DeAutoKey vs RDash LED Plate Lights

So for Christmas my girlfriend got me the DeAutoKey interior LED kit, it's amazing, and she also got me the RDash plate lights.
http://golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51426
DeAutoKey was kind enough to send me a sample of their plate lights to put up against the RDash's blue haze.

So first off, the bulbs:

RDash; as you can see, the 6 clusters of LEDs are in plain sight with little diffusion.


DeAutoKey; there seems to be the same amount of LEDs present, just a lot more plastic diffusion.




Secondly is the size of the resistors:

RDash; they are almost as big as the light housings themselves, and are a tad wider so you cant even velcro them together.


DeAutoKey; clearly they are immensely smaller and easier to work with.


Both of them side by side:




And the part you've all been waiting for, light output:

RDash; slight blue lines going vertical from the car outward.


RDash; f/10 to show the lines better.


DeAutoKey; Clean white light.


DeAutoKey; f/10 to show no discoloration.


Close up; DeAutoKey on the left, RDash on the right; they both put out a good amount of visible light.




All in all, the DeAutoKey LEDs are nice and crisp, I only got them today but I'd definitely recommend them to people.

EDIT: So I've been reading and hearing how people are having fitment issues with the DeAutoKey LED Plate lights.. These next three photos should clear things up and make your fitment perfect and have your plate shining bright!

So this is the stock halogen housing:


And this is the DeAutoKey Plate Light connector:


See any differences? Yeah, the stock ones are bent at an angle while the DeAutoKey's aren't. You might be thinking it's time to return them... WRONG!
Just take a small flathead screwdriver and bend the prongs to match your stock ones and then slip it into the connector on the car.





Perfect!

If you were in a rush and just jammed the DeAutoKey connectors in (I'll admit, I did the night I got them) just take your flat head and bend them to the position of your stock set and they'll work fine (clearly lol).
Enjoy your new lights without paying outrageous fees for an unwanted blue tint. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Thanks for the review I am thinking about getting the deAutokey lights. This was quite helpful.

I think I'm sold now.

Thanks for the review, I ordered my deAutokey lights a couple of days ago, I'm glad that went with deAutokey. :thumbsup:

Just want to chime in also that I love my deAutokey lights. Crisp white color and not ridiculously bright.

Oh wow, thanks, great review… We knew once you saw our crisp clean white interior LED and compared it to your rdash license plate LED you would not be happy with the rdash, we had to make it right for ya!

We have had a lot of customers with the same issue…. I honestly wish I could send out replacements to everyone as those rdash just look terrible, like a strobe light on the back of your license plate, and they are $50!!!!

The secret is our LED are custom, you might see our LED license plate housing other places but what is important is the LED inside, we custom make them to our color temp so you get no blue/yellow tint and a fresh clean white LED set with a modest amount of intensity that matches our interior LED set we sell. A bit more money but worth it at the end when the customer is happy! We NEVER buy bulk already made LEDs ever! All are custom, made to order.

We are trying to get our name out there and have placed our LEDs at rockbottom prices and free shipping + $3 off coupon when you support us on FB: www.facebook.com/deAutoKey -- the only thing we ask in return is that you spread our name a bit…

Thank you

Hi, just installed the deAutoKey license plate LEDs this past weekend and I am very happy with the solution. There was a couple of very minor problems but nothing to sweat about. One, was the connector pins were very slightly bent so that you could not completely insert the connector into the socket, just a little adjustment with a screwdriver corrected this. Secondly the solder joint on the other unit (connector tab to LED wires and load resistor wires) was a little to large. This prevented the connector tab from being able to be fully inserted into the housing, this resulted in the connector tab being pushed out everytime you tried to insert the connector. I ended up just filing this down just a tad so that the connector tab could be fully inserted and locked. Other than those tow minor problems I am very satisfied with the look and install. Thanks deAutKey.

gti-50 said:

One, was the connector pins were very slightly bent so that you could not completely insert the connector into the socket, just a little adjustment with a screwdriver corrected this.

Click to expand...

I had this problem with my RDash's, I think that's just a overall design flaw started by vw (or the original creators of the port)~

gti-50 said:

Hi, just installed the deAutoKey license plate LEDs this past weekend and I am very happy with the solution. There was a couple of very minor problems but nothing to sweat about. One, was the connector pins were very slightly bent so that you could not completely insert the connector into the socket, just a little adjustment with a screwdriver corrected this. Secondly the solder joint on the other unit (connector tab to LED wires and load resistor wires) was a little to large. This prevented the connector tab from being able to be fully inserted into the housing, this resulted in the connector tab being pushed out everytime you tried to insert the connector. I ended up just filing this down just a tad so that the connector tab could be fully inserted and locked. Other than those tow minor problems I am very satisfied with the look and install. Thanks deAutKey.

Click to expand...

I had those problems also but worked through them just as you did . I don't think there is anything differently that can be done to improve on them though.

Overall I am happy with my Deautokey License plate lights!

Yup, this review did the trick. Just ordered a set. Thanks!

gti-50 said:

Hi, just installed the deAutoKey license plate LEDs this past weekend and I am very happy with the solution. There was a couple of very minor problems but nothing to sweat about. One, was the connector pins were very slightly bent so that you could not completely insert the connector into the socket, just a little adjustment with a screwdriver corrected this. Secondly the solder joint on the other unit (connector tab to LED wires and load resistor wires) was a little to large. This prevented the connector tab from being able to be fully inserted into the housing, this resulted in the connector tab being pushed out everytime you tried to insert the connector. I ended up just filing this down just a tad so that the connector tab could be fully inserted and locked. Other than those tow minor problems I am very satisfied with the look and install. Thanks deAutKey.

Click to expand...

i had a very similar problem with them and contacted deautokey on fb. they have been very helpful. i have sent them out my defective one and waiting for the new one as we speak. hopefully no issues here.

I'm sold! I will be ordering a set very soon.

They look exactly the same to me. I would have been happy with deAutoKey as I am with my Rdash

Do the deautokey interior LED's fade on as smoothly as the OEM halogen bulbs? At one point I swapped in some LED's that I bought off ebay but they didn't fade on smoothly when you take the key out of the ignition, so I ended up swapping in pure white 194 halogen bulbs which are working out for me, and are a nice white color, but can't find the same ones online again now for replacement bulbs.

Edit, nevermind just saw this in another thread. :thumbup:

Jason3d said:

Do the deautokey interior LED's fade on as smoothly as the OEM halogen bulbs? At one point I swapped in some LED's that I bought off ebay but they didn't fade on smoothly when you take the key out of the ignition, so I ended up swapping in pure white 194 halogen bulbs which are working out for me, and are a nice white color, but can't find the same ones online again now for replacement bulbs.

Click to expand...

Yup they fade out perfectly.. Someone actually recently posted a video of them here: