nok513
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Orange County, NY
- Car(s)
- 2020 VW GTI S
After waiting for several months, 4 months to be exact, I finally got the BMP Tuning Illuminator GTI headlights for my 2020 GTI S in January. It’s been a few weeks now since I’ve installed them and wanted to give my short-term impression on them for anyone interested in picking up a pair. There’s a lot to love but there are few things no one has seemed to have mentioned in any review I’ve read.
Pros:
The light output is leagues beyond the factory halogen set up. I know it’s frowned upon, but I was running LED bulbs in the reflector housing. The light output from factory was abysmal, so I had to until I could find a better aftermarket solution. The LED bulbs had a decent cutoff, I aimed them lower than how it came from the factory and had minimal scatter. I’ve never been flashed at for them when driving at night, but of course, I wanted better. The light output is a great compared to the LED bulbs I was running in the OEM headlamps. The cutoff is sharp and clean which is what I was looking for while using bright LED’s. The DRL’s and dynamic indicators are a definite plus. The DRL’s make the front end look more aggressive, and modern like a 2020 GTI should. The dynamic indicators look good and flash at nice rate for good visibility.
Cons:
The headlamp itself is a solid build, doesn’t look or feel cheap in anyway. The plastics feel solid with no obvious gaps or openings into the headlamp housings. The fitment to the body is pretty good, but light does leak through the top of the housing which would only be noticeable if the hood is open. When initially installing the headlamps, I had to adjust a few times and apply pressure to the headlamp to make sure it kept position while tightening bolts so it’s not a perfect place and bolt on with no minor adjustments kind of set up.
Comparing to the OEM housing, the wiring in the high beam housing is to say the least, messy. The bulb is held in place by a clamping mechanism that can be obstructed by the wiring. This can be an issue when replacing the bulb as you don’t want to pinch any of the wires under the clamp or have a bulb improperly installed. It’s a minor nuisance but still there. The bulbs included are labeled as OSRAM 55W halogen bulbs. I assumed they were LED bulbs as well and there is no mention of this other than the same color temp as the low beams. During my testing, you can tell a difference in color temperature which led me to believe they weren’t LED’s. I tried fitting my old LED H7 bulbs but the bulb opening barely fits the halogen bulb. I suppose that could be a good thing, but limits if you choose to get a bulb. I surprisingly found a set that fits. Not the greatest fit, but it works. You can replace them if they burn out, but you can’t replace the low beams. Assuming they will last for a long time, nothing is impervious to failure. There doesn’t seem to be a way to easily replace the LED drivers if one, or both, fails. I can’t speak for the OSRAM headlamps, but I think they are similar where they use unserviceable LED drivers. I don’t know what a quick fix would be if you’re on a road trip and the low beam fails. At least you can swap out the high beams, which I don’t think OSRAM’s can.
There is only one way to adjust the beams and that’s vertically. You can’t aim them horizontally, so you have two matching beam patterns If there is a horizontal adjustment, it’s news to me because you don’t get any instructions on how to do any adjustments. I had to ask here on the forum and got a response quicker than I did from BMP Tuning.
The low beams also have fans in each lamp which can be heard from the cabin. If you’ve had LED bulbs with fan, the volume is about the same. Not really an issue as my car isn’t that quiet but I did have the passenger side one make a loud whirring sound at startup, like the fan bearing was going on a month-old headlamp. It went away after a few seconds, but now I subconsciously listen for it. Ever since installation, I’m also getting feedback through the speakers. A subtle buzzing sound is emitting through the speakers since I’ve installed the headlamps. This never happened with the OEM headlamps and LED bulbs.
Overall, I’m satisfied with the headlamps, but I’m not ecstatic about them. They do look and perform well for what they’re worth. They are bright and the DRL/Dynamic indicators alone make the purchase worth it over the halogen headlamps. With that said, I feel I should have spent the money on the OSRAM’s. I have no experience with them so I can’t confidently say the quality is better. I can get over the few issues I have with the BMP Illuminators, but I do have some regret. I expected LED high beams when they were just halogen bulbs. Are my standards to high? Was this accurately advertised on their site. It would seem the cons outweigh the pros, but I focused more on the cons since no one else has on their reviews. All praises on BMP Tuning’s site with no mention of anything I’ve observed, or maybe mine are defective? Maybe my expectations were set too high, and for the price I wanted something with better quality. But I did wait a long time for these, and at the end of the day they did not meet my expectations.
View attachment DSC_0997.JPG
View attachment DSC_0998.JPG
Light Leaking:
View attachment DSC_0999.JPG View attachment DSC_1000.JPG
High beam wiring after some tidying
View attachment DSC_1003.JPG
Vertical adjuster hex. Can also get a screwdriver in there.
View attachment DSC_1004.JPG
Included H7 High Beam halogen bulb:
View attachment 240262
***UPDATE 2/23/23***
One year later and I'm debating on whether to save up for OSRAM's down the road. Main reason is, shortly after installation last year, the passenger side bulb was making a whirring sound when on. It sounded like the fan's bearings were failing so I had sent in the headlight to BMP. Initially, they didn't find the problem, but after a few attempts, they did hear it and swapped out bulbs.
Almost a year later, the same side begins to occasionally exhibit flickering when the high beams are on. I reached out to BMP but they wanted a video to show proof. The other day, I decided to troubleshoot to see if the connections were loose but they pins are glued to the connecter. Is it possible after so many heat cycles, the glue melted a bit to allow the pins to loosen up? I didn't attempt to remove the glue as a I don't have a spare at the moment, and prefer not to reapply this method of holding the pin in place. I'd rather shop around for a bulb that has a spade connector as a backup, which so far, LASFIT seems to have something that may fit the bill.
Since then, I've been doing some digging and pretty much discovered these are very similar to VLAND's headlights. I didn't know VLAND [ https://vlandvip.com/collections/fo...nd-headlights-for-vw-golf-7-5-mk7-5-2014-2017 ] had an updated model for MK7.5's but after a Google search, they came up. As far as I can tell, they are exactly the same for $500. VLAND actually sells a bulb that fits the unit and the connector is made for the unit. Why BMP didn't use the bulb could be because they didn't want us to know the unit is in fact a VLAND unit or the quality of the bulb. Not entirely a huge deal, as long as it can be replaced.
I'm hoping the issue is bulb related, which I can handle myself. It's odd that the issue is resurfacing on the passenger side headlight, this time a rare flickering when high beams are on has been added to the mix. I will eventually work the hot glue off when I have replacement bulbs in hand and replace existing bulbs to see if that resolves my issue. These have a better output and cut off than factory halogens, but unforunately, I'm not sure if they are worth the price of entry. Saving more for OSRAM's would probably have been the wiser choice in the end, but I have to make due with I got now. I'm simply trying to make sure everyone who is thinking about purchasing these get a honest review through my experiences.
Pros:
The light output is leagues beyond the factory halogen set up. I know it’s frowned upon, but I was running LED bulbs in the reflector housing. The light output from factory was abysmal, so I had to until I could find a better aftermarket solution. The LED bulbs had a decent cutoff, I aimed them lower than how it came from the factory and had minimal scatter. I’ve never been flashed at for them when driving at night, but of course, I wanted better. The light output is a great compared to the LED bulbs I was running in the OEM headlamps. The cutoff is sharp and clean which is what I was looking for while using bright LED’s. The DRL’s and dynamic indicators are a definite plus. The DRL’s make the front end look more aggressive, and modern like a 2020 GTI should. The dynamic indicators look good and flash at nice rate for good visibility.
Cons:
The headlamp itself is a solid build, doesn’t look or feel cheap in anyway. The plastics feel solid with no obvious gaps or openings into the headlamp housings. The fitment to the body is pretty good, but light does leak through the top of the housing which would only be noticeable if the hood is open. When initially installing the headlamps, I had to adjust a few times and apply pressure to the headlamp to make sure it kept position while tightening bolts so it’s not a perfect place and bolt on with no minor adjustments kind of set up.
Comparing to the OEM housing, the wiring in the high beam housing is to say the least, messy. The bulb is held in place by a clamping mechanism that can be obstructed by the wiring. This can be an issue when replacing the bulb as you don’t want to pinch any of the wires under the clamp or have a bulb improperly installed. It’s a minor nuisance but still there. The bulbs included are labeled as OSRAM 55W halogen bulbs. I assumed they were LED bulbs as well and there is no mention of this other than the same color temp as the low beams. During my testing, you can tell a difference in color temperature which led me to believe they weren’t LED’s. I tried fitting my old LED H7 bulbs but the bulb opening barely fits the halogen bulb. I suppose that could be a good thing, but limits if you choose to get a bulb. I surprisingly found a set that fits. Not the greatest fit, but it works. You can replace them if they burn out, but you can’t replace the low beams. Assuming they will last for a long time, nothing is impervious to failure. There doesn’t seem to be a way to easily replace the LED drivers if one, or both, fails. I can’t speak for the OSRAM headlamps, but I think they are similar where they use unserviceable LED drivers. I don’t know what a quick fix would be if you’re on a road trip and the low beam fails. At least you can swap out the high beams, which I don’t think OSRAM’s can.
There is only one way to adjust the beams and that’s vertically. You can’t aim them horizontally, so you have two matching beam patterns If there is a horizontal adjustment, it’s news to me because you don’t get any instructions on how to do any adjustments. I had to ask here on the forum and got a response quicker than I did from BMP Tuning.
The low beams also have fans in each lamp which can be heard from the cabin. If you’ve had LED bulbs with fan, the volume is about the same. Not really an issue as my car isn’t that quiet but I did have the passenger side one make a loud whirring sound at startup, like the fan bearing was going on a month-old headlamp. It went away after a few seconds, but now I subconsciously listen for it. Ever since installation, I’m also getting feedback through the speakers. A subtle buzzing sound is emitting through the speakers since I’ve installed the headlamps. This never happened with the OEM headlamps and LED bulbs.
Overall, I’m satisfied with the headlamps, but I’m not ecstatic about them. They do look and perform well for what they’re worth. They are bright and the DRL/Dynamic indicators alone make the purchase worth it over the halogen headlamps. With that said, I feel I should have spent the money on the OSRAM’s. I have no experience with them so I can’t confidently say the quality is better. I can get over the few issues I have with the BMP Illuminators, but I do have some regret. I expected LED high beams when they were just halogen bulbs. Are my standards to high? Was this accurately advertised on their site. It would seem the cons outweigh the pros, but I focused more on the cons since no one else has on their reviews. All praises on BMP Tuning’s site with no mention of anything I’ve observed, or maybe mine are defective? Maybe my expectations were set too high, and for the price I wanted something with better quality. But I did wait a long time for these, and at the end of the day they did not meet my expectations.
View attachment DSC_0997.JPG
View attachment DSC_0998.JPG
Light Leaking:
View attachment DSC_0999.JPG View attachment DSC_1000.JPG
High beam wiring after some tidying
View attachment DSC_1003.JPG
Vertical adjuster hex. Can also get a screwdriver in there.
View attachment DSC_1004.JPG
Included H7 High Beam halogen bulb:
***UPDATE 2/23/23***
One year later and I'm debating on whether to save up for OSRAM's down the road. Main reason is, shortly after installation last year, the passenger side bulb was making a whirring sound when on. It sounded like the fan's bearings were failing so I had sent in the headlight to BMP. Initially, they didn't find the problem, but after a few attempts, they did hear it and swapped out bulbs.
Almost a year later, the same side begins to occasionally exhibit flickering when the high beams are on. I reached out to BMP but they wanted a video to show proof. The other day, I decided to troubleshoot to see if the connections were loose but they pins are glued to the connecter. Is it possible after so many heat cycles, the glue melted a bit to allow the pins to loosen up? I didn't attempt to remove the glue as a I don't have a spare at the moment, and prefer not to reapply this method of holding the pin in place. I'd rather shop around for a bulb that has a spade connector as a backup, which so far, LASFIT seems to have something that may fit the bill.
Since then, I've been doing some digging and pretty much discovered these are very similar to VLAND's headlights. I didn't know VLAND [ https://vlandvip.com/collections/fo...nd-headlights-for-vw-golf-7-5-mk7-5-2014-2017 ] had an updated model for MK7.5's but after a Google search, they came up. As far as I can tell, they are exactly the same for $500. VLAND actually sells a bulb that fits the unit and the connector is made for the unit. Why BMP didn't use the bulb could be because they didn't want us to know the unit is in fact a VLAND unit or the quality of the bulb. Not entirely a huge deal, as long as it can be replaced.
I'm hoping the issue is bulb related, which I can handle myself. It's odd that the issue is resurfacing on the passenger side headlight, this time a rare flickering when high beams are on has been added to the mix. I will eventually work the hot glue off when I have replacement bulbs in hand and replace existing bulbs to see if that resolves my issue. These have a better output and cut off than factory halogens, but unforunately, I'm not sure if they are worth the price of entry. Saving more for OSRAM's would probably have been the wiser choice in the end, but I have to make due with I got now. I'm simply trying to make sure everyone who is thinking about purchasing these get a honest review through my experiences.
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