spiker369
on air, don't care
- Location
- South Florida
Alright so, deAutoLED and I have worked together many times in the past when I used to own a Mark 6 GTI. I did comparisons for their plate light housings, testing/comparing their different wafer bulbs for the footwells , testing/review on their remote controlled footwell lights, full interior kit, as well as tons of other testing. If you’re interested in any of those previous reviews or videos you can find them on my golfmk6 account @spiker369.
Anyways, when I got my Mark 7 GTI I reached out to get LED plate lights and was asked to do another review/comparison for the golfmk7 forum!
For those interested in getting more light in the boot/trunk, deAutoLED has two great options for you. I’m going to be showing their products against the stock trunk light and the OEM LED option (made by Philips 000-052-409-D-).
For everyone that’s going to ask, I shot these on a Canon 6D with the kit 24-105L; I tried to match the photo to as close as what I could see. Only image correcting was for lens distortion and lens vignetting. That being said, there is no after camera color correction…The letter size paper is in the shot so you can see the brightness of the LEDs and to see any color issues.
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Let’s get things started!
First off, the stock setup. You can see how dim the light is and the warm hue from the incandescent bulb. You can also see how it is most bright on the passenger side of the trunk from the location of the housing.
OEM_Incandesant by Kyle Anderson, on Flickr
Next is the OEM LED option that fits into the stock housing. I initially thought this would be good enough for me because it’s cheap (~$15) and OEM.. well.. it sucks. It’s not much brighter than the stock incandescent bulb. It is notably whiter, but there are blue specs that you can see on the paper and on the wheel hump. This bulb fits like the stock bulb but has a head sink on one side and a single diode on the other.
OEM_LED by Kyle Anderson, on Flickr
The first option from deAutoLED is the “Stage III” LED that fits into the stock housing. This bulb has a similar style to the OEM where it has a heat sink on one side and the LEDs on the other, but there are 12 diodes on this board. This is significantly brighter than the previous two options. There are blue horizontal lines that run across the trunk but aren’t too bad in all honesty. Definitely a good low cost option at $19.99.
http://www.deautokey.com/product/mkvii-gti-trunk-led-bulb-bright-crisp-white-error-free-plug-play
DeAuto_WaferLED by Kyle Anderson, on Flickr
Here is a photo of the three different bulbs out of the housing. From left to right, deAutoLED, stock incandescent, OEM LED.
Bulb_Compare by Kyle Anderson, on Flickr
The second option from deAutoLED that I tried is the entire light housing. This replaces the full plastic assembly and stuffs a board with 18 diodes into the stock location. It is again, significantly brighter than the previously stated options and even whiter than the other version of deAutoLED “stock style” bulbs. This housing is only $29.99 and I would honestly recommend this over the previous options. There aren’t any noticeable color issues and it is more than bright enough even though it only comes from the one side of the trunk. I ran this same style housing in my Mark 6 when I had it.
http://www.deautokey.com/product/mkvii-vw-gti-entire-trunk-housing-bright-error-free-plug-and-play
DeAuto_LED_Housing by Kyle Anderson, on Flickr
The last option, that I did not test, that deAutoLED offers is the universal LED strip for $44.99 which gives you flexibility when placing it along the trunk and allows you to choose between white or red.
http://www.deautokey.com/product/mkvii-gti-trunk-led-strip-bright-crisp-white-error-free-plug-play
Thank you again to deAutoLED for making great products and having super customer service.
tldr; Buy the deAutoLED full trunk LED housing if you want the brightest and whitest lighting for the trunk of your MK7!
Anyways, when I got my Mark 7 GTI I reached out to get LED plate lights and was asked to do another review/comparison for the golfmk7 forum!
For those interested in getting more light in the boot/trunk, deAutoLED has two great options for you. I’m going to be showing their products against the stock trunk light and the OEM LED option (made by Philips 000-052-409-D-).
For everyone that’s going to ask, I shot these on a Canon 6D with the kit 24-105L; I tried to match the photo to as close as what I could see. Only image correcting was for lens distortion and lens vignetting. That being said, there is no after camera color correction…The letter size paper is in the shot so you can see the brightness of the LEDs and to see any color issues.
------------------------------------------
Let’s get things started!
First off, the stock setup. You can see how dim the light is and the warm hue from the incandescent bulb. You can also see how it is most bright on the passenger side of the trunk from the location of the housing.
OEM_Incandesant by Kyle Anderson, on FlickrNext is the OEM LED option that fits into the stock housing. I initially thought this would be good enough for me because it’s cheap (~$15) and OEM.. well.. it sucks. It’s not much brighter than the stock incandescent bulb. It is notably whiter, but there are blue specs that you can see on the paper and on the wheel hump. This bulb fits like the stock bulb but has a head sink on one side and a single diode on the other.
OEM_LED by Kyle Anderson, on FlickrThe first option from deAutoLED is the “Stage III” LED that fits into the stock housing. This bulb has a similar style to the OEM where it has a heat sink on one side and the LEDs on the other, but there are 12 diodes on this board. This is significantly brighter than the previous two options. There are blue horizontal lines that run across the trunk but aren’t too bad in all honesty. Definitely a good low cost option at $19.99.
http://www.deautokey.com/product/mkvii-gti-trunk-led-bulb-bright-crisp-white-error-free-plug-play
DeAuto_WaferLED by Kyle Anderson, on FlickrHere is a photo of the three different bulbs out of the housing. From left to right, deAutoLED, stock incandescent, OEM LED.
Bulb_Compare by Kyle Anderson, on FlickrThe second option from deAutoLED that I tried is the entire light housing. This replaces the full plastic assembly and stuffs a board with 18 diodes into the stock location. It is again, significantly brighter than the previously stated options and even whiter than the other version of deAutoLED “stock style” bulbs. This housing is only $29.99 and I would honestly recommend this over the previous options. There aren’t any noticeable color issues and it is more than bright enough even though it only comes from the one side of the trunk. I ran this same style housing in my Mark 6 when I had it.
http://www.deautokey.com/product/mkvii-vw-gti-entire-trunk-housing-bright-error-free-plug-and-play
DeAuto_LED_Housing by Kyle Anderson, on FlickrThe last option, that I did not test, that deAutoLED offers is the universal LED strip for $44.99 which gives you flexibility when placing it along the trunk and allows you to choose between white or red.
http://www.deautokey.com/product/mkvii-gti-trunk-led-strip-bright-crisp-white-error-free-plug-play
Thank you again to deAutoLED for making great products and having super customer service.
tldr; Buy the deAutoLED full trunk LED housing if you want the brightest and whitest lighting for the trunk of your MK7!
