Very disappointed with Putco Led Bulbs

[pgr1990]

So I have been running Putco Silverlux 9006 fogs and H1 headlights as the shop I was using sells their products and recommends them.

The other day I parked my truck and I look back at it and notice the fog light is dangling out from the bumper. I'm thinking how the heck could this have happened when it's a 9006 which is a pretty tightly fastened connection to the fog light housing. I unplugged the foglight and inspected. The small circular piece that twists into the socket was still in the socket and the entire light just snapped off and slipped right through the hole.

I was also running my headlights with the exact same type of bulbs and every single time I turn off my headlights the driver side led flickers for a second and looks terrible. I swapped bulbs and low and behold the problem didn't occur meaning that the bulb I have is faulty. The problem also was getting progressively worse.

I wasn't impressed by the quality of the product when I initially installed them. They felt cheap and are literally built as well as the Chinese alternatives that sell on Ebay for $35 a set. If I had to guess they probably are Chinese rebranded lights that are being sold at a premium of around $160 a set which is absurd. I generally purchase high end products for my vehicles after learning from years of modding that you need to "pay to play". In this case my philosophy backfired pretty badly.

To remedy my situation I have just gone with the Morimoto 2 stroke LED's for my fogs. I have used their products in the past and know they are top notch in quality and their products have been bulletproof for me.

For my headlights since I have Recon housings I had to buy h1 style bulbs which are not available from Morimoto or any other reputable Led suppliers. I just went with some Ebay $35 R4 fabless LED's with good reviews and a higher lumen output than the putcos. I figure at such a low cost I'll just give them a shot as there were no other real options for the H1 in fanless LEDs.

I don't drive off-road or aggressively at all so the fact that 2/4 of the exact same LED's from one company failed is not good and I wouldn't go with their products again.

If anyone else has had issues like mine it would be nice to warn people before they drop $320 like I did on what I thought were "quality" LED bulbs.




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[navyjoe11]

Same deal man, except I only​ run the in cab lights but they suck because they constantly flicker and terrible for the price

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[Witch]

if you don't have any luck with the Morimoto's take a look at the Super Nova V3 bulbs.

Have been bullet proof with great light and beam pattern so far.

Here is a write up i did on my experience with them.

http://www.ramforum.com/f41/headlight_revolution_v_3_led_kit-103637/


For fogs I think you can fit the 3rd gen GTR's that are supposed to be even brighter than the V3's , they won't fit in the low beam housing though

 

[pgr1990]

if you don't have any luck with the Morimoto's take a look at the Super Nova V3 bulbs.

Have been bullet proof with great light and beam pattern so far.

Here is a write up i did on my experience with them.

http://www.ramforum.com/f41/headlight_revolution_v_3_led_kit-103637/


For fogs I think you can fit the 3rd gen GTR's that are supposed to be even brighter than the V3's , they won't fit in the low beam housing though

Thanks!

I hope I don't have to buy another set of lights but if I do I'll definitely take your advice and try those out!


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[pgr1990]

Left: 160$ (set of 2) vs Right: $35 (set of 2)






Honestly The difference in price vs quality is a joke. The Putco's use slightly better materials but nothing to justify a $125 difference.

I installed the Morimoto's into my fog lights and all my issues are resolved with those. The morimotos are worth the $120.

 

[Pull Ya]

After spending that much money and having that kind of bad experience I'm sure you contacted Putco and complained about the product deficiencies and the problems you were having. What was their response? How was their customer service? Did they offer to replace the items or offer a refund? I know on their tailgate lights they have like a 3 year warranty. Is there any warranty on the other stuff they sell?
Jay

 

[Rzrman328]

Hid FTW.

 

[Iz48]

I run supernova v.2 bulbs that I got from headlight revolution. I've had them in since I first got the truck. Now have 20k miles on it. I've hit a dear at 12k destroying the headlights and front end. Told the shop when they replaced the headlights to put the leds back in as they still worked. Still have yet to find a flaw. They are bright , never flicker, never had any lights come on or nothing. They are pretty expensive but they will last a lot longer. Held up to a dear at 70mph.


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[pgr1990]

Hid FTW.

I had HIDs originally... They had by far the best light output but whenever I was going up a hill or hit a bump I would get flashed like crazy from incoming traffic.

The fogs were so damn bright with HIDs I had to literally leave them off because every car that went by would flash me due to the scattered light of the fog housings.

LED's have proven to have the same 6000k nice color to them but the output isn't even close. I enjoy the visual appearance of the lights more than the performance of them and the LEDs are plenty bright for me and where I drive.




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[Johnathan]

I also keep the HIDs, niver use LEDs. Can you just post some pics to compare the beam pattern LED and HID?

 

[jasonw]

As detailed in many reviews, the newer LED designed lights are about as good as 35w HIDs, partly because they have been designed to mimic halogen's light configuration (so they work better in housings/projectors designed for halogen bulbs). However, you will have to do your research and pay a little bit for the good ones. And they still can't touch 55w HIDs.

I've never been satisfied with Putco. I stopped buying their stuff after the last group of LED bulbs... 50% failure rate right out of the box (bought a half dozen), and a premium for the Putco name. Terrible joke.

 

[jjohnston07]

I haven't had an issue w my putco headlights. Not as bright as I was expecting but so far so good

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[Demon-HeMi]

i havent bought a putco product in years, i swore them off when i called about an issue i had with their product and they told me "you only spent $150 on the product, what did you expect"

 

[Ram Night]

I like the diode dynamics leds in the fogs, they work great and are very bright.

 

[pgr1990]

After spending that much money and having that kind of bad experience I'm sure you contacted Putco and complained about the product deficiencies and the problems you were having. What was their response? How was their customer service? Did they offer to replace the items or offer a refund? I know on their tailgate lights they have like a 3 year warranty. Is there any warranty on the other stuff they sell?

Jay

They offered to replace the bulbs, but I would have had to go to the place I purchased them from which isn't close and honestly when they are 2/4 for working bulbs and one part that broke wasn't just a defect, but the metal broke off from the 9006 attachment and it was left dangling from my bumper I just lost faith and don't want to use products that become a road hazard.

I just cut my losses and tossed them in the trash.


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[pgr1990]

i havent bought a putco product in years, i swore them off when i called about an issue i had with their product and they told me "you only spent $150 on the product, what did you expect"

That's nice of them


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