[par__m3]

I found my car on the lot by chance and decided to buy it instead of waiting for god knows how long before I could get an order in. The spec was close enough.

But the one thing my car doesn't have that I wish it did is the laser lights.

They look so much better than the standard lights and are worth the $1000 and then some.

[frankiebones]

Originally Posted by androidtopp

Personally, even though the laser lights are somewhat crippled in the US, I think the look alone is worth the price. And you can code back in a lot (although maybe not all) of the removed functionality with Bimmercode - totally worth it in my book. Watching the beams steer around oncoming cars is quite the party trick.

other than brightness, what did they take away? Weird, the EU is stricter on emissions, and the US is stricter with respect to headlight brightness.

[Zim_Zimma]

I also bought an M4C off the lot without laser lights and I don’t think the option justifies a 9-12 month wait if I ordered one. I would have picked laser lights as an option but it was something I went back and fourth with. I’m not too crazy about the blue plastic inside the housing, also I feel like the laser light option brightens up the headlight even with the shadow line option. I prefer a more murdered out look, so it’s all about aesthetics. I’m 50/50 on them but probably would off added them if I built mine, but not a deal breaker. I don’t think I’m missing out on a must have feature.

[androidtopp]

Originally Posted by frankiebones

other than brightness, what did they take away? Weird, the EU is stricter on emissions, and the US is stricter with respect to headlight brightness.

I mean the beam steering stuff, which is what you can mostly code back in. Definitely worth a few minutes with Bimmercode. But there could be other things missing, I'm not 100% on what it's like to have them in the EU.

[KnightedBMW]

Originally Posted by M0J0

People get caught up too much in options. I have made the mistakes in the past. You never get the resale of the options when you sell. How often do you really drive at night? I rarely drive at night. It seems like a waste of money to me.

I don't do much night driving, but the DRL are totally different. The standard lights make the car look like its sleepy. If picking up a car off the lot and it was the one thing that stood in my way of purchasing, I'd probably look past it, but if ordering a car, there's no way I wouldn't option the lasers.

[///M ARMY]

for the $1k option I think its worth it.

[Tall Tom Cruise]

Originally Posted by edofloat

I used esys to VO code the lights and when they sent over the air updates it actually improved the functionality. The other nice thing about VO coding is I never had to re-program like most things you can do in Bimmercode. A few people said they had to re-code but I never had to. In the last two years I have NEVER had a single car bright me when it had most of the brights one. Works very well.

Could you elaborate, curious what exactly anti-dazzle does

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by ///M ARMY

for the $1k option I think its worth it.

I actually think both options are quite nice. I have the laser lights, but think the non laser actually do look a bit more aggressive especially with shadowline trim.

[edofloat]

Originally Posted by DS_BMW

Can the Laser lights be coded to have the distance and anti dazzle installed like how they should be?

There is no better light output than my previous F80.

Can't do anything about distance but you can get the anti-dazzle work. Guessing the headlights on G8x are like my G05 and the hardware for European spec are different. US units don't have the longer laser range.

[edofloat]

Originally Posted by Tall Tom Cruise

Could you elaborate, curious what exactly anti-dazzle does

Basically it can leave the hi beams on and create dark tunnels that can move as you meet traffic at night by turning off some of the leds.. It can also create a dark tunnel if you are following someone, the hi beams will shine around the car in front of you with a dark spot directly on the car you are following. You can see it in this video.

[DS_BMW]

Originally Posted by edofloat

Can't do anything about distance but you can get the anti-dazzle work. Guessing the headlights on G8x are like my G05 and the hardware for European spec are different. US units don't have the longer laser range.

Is there something in the headlight that is different that it cuts down range compared to euro lights? Or has the coding not been figured out yet how to activate it?

[edofloat]

Originally Posted by DS_BMW

Is there something in the headlight that is different that it cuts down range compared to euro lights? Or has the coding not been figured out yet how to activate it?

Can't say on the G8x as I don't know yet, but on G05 I believe they have different headlight assemblies for the US spec so there is some sort of hardware difference.

AFAIK there is no coding to make the lasers reach further, there are several guys on the G05 forum who are very adept coders and I'm not aware that anyone has been able to make a change.

I live in a rural area and we have little light pollution and at night I can't say I need more distance from the lasers...guess it wouldn't hurt. The anti-dazzle really makes the difference at night when there is some traffic. I like being able to light up ditches and see deer much easier. I will enable the anti-dazzle on the G82 after I take delivery.

[AhsanU]

It was a non-optional option for me. Before ordering my own spec M3, I was looking in the used market and ones that dealers had in the lot. If they didn’t have the headlights then it was a hard pass for me. I don’t have much use, if any, for the headlights for their intended purposes, but enjoy them for the aesthetic look of the actual rings.

[j23]

Can somebody post close-up photos of icon vs standard side-by-side?

The BMW configurator sucks at showing these off.

[KiloCo]

Just get it. It's worth it....I got it because of the Looks.

[frankiebones]

Originally Posted by androidtopp

I mean the beam steering stuff, which is what you can mostly code back in. Definitely worth a few minutes with Bimmercode. But there could be other things missing, I'm not 100% on what it's like to have them in the EU.

Anti dazzle on the F80 was amazing!

[bri1042]

One thing to note is that the standard LED's on the 3's do much worse in the IIHS headlight tests than the laser lights, even without coding missing features. I was surprised how poorly they scored considering no one has mentioned noticing an issue. They haven't tested the G8x lights directly, or the 4-series lights...maybe they're different.

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle...022#headlights