Originally Posted by Westcoast

That is correct the LED PDLS+ on the GT4/Spyder is not an active matrix system, but rather just a LED light source as opposed to HID or Halogen. As far as I know the beam shaping active matrix system is available on certain 911's and other models like the Taycan and Panamera, just not the 718 family at this time.

Originally Posted by badprognosis

Thanks for the response. Disappointing as the actual LED units are likely the same as those offered outside of NA where the configurators indicate dynamic high beam control is functional and are inactivated at the factory for NA . As this function is allowed in Canada then should just be a matter of finding a way of activating the matrix lighting. One of the questions I posed to my SA was whether or not the service dept could/would activate the matrix function if it was deactivated - we'll see what his response is but I expect it will be a negative. The way it is now the option should be called LED-PDLS and not PDLS+.

Originally Posted by lovetoturn

I went with the LED lights. To me the biggest reason for this is not so much about bi-xenon vs LED, but the headlights have got to swivel around the corners. On the those early morning spirited drives to the track, in the dark, out in the country side; I don't want to run over a small animal, or hit a deer, or some other livestock out for a morning stroll. So for me it is a safety thing. Must be able to see around a dark corner on a two lane country road. Once you have checked the $1,500 box for the bi-xenons, you might as well go "all in" for the LEDs for another $640, and have Porsche's best. Yes the Porsche tax strikes again.

Originally Posted by lovetoturn

I went with the LED lights. To me the biggest reason for this is not so much about bi-xenon vs LED, but the headlights have got to swivel around the corners. On the those early morning spirited drives to the track, in the dark, out in the country side; I don't want to run over a small animal, or hit a deer, or some other livestock out for a morning stroll. So for me it is a safety thing. Must be able to see around a dark corner on a two lane country road. Once you have checked the $1,500 box for the bi-xenons, you might as well go "all in" for the LEDs for another $640, and have Porsche's best. Yes the Porsche tax strikes again.

Originally Posted by ExMB

Must be talking about the drive to ECR since there are more rolling hills and blind corners than going to MSRC.

Originally Posted by beemerb0y

... The base xenons are perfectly fine for night driving. 90%+ of the cars on the road have more inferior headlights and the general public is doing just fine...

Originally Posted by phefner

Little night drive (sanity drive from the family), with LED and PDSL+. Some different lighting conditions shot with a Hero4 on the luggage bar.

Yes, it was below freezing, yes I have snows mounted.

Hope the video helps someone on the fence. Be great to see something similar from someone with Halogens.

Cheers.

https://youtu.be/cVrk4vbYAg4

Originally Posted by Outlaw 06

^ This. The standard Bi-xenon headlights are very, very good.

Originally Posted by phefner

Little night drive (sanity drive from the family), with LED and PDSL+. Some different lighting conditions shot with a Hero4 on the luggage bar.

Yes, it was below freezing, yes I have snows mounted.

Hope the video helps someone on the fence. Be great to see something similar from someone with Halogens.

Cheers.

https://youtu.be/cVrk4vbYAg4

Originally Posted by Zhao

TLDL: it's probably a non issue unless you plan to keep the car forever or you are on a super tight budget (probably aren't buying LEDs on a Porsche then anyway).

Unfortunately no. Insurance tracks and shares data on a lot of stuff but I don't see manufacturer or model specific stats that detailed, and only Porsche would track that specific metric. I know rough numbers on my shop's stats though (we fix about 2000 cars a year, average age of vehicle is 4.3 years old, average repairable insurance claim as of last month was about $4300 dollars, so I have a large enough pool of data for what our shop sees for failure rates to get a picture)

What I usually see (collision side of things, collision shops take on the warranty for anything to do with the accident after) the failure rate of a housing is likely to happen very quickly if it's going to fail. Most of the times it's going to be within a month or 2 of it being replaced, and more commonly right out of the box from the manufacturer. I rarely see anything fail after that time period, and if I do it's almost always a tail light.

IMO that's good news, as that tells me if there are problems with quality control they become apparent very early while it still has a warranty. It might even be better still as my theory is all manufacturers dump their rejected assembly line parts on the replacement part market. The stats are probably no worse than 1/50 that fail in that 2 month period, which sounds bad but is actually pretty good because most are DOA. If it makes it past 2 months I'd ballpark the failure rate is around 1/200-1/400 in the next couple years (and remember most of these are LED tail lights for what I see fail in this period). The downside is the tech is still too new to know what the failure rate will be going far into the future when cars are 10-20+ years old. The other downside is in Canada the collision warranty is only active as long as the customer owns the vehicle and most people do not keep their car very long so after a few years I couldn't guess accurately what happens. So there potentially is a good number of vehicles that have had failures years after replacement but I never hear of because they're in the hands of new owners. However, I'd say this is probably a non-issue (if almost nothing fails in 1-3 years it probably isn't going to fail in 4 or 6 or 8 years from a defect).

From a pure dollar perspective the only thing that would keep me from getting LEDs is if I planned to keep the vehicle forever, just because odds are good they will fail someday and if you're dealing with a guaranteed failure it's better to spend 200-400 for some HIDs at most a couple times over 20 years vs $5000 for a housing that now doesn't match the other side of the vehicle and makes it look like your car has an accident history. If I planned to keep it <10 years I personally think the risk of failure outside of warranty in that time period is so minor I wouldn't even factor it in. If someone is on a tight budget and can't absorb a random 5g hit though, prob best to skip them and get HIDs.

Originally Posted by Dorian C

LED is much preferred for functionality but the bi-xenon with a black housing is definitely a prettier and more natural looking headlight. The four DLR LED's positioned the edge of the headlight are distracting. They have too much chrome on them.

Originally Posted by unclemat

So PDLS+ LED was an option I've been struggling with for the longest time. I initially was dead set on configuring it for my BGTS 4.0 - especially it is really a bargain as a part of Premium Package. Deleting it and keeping everything else from the package... adds $10 to the cost of the car!

My eyes are not what they used to be so I thought let's get best option. But this thread pushed me over the line and I am crossing it out because:

1. Long-term cost of ownership. The LED headlamps are $2600+ a pop (vs. ~$1200 for PDLS HID). I plan on keeping the car hopefully "forever". It will suck to spend so much money on replacements whatever the reason may be.

2. Complexity (and thus more cost still). The LED lamps apparently are actively cooled by fans. They can be replaced separately and not that expensive (<$200) but that's another point of failure and potential headache. Then there is the auto-dimming camera making windshield replacement more complex/more expensive.

3. Functionality. I do not really care for auto-high beams (have them on my 2021 Land Cruiser), fairly pointless feature.

4. Light output/quality. I have LEDs on a BMW i3 and the 2021 Land Cruiser. They are very impressive on the i3, to a point where they are too bright: sign reflections are simply blinding, and they seem to perform not so well in rain compared to HIDs. They are less aggressive in the Land Cruiser. I have two Land Cruiser in fact (also a 2015), and frankly HID low/HIR high combo on the 2015 is not any worse if not better setup than the all LED on the 2021 I think.

5. Looks. Indeed the look of PDLS HIDs is cleaner than PDLS+ LEDs.

6. Use. I will drive the car at night at times, but not all that much.

I don't think I would settle for regular HIDs, but these are not an option on GTS 4.0. So PDLS it is. And opting out of Premium package is also an opportunity to kill Entry & Drive, which I think I can live without on this car.... $670 grand total saved, lol.