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Sealed Beam Headlights
Sealed Beam Headlights: Reflector or Projector LED
Most people assume sealed beam headlights disappeared with disco and CB radios. They didn't. Millions of trucks, buses, tractors, RVs, and classic restorations on the road today still run true sealed beam housings. Even so, the only real question left is whether you want the classic reflector look or a modern projector-style beam, both now built with LED internals instead of the old glass filament unit.
We tested this instead of guessing. In our 5x7 sealed beam LED shootout we ran 16 different headlights across a lux meter and only 5 passed, next to a stock halogen sealed beam that measured 540 max lux on low beam and 860 on high beam. Our 7-inch round shootout told a rougher story: a stock sealed beam style unit hit 510 lux on low beam but only 80 lux on high beam. In practice, that is barely more light for the mode you need most on a dark backroad.
THE BEST 7" Round LED Headlight Shootout Test EVER
Curious which unit actually came out on top in that 7-inch round shootout above? Only 5 of the 16 headlights we ran across the lux meter passed our minimum output standard, and the winner pulled well ahead of the pack on both low and high beam readings, not just a marginal edge over stock halogen. Watch the full breakdown in the video to see exactly how each contender scored and why the winner earned that spot.
Before you buy anything, confirm your housing size, because 7-inch round, 6-inch round, 4x6, and 5x7 sealed beams are not interchangeable. Note that modern LED sealed beams are wired electronically rather than built as one true sealed unit, so you keep the OEM look and size while gaining plug-and-play customization.
Worth noting, the industry didn't stop at one answer. The Holley RetroBright line pushed the classic 7-inch round reflector look into LED territory, proving the OEM shape does not have to mean OEM output anymore. Its beam pattern has been specifically tailored to deliver the most usable light on the road, and in practice it outshines some of the best projector-style sealed beam headlights on the market. Projector-based sealed beams still offer a tighter, more controlled cutoff, so the choice really comes down to whether you want the original face of your vehicle with class-leading output, or the sharpest cutoff pattern that fits in that same housing.
47 Results
Sealed Beam Lights for Classic Cars
Holley
Sealed Beam Lights for Classic Cars
Holley
Sealed Beam Lights for Classic Cars
Holley
Sealed Beam Lights for Classic Cars
Holley
Plug-N-Play Bi-LED Headlights
ProComp
