It's hard to take good photos at night with my camera. But the driving lamps shoot the beams further and wider than the high beams themselves do. You can sort of see what I'm talking about in set three with the trees further down the parking lot and off the the side of the Cooper get more light.

I don't find them overly bright, especially on a cloudy, moonless night on a back road with thick trees on both side. I don't mind driving quick down these back roads but you need the proper lighting in order to do so because one of the most dangerous things you can do at night is over drive your headlamps. The driving lamps turn night into day and make the back road much safer so I can travel the 50 or 55 down them instead of the 40 or 45.

 

The projected light is certainly higher with the DL's on. Might help with owl avoidance.

 

Or on low hanging branches and other low hanging obstacles. But it's not just higher, as I've said it's wider and shoots further down the road. The only reason it's higher is due to how the beams are designed. Unless MINI made them projectored they are going to look like that.

If you drive back roads at all on a frequent bases the driving lamps are very useful. If you live in the city and hardly ever venture out into the "country" the only reason to have them is that they are cosmetic. I got them for function or form although I do think they look good on the car.

 

I believe the white covers automatically come with the Chrome kit and black ones come with the Black kit.

 

Nice pics. Huge difference in the road shot with the DL over the high beams. Take a look how far into the grassy area on the right side of the road! Its those kind of areas where one would expect to see deer lurking. It looks like the DL may provide the winners edge in a back country road. The sooner you see the deer, the sooner you can slow down.

Btw, are those train tracks on the right?

I ignored the parking lot pics since the real world performance will likely matter the most on the road - and there it is indeed impressive.

 

Now why can't you get black covers with the chrome lights? Grr. The white covers won't match a thing on my PW/B MINI. Guess I'll have to get a can of Krylon...

 

Yes those are train tracks.

 

I see a subtle improvement in distance illumination with the driving lights, but the foreground brightness increase is the problem, IMO. It will cause your irises to close down further, negating the improvement in distance illumination.

This is also a good illustration of my main complaint with the Xenons -- the low beams. Notice how bright it is in the foreground, and how jet black it is in the distance.

If you could have halogen low beams Xenon high beams, it might not be so bad.

 

Thanks for the illuminating photos (pun intended.) Those photos really show the added light from the DLs. I will definitely be asking DH to add those on to our Clubbie.

 

Really Great Job with those Photos!!!

Wonder if you could have the same installation on your MINI, but have 'pencil' beams that would just put two beams ¼ mile or more ahead for you and still maintain best night vision as Robin mentioned.

Back-scatter from 'haze' or fog will effect 'night-vision' the worst and usually least using Low Beams or Fog Lights.
_______________________________________

>>>____"...most dangerous things you can do at night is over drive your headlamps."___For Sure!___

Nearly 49 years ago (at 16), I ruined my beautiful, low-mileage (24K) 1937 Imperial that came loaded with everything, including Fog Lights, she'd do 105 in second gear! But the lighting of the late thirties was atrocious and never saw that curve until too late.

No seat belts and I will never forget the sight of those sparks flying by the windows we were now sitting on, as the door handles, mirrors and hinges were being ground off, while we slid down that road

The right front tire had plowed a perfect furrow for the rear to follow for the entire radius of the curve, got the front wheel back on straight pavement and the right rear dug in at the end of the furrow and layed her over on the doors in a sort of slow motion.

No doubt excessive speed but the Policeman did not even ticket me and helped set her back up on wheels for one last drive home.

Next car was a '53 Henry-J and first thing I did was to practice some sideways-driving on a skid pad.

 

Night vision varies greatly from person to person. I have a couple family members who can't drive on a 2-lane road at night due to the on-coming headlights blinding them.

The brighter light area directly in front of the car has different affect on different people. It doesn't bother me. I've driven Carmel Valley Rd at night 6 or 7 times now in the dark and haven't had any trouble with vision or seeing past the Xenon cut off. I have experienced headlights in another vehicle I have with a sharper cut-off than the Xenon so maybe I'm just use to it.

 

My wife and I saw a Red/White Monte Carlo edition MCS with the chrome driving lamps and decided to add them to our order.

 

My driving lights were aimed at the tree tops when I got the car! You could see by just looking at them that they were tilted up.

 

Did you re aim them or did you have the dealer correct the problem? What was the dealer's excuse? The installed cost is too high for sloppy work.

 

I just re-aimed them, my dealer is 120 miles away.

 

Great pics, Joey D.........I live in "deer country" too and want/need every advantage possible to avoid the critters. I use the driving lights (along with the bi-xenon high beams) whenever possible. Plus, I think they look cool.

 

I was at the dealer this weekend to check out the new JCW; they had one car on the lot with the driving lights so I also looked at those as well since I was interested in purchasing the lights. After seeing them first hand; I most likely won't be ordering them. They were very small in size and looked farily cheap. And since they aren't HID; I can't imagine they add that much light output. I just can't see paying what the dealer charges for the lamps and install for what they are.

 

I think you need to see them on at night to make that kind of assumption!