lumens listed on the website are likely doubled. It may have 3,800 lumens, and this one measured a maximum of 350 lux. Up to 1.5 times brighter than standard, all three of these LED headlight bulbs that we have had so far have roughly the same brightness.

Here's what I'm referring to. No strange shadows can be found. It has an incredibly brilliant hot spot, a nearly flawless beam pattern, and the right alignment for any headlight.

Although the GTR Lighting LED headlight bulb has a 3,900 brightness rating, its maximum lux is 670. Why does this bulb have about three times the brightness of stock and two times the brightness of the other LED headlight bulbs, even though its lumen rating is roughly the same as all the others?

This is the exact reason I adore this lightbulb: something is amiss. This beam pattern is perfect, and the brightness is a vast improvement.

You will adore the Ultra2.

We didn't choose these lightbulbs at random. You guys have repeatedly requested that we test them in the comments section of our previous videos. In this test, the GTR Ultra2 is two times more brilliant than all of them and nearly three times brighter than the halogen bulb.

What matters most, though, is that the beam pattern is far superior.

Did you notice that the GTR bulb's beam pattern was significantly fuller compared to these other bulbs? This outcome is consistent across all headlight housing types. We have completed the testing.