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Since people complained so much I did this again with the newest version of the LUX (H8 V4) and the newest Dtecs (V9).
The new LUX lights are a vast improvement over the previous version in almost every way imaginable. The quality of materials and construction is at another level. They use a much heavier gauge wire and everything is shrink wrapped. You really cant compare the two or even believe they come from the same manufacturer. Although the rubber O-ring is still just glued/siliconed on and the one on my previous set was coming apart.
In comparison to the old Dtec V7s the quality of construction is better on the new LUX but the level of brightness from the lights once installed is pretty much identical. The only real difference visually is that since the LUX is adjustable in temperature it has blue patches of light that are evident from certain angles. The blue patchiness increases in size/intensity up the temperature scale as the light goes more blue versus white. If I wanted a certain temperature I would just purchase lights of that temperature. This adjustable thing doesnt seem to emit a uniform color of one temperature. Had I done the initial comparison with these LUX V4 lights I still would have chosen the V7s because they cost less and have a more uniform color. The flickering issue that plagued the earlier LUX has finally been resolved. There was no flickering even on video.
The Dtec V9s are similar to the older Dtecs in terms of wire gauge and quality of construction. The LUX has really stepped it up here and theyre ahead of even the V9s in terms of materials now. Again, the Dtecs have figured out a better way to design the heat sink to actually hold the rubber seal instead of just gluing it on. The most obvious thing you notice though is the size of the LEDs on the V9s are huge. You can see in the pictures its a drastic difference between the V9s and the LUX V4s. These V9s are noticeably brighter than the older V7, and the LUX are now comparable to the old V7.
In the end I chose to install and keep the V9s on my car because they simply looked the best. I think the LUX are $225 plus shipping on their site and the Dtec V9s on this forum I am told are $185 shipped. If you swapped the price tags I actually would pay more to have the V9s.
There were 2 other people there when I installed and compared the LUX with the Dtec V7 and V9s. They dont know these brands, they didnt know the prices, they didnt know which set was which, they simply walked over and looked at each set lit up on my car and in the end held them in their hands. Both of these people agreed with me on all points and they too said they would choose to install the V9s over the other two options. In fact one of the guys asked if he could have my old V7s for one of his BMWs. He chose these over the LUX V4s on his own accord. I didnt offer either to him. He asked me what I was going to do with the sets I wasnt installing and if he could have the V7s. Theyre now on his wife's E93 M3.
I dont want to hear again about apples to apples... I would choose the V7s over the LUX, and I did choose the V9s over the LUX. Factor in the higher cost and to me its a no brainer.
I left the customer service or lack thereof from LUX out of this and I didnt mention it to the 2 individuals who were present when I was doing this. Again, I am not affiliated with the manufacturers or vendors of these products. I dont get any incentive over which you choose to buy. I installed all 3 (4 if you count the old LUX), I turned them on, looked at my car and picked the ones I liked best for the reasons stated. Ive been more than fair to LUX and if they hadnt been such assholes it never even would have come to this.
FYI none of these pictures were edited in any way other than being cropped for size, adding the text, and sticking the two side by side. Id also like to state that the pics dont accurately capture what you see in person with the naked eye. Of the dozens of pictures we took I tried to choose pictures that were best representative of what we were seeing.
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