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Review - Depo LED Tails

xd-data-ii

Go Kart Champion
Exactly. Just put them on. Adjust them. Walk away and forget about being picky.
Won't be able to top looking at them. Enable the coming feature btw. Give yourself a chance to see them on when you're out of the car.
Looks good
 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Alright I'm working to get the videos and pics online to share. I had some trouble with a cold camera battery going dry so I didn't get as much as I wanted to share, but I hope the videos make up for it.

xd - Your comments sum up my thoughts on these lights pretty well. They look so damn good that I don't mind a lot of what I said earlier about the quality nitpicks. I don't know whether some of those quality qualms are present in OEM LED tails, I've never seen them. Regardless, these are such a step up over the stock lights that a lot of that just fades away. Even for me. And if you couldn't tell in my first post, I'm analytical and a nitpick.

After installing the lights I can say that a lot of the development went into the more important pieces, like the plastic that holds them to the body. It felt higher quality on the Depo lights than OEM if I'm honest, but OEM did have these small tabs on the inners that held them against the body. I think Depo invested their time in getting other parts to mate up properly rather than replicating the OEM method, but they got pretty good results. They fit very snugly into place and the 'tabs' (as everyone seems to call them, they're more like screws) on the outers to a decent job permitting enough freedom to fit into place. I don't have pics of their final alignment at the moment, but they fit very well. All those worries about 2mm gap here and there really don't make a difference when you take the lights as a whole. It might be something you notice when you install them, but not in the real world. Could also be the black-on-black lack of contrast. Maybe I'll upload something tomorrow.

Something I was worried about from the beginning is color match, but I'm not sure if my concerns were put to rest or if they're validated. At first I noticed a green hue with respect to the body color. Light shining off the lights doesn't look green at all, it's what's reflecting from inside the lights that appears a little off. I can't even be sure of it though. Maybe my eyes need to get used to the change? It certainly didn't come through in the images of the car.

Lastly, a note about the output. Output is great - no one will have a problem seeing me from behind. The lenses aren't all that tinted. My comment is that the difference between output when I hit the brakes and standard output isn't as distinguishable as they were on the stock taillights. It isn't really an issue with the central strip light underneath the spoiler. No one will mistake that I'm braking, anyways. It's just not as pronounced as most other LED taillights out there.
 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Before:







[camera batt depleted]

After.

 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
WOW. Ok, the smoked lights look 1,000,000 times better on a gray GTI. You should definitely keep them. It makes the OEM light look like it's from 1987 while the smoked looks top notch classy. From an aesthetics position.

You'll need to do something about that hatch/third brake light too though. Slap some tint over it or something.

You know I was actually thinking that the strip needs LED's to match the taillights. It's a little weird that the tails turn on to maximum brightness immediately, but the center strip takes at least a third of a second to turn on. Makes the lights look a little out of place. You're right though, it also needs to be monochrome. I just wouldn't tint over it since the dim/max brightness difference of the taillights isn't enough for me to be comfortable getting rid of other indicators.

Maybe I'll break open the tails to find a way to get that transition to be more drastic.
 

v-dug

Go Kart Champion
BTW, from the first 'dirty' pics I was thinking you had a dark gray, not black. My bad.

Yeah, I don't blame you for wanting to ensure you have plenty of light transmission from your brake lights. I am not a fan of darkening lights to the point that it inhibits their function. Maybe you could try some very, very light tint over the third light? Whatever works for you though. And if I read you correctly, are you saying that even though the new lights are smoked, since their LEDs they are as bright as the OEM non-LED lights?

It's funny for me though, since I have Tornado Red, the OEM tails look fine. As do the orange side markers on the front bumper. But I tell you, I showed your first half/half pic to the wife and even she admitted they look sharp!
 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
And if I read you correctly, are you saying that even though the new lights are smoked, since their LEDs they are as bright as the OEM non-LED lights?

I'd say they're brighter head-on than the OEM non-led. The "smoked" lenses aren't too smoked, so light flies through just fine.

It's funny for me though, since I have Tornado Red, the OEM tails look fine. As do the orange side markers on the front bumper. But I tell you, I showed your first half/half pic to the wife and even she admitted they look sharp!

:w00t: my wife gave her approval, too! Was pretty surprised at that, honestly.
 

zsm722

Ready to race!
First off, thanks for the review as I am on the fence for DEPOs as well.

I just wanted to note that on the OEM non LED lenses, there is that same injection mold mark as shown previously. On the OEM non LED lenses, I applied a red vinyl tint on the clear turn signal portion and while applying it, i noticed these marks; I had to heat up that area more to get the vinyl to morph to the defect. My friend has OEM LEDs next time I see his I will see them.

My car: (sorry I don't have a close shot like yours of that defect) Thanks to Island20v for the pic!





-Z
 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
i was hoping you would move to the front of the car with the cam so we can see that 35th edition fins+ lip ;)

Hahaha the lip is pretty awesome, yes. But i still have halogens, an unpainted lower valance and red grill strips, so I'm not going for photo shoots just yet. Anyways, it's literally impossible to clean the car in the cold, so that complicates things further.





First off, thanks for the review as I am on the fence for DEPOs as well.

I just wanted to note that on the OEM non LED lenses, there is that same injection mold mark as shown previously. On the OEM non LED lenses, I applied a red vinyl tint on the clear turn signal portion and while applying it, i noticed these marks; I had to heat up that area more to get the vinyl to morph to the defect. My friend has OEM LEDs next time I see his I will see them.

My car: (sorry I don't have a close shot like yours of that defect) Thanks to Island20v for the pic!





-Z

Good point - I should put the stock lamps under the same critical lens as the depo tails and see where they fall. It's a little uncanny how much of those details fade away once they're a part of the car, lookin gorgeous :)

butchered by autocorrect
 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Update: my mother thinks they're rice, but she loves the led pattern :rolleyes:

butchered by autocorrect
 

Drew113

Ready to race!
Yeah i was gonna say almost all OEM headlights and tailights have an indentation mark from the molds that they are made of....and this is true for most models of cars
 

Double's Dub

Ready to race!
Look pretty good OP, not bad for the price i guess. I personally prefer OEM solely for the build quality, but nothing wrong with the look of the reps. :thumbup:
 

corydd

Go Kart Champion
Glad you ended up liking them OP. I have the dark cherry Depos and absolutely love them. Sure, if you get up super close to the lens seams there are some tiny imperfections, but they are still sturdy and well put together. They look fantastic on the car and considering I haven't looked at them up close since I bought them, it was money well spent.

I've seen a few other guys with the black version on their cars and I never liked it, until I saw yours. Looks great!
 

PedroPat

Passed Driver's Ed
Thanks for taking the time and effort to make the video and pics. I was really on the fence as to which color I want. I have a 2012 Black R, I think I'm going with smoked version like yours.:thumbsup:

Thanks again

Pat
 
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