So I just completed a 6,500 mile cross country journey in an older style Model S with the HID projector lights. They worked amazing, even on low beam they lit up the road very, very well. Yet not one time did I get a high beam flash from oncoming traffic, so that tells me the beam pattern is spot on. High beams are absolutely fantastic!
Yesterday I jumped out of the MS into a new MX P100D which obviously has the LED headlights. My first thought was "are these things on, or is that just the fog lights?" Of course, they were indeed on. On low beam I'd say they light up the road about as well as my '16 Ram with just the fog lights on. On high beam they are pretty much what the MS was on low beam, great for driving in traffic, but poorly lacking for deserted highway driving. In fact, the low beams are so poor I turned off the auto high beam and just drove with the high beams on the entire time. NOT ONE car flashed me, even on a busy two lane road. That tells me they certainly aren't functioning as a typical high beam should. My only other experience with all LED headlights was an Audi A6 that worked very, well. Except when it was snowing, the heaters that are supposed to keep the headlights warm and de-iced were malfunctioning or just not adequate.
Any other MX owners experience this when comparing to other high end vehicles with HID lights? I've owned several Mercedes, Audi, high end GM, etc. with HID lights that were ALL vastly superior to the MX lights. Is there some adjustment on these? I'm curious if others feel theirs are up to par with other high end HID then there is a problem with this car, if that's "just the way it is" then it's another Tesla fail, why go from fantastic HID's to poor performance LED? (I didn't see much range difference at all in the MS between night and day, maybe a few miles at most, so power draw isn't much concern)
Also, anybody know if these headlights have heaters in them to keep the snow / ice cleared off while driving?
Thanks!