Which LED headlights?

[loz65]

Does anyone have experience of both the standard LED headlights on the S-line and also the matrix LED headlights?

Having read the brochure, they both appear to be able to go from full to dipped beam and vice versa automatically without driver intervention, but I may have got this wrong? What are the specific practical benefits of the matrix ones over the standard ones, or are they just a gimmick - i.e. as Theo would ask, what am I paying £945 of my kids' inheritance upon...?

[M1tchy]

The matrix beam lights have 1.2 billion possible combinations of light output.

This shows it quite well albeit an A8, the principle is the same.

Audi matrix-beam led lighting in Audi A8 & S8 Explained / Audi Matrix LED-Scheinwerfer - YouTube (http://youtu.be/kwLiY-J0bJQ)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hellodave.]

As M1tchy says, the Matrix LEDs adjust continuously between high and low beam.

I have plain LED headlights on my (pre FL) S-Line and they have auto high beam but it's either on or off. Sometimes the auto high beam sensor gets it wrong and either dazzles oncoming traffic or leaves the lights dipped for too long (e.g. it thinks reflective signs are cars and dips the lights). Some people find this very annoying but at least you can turn it off and switch manually! Unlike the adaptive Xenon lights on pre FL cars, the standard LEDs are fixed, they don't follow bends.

I've not tried the Matrix LEDs but they sound great in principle - depends how much night driving you do.

[wildbore]

I have not tried both. I have matrix lights on my car and was using them during a lengthy drive last night. They got caught out twice, failing to dip when they should and I had to intervene (makes them sound like naughty children). A few times on a windy road I reverted to manual switching as I knew I would dazzle people in the split second it would take for them to react as cars come fast round a hidden bend.

Overall, though, the vast majority of the journey was done in active matrix mode. The key benefits are on fast unlit dual carriageways where you need far reaching light as you pass slower cars that are in the nearside lane where you would have dipped headlights in a conventional setup. With Matrix, a shaft of main beam lights your way whilst shielding the cars you are passing from being dazzled.

If you drive on unlit roads to any extent then I would say they rate as a vastly better way of spending money than the panoramic roof, speed limit display or the Audi Phone Box or the HUD (all of which I would happily cash back in). They genuinely make driving much, much safer.

Or maybe they allow me to drive faster at night than I would otherwise, as a result of having a better lit route ahead, I can't decide; but my wife made some pithy comments leading me to suspect the latter.