Pilot Headlights?

You should try to test them out.

Our 2005 Accord hybrid had horrible headlights. Consumer Reports rated them fair. I would have rated them unacceptable. I fixed them with HIR bulbs.... same wattage but much more light.

I had a 2003 pilot. I currently have a 2006 pilot. Could not tell a difference in quality or the intensity of the lighting on the low beam between either vehicle. High beams are better (reach farther) on the

2006 Pilot. What makes a lot of difference in foul weather is the fog lights. They are excellent (dealer/factory installed) on either 2003 or 2006.

LT wrote:

My wife bopught a 2005 Pilot a couple of years ago and though the brightness is just fine, I really don't like the extremely sharp cutoff of the low beam headlight beams.... It is so sharp, there is essentially NO light above about waist height from the headlights. While this may be a "good thing" relative to oncoming traffic, it is an incredible PITA (in my opinion) when I drive the pilot, because I just don't think I can see nearly as well as I should. As she recently bought a Civic Hybrid, I went out and cranked up the angle a bit, and now it's a lot better (still don't get anyone flashing lights at me) as I can see better, but you really need to look at the patterns. I've never seen a headlight pattern with so sharp a cutoff. The reflectors must be extremely precise, as when you are on low beams, there is absolutely NO light above a certain plane. Unless the aim was wrong from the factory, I feel it was bordering on unsafe. Now that I've aimed them up a bit, things are more to my liking, and still nobody seems to notice. The beam is pretty bright (where it is, that is) and even, without any noticeable hot spots, so they must have done their homework with the design. Even with the aim directed up, I rarely see the edge of light above the hood level, so it isn't in the eyes of oncoming drivers. My guess is that they were just not aligned quite properly when we got the vehicle, and during the 60,000 miles my wife put on it, she probably ran high beams a good portion of the time anyway, once she left town (we live about 25 miles from town, on a two lane rural road).

Now that she's got the hybrid, I'm thinking about putting aftermarket bulbs in to kick up the wattage a bit, as I have "night vision" issues (apparently inherited from my father). During dusk I have a hell of a time, but once it gets really dark, no real problems for some reason (though I assume once real darkness occurs, my pupils dialate so I can see reasonably well, where during dusk they haven't adjusted yet. Of course, it seems that the majority of the drivers here use High beams until it gets really dark... Perhaps they also have dusk issues and are trying to compensate. Needless to say, I don't drive at dusk unless I really have to. Unfortunately, as I don't do any really long distance driving anymore, my typical "night" is during dusk hours, so I'm looking for the brightest lights I can get away with without causing problems for the oncoming traffic. Oddly enough, the beams of the hybrid, though with seemingly just as sharp cutoff, seem to be aimed better to start with. The only thing I can imagine is that the pilot factory aim was to accomodate throwing several hundered pounds of cargo in the back (which would move the beams upward) without causing oncoming drivers any distress, where the civic hybrid assumes the front/rear balance will be essentially unchanges with load.

--Rick