9012: Morimoto 2Stroke 2.0

Dime A Dozen: Everybody wants 9012 LED headlight bulbs today, but for all the wrong reasons. The diverse marketing tactics and the numbers war that's pushed onto ill-advised consumers is only getting more and more amusing to guys like us who actually know better. 100W? 10,000 lumens? Top-secret LED chip formula with seemingly exotic blend of rare materials or fancy coatings? Cool story, bro, but how do they actually work on the road at night? Isn't that what headlights are for?

2Stroke 2.0: Despite the fact that we haven't really had anything to offer in this niche, well, at least without risking our reputation selling our customers something that we truly didn't believe in: We respect the fact that Morimoto stood on the sidelines for so long, simply learning from everybody else's mistakes. In testing the brand-new 2Stroke 2.0 system side by side with a multitude of other designs, we finally became excited about LED headlight bulbs for the first time. Against the odds and certainly our expectations; seeing is believing and we agree they actually work pretty darn well! Here's why.

Safety: You won't be putting yourself at risk while driving at night with the 2Stroke Bulbs. Prior to this, we could only ever comfortably recommend LED bulbs for use as auxiliary lighting, high beams, fog lights, etc. Here, we test a lot of automotive lighting products. (really, a lot) Until now, there were literally no options that would translate their luminosity out onto the road into a useful-enough beam pattern (and measured lux at a distance) to really call adequate for on-road use. The optics for the 9012 2Stroke bulbs are unique compared to other sizes in the range in order to produce the best possible results in 9012 headlights.

Modern: Relative to the original 2Stroke that used massive & powerful CREE XHP50 LED chips, the updated 2.0 version now employs the latest and greatest Z ES chips from Philips Lumileds. Their small footprint allows for maximum lumen density and precision perfection when it comes to the bulbs ability to re-create the output of the original halogen bulbs they replace. Many other LED headlight bulbs are now using small LED chips lined up in a row, but nothing compares to the Philips Z ES.

Pretty Cool: Heat management is crucial for lumen maintenance and reliability. The 2Stroke bulb's internally opposed 1.5mm copper boards extract as much heat as possible from the area surrounding the LED chips and transfers it to the radiator at the back of the bulb. The one-piece radiator housing is CNC machined from 6061 aluminum, and conceals a magnetic levitating fan inside. This is the most compact way to house an effective yet compact cooling system.

Size Matters: Due to the extra depth of most LED bulbs, they won't fit inside headlights with solid plastic rear housing caps. The 2Stroke 2.0 is undoubtedly one of the most compact (yet still actively cooled) LED Bulbs on the market. Morimoto paid much attention to this throughout development, and it's not such an easy task given the need to balance size, power input to the LED chips, and thermal management to keep them running within safe range.