Originally Posted by Map tester
I just got a MR16 12 Volt Super High Powered 3 Watt Luxeon LED ($15.99) from
Autolumination.com. I just gave it a quick test last night and it was impressive. The center spot is not quite as bright as my 20 watt halogen, but the light-bleed to the side is brighter and more even. I think this might do the job for a in-town headlight. I'll try to get it installed tonight and get a report this weekend--our forecast for tomorrow is for ~2 inches of rain.
I recently bought a 21-led MR-16 bulb on Ebay for 8.49 including shipping, and I have to agree with your general assessment. It's a very good "to-be-seen" light, visible and prominent from quite a distance, but it doesn't do much to illuminate the path in front of me. As a test this week, I've replaced my old setup of dual 10w halogens with one 20w halogen and the LED. I figure it's about the same power consumption and a lot more light.
It does suffer from the same misleading advertising that haunts almost all LED bulbs.
Light output: 38 Lumens (about 10 to 15 watt of a halogen)
A 10 watt halogen produces somewhere between 120 and 400 lumens, depending on the manufacturer. So it's not even close. Interestingly, the lumens per watt are about the same with the LED and the halogen; the quality of the light differs.
My feeling is that using halogen and LED's together gives the best of both worlds.