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-   -   AHO-LED high beam menace (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/199833-aho-led-high-beam-menace.html)

Recently, during a relatively cloudy day, I noticed a scooter coming down the wrong side of the road with it's headlights on. Now, this is nothing new in our country. But this fellow had his whitest of white lights on high beam and it was blinding even in daylight. It was annoying. I couldn't check what scooter it was as it zipped past. I assumed it must be some weirdo who must have shoved an HID into the projector. A one off case. Didn't even, for a moment, think those were factory fitted LEDs. Over the next few days I started seeing several of them with the most annoying lights I have seen on a scooter and it is annoyingly bright during the day and completely blinds you at night. I don't know if it's because they are always kept on high beam.

Yesterday, on a narrow road near home, I encountered another one of these scooters and I was again completely blinded. I stopped my car in the middle of the road and he was forced to slow down and as he went past, I waved him down and requested him to put his lights on low beam. He was an elderly gentleman and he swiftly apologized. I also discovered that it was the Honda Activa 5g.

Now, is it just me or has anyone else here felt the same about these new LED lights on the Activa 5g? Are these the new AHO lights? I wonder whether it actually illuminates the road, or if it is just meant to cause discomfort to vehicles coming in the other direction.

I have the exact same experience and agree with you. Earlier I had this complaint against the Dominar but now it’s Activa as well. While the bike is a rare sight, the scooter is omnipresent. And the problem is the rider has no idea how much problem he/she is causing on the road.

From what I have seen on the road at night, these lights are not very effective (I look at beam of a person passing by). Owners can correct me if I am wrong.

I recently bought this Activa 5G which has always on headlight which are LED. I confirm that in low beam, which is the always on mode only two LEDs are lit up and they are very minimal and they don't blind the oncoming traffic.

Only when the high beam is switched on, the third LED which is in the middle of the cluster lights up and that is really blinding to the traffic which is coming against you. (Note: when high beam is switched on, all three LEDs are lit)

Scorpion, as requested, your post has been moved to a new thread!

As I see it, the AWO LED / DRLs are doing their job perfectly .. that is grabbing attention of traffic on road.

Isn't that the purpose of this (safety) feature?


By the way deliberate High beams aren't condoned.

Grabbing attention and causing discomfort are two different things. These LED headlights on high beam, are pinching to the eye on a bright sunny morning. This has been my experience with the Dominar which I shared on the Dominar thread as well.

While I am sure the riders might not be using the high beam deliberately, however they remain unaware of the glare and discomfort their lights are causing to the public. At night, the rider can see the blue light of the high beam on the console and the beam pattern on the road which will inform him/her to switch to Low. However, during the day, the rider goes as usual. Only if the rider makes it a habit to check the light switch every time they start their bikes, we can only hope.

Yes, I have been observing this and is frequently at the receiving end from both Dominar and Activa 5G. The lights are blindingly bright, and to make matters worse, many people happily ride all the time with the high beam on.

In the case of Dominar, I have seen some sensible riders riding with low beam on (?), which is less bright than the LEDs. God bless them.


Well, there are many other bikes\scooters which grabs the attention without being a menace to fellow riders. A less powerful LED or a normal low beam halogen is equally effective. Wish the manufactures use less powerful lights as the default choice for AHO.

--Anoop

Thank you:uncontrol

In case of Dominar, the high beam lights double up as DRL. It's better to use main headlamp on low beam for Dominar.
In case of Activa, there is no DRL feature and I have had a bad experience of almost every Activa 5G I've seen. None of them use low beam and high beam is way too jarsh on eyes

I think, at this price point, the reflectors are poorly designed with little or no thought to light scatter or beam throw. It is more of a marketing gimmick to woo customers. LEDs are the in thing now. Even the TVS XL 100 comes factory fitted with a neat LED light bar below the headlight doing duty as a DRL. You notice the light and the vehicle. Serves the purpose, but doesn't blind you.

I have seen many Royal Enfields and other bikes with a pair of after market aux led lights fitted on crash guards. It's the latest trend. Some of them make it a point to angle it downwards, but a large majority of them don't. These bright LEDs can start annoying you from quite a distance. I think most of them dont realize, or haven't been told, how much discomfort they cause to other road users even during daylight hours.

I bought a pair of auxiliary LED lights on Amazon that were priced around 1750/- and hoped they would be decently designed spot beams. Nope - they are just another one of those bright flood light type accessory.

The lesson I learnt in the process is that if one believes in being a responsible or considerate rider then these auxiliary lights must be bought without being stingy. The plethora of offerings on the online market at low prices are not the options to go for.

Now I find myself unable to ignore the negative effects of the lights I installed, so they are used very rarely and I tend to switch them off if there are two wheelers coming towards me. Planning to upgrade in the near future when I can source better designed lights.

On the other hand, I hear that in rural areas of North Karnataka, people are actually adding a switch to the headlamp to disable the AHO. Let me see if I can get a pic somewhere

I have noticed that apart from the OEM led lights, bikes; especially bullets are fitted with bright Chinese auxiliary lights either on the crash guards or besides the headlights. Since it's aftermarket, the beams and bulbs are not aligned perfectly and blinds the oncoming traffic.

The best AHO which blinds the oncoming vehicles, Bajaj Dominar, worst design as far as AHO goes, its high beam is meeker in comparison [not in absolute light output, but making the life difficult for oncoming vehicle/occupants]

And yes, most even don't know, that why the faint blue lamp icon is glowing on their instrumentation in the day, either left that way at night or someone did it in a parking spot. Its a menace, something like which TVS incorporated is better, they are like DRL's.

I have commented about Dominar multiple times on the internet, just when I thought things couldn't get worse, now we have activas with LED headlights with their highbeam during daytime :Frustrati , soon there will be hundreds of them, considering their sales numbers.

Dio seems to come with LED too, but doesn't seem to be as bad.

Ah, so it’s not only me who was bothered by the Activa 5G headlights. I have by now shouted at least 5 Activa 5G riders with white high beams powerful enough to blind anyone coming opposite in the narrow road I live in. The road is 25” at best and one can’t go above 30kmph, yet, many riders have high beam always on.

I just ignore them mostly but Activa 5G’s headlights creates zero visibility on high beam, it makes me stop dead on road and shout at them to turn high beam off which they usually respond by acting deaf. I have not come across Dominars in this road but Bullets used to be the most bothersome on high beam before but Activa 5G now takes the cake, not sure if it’s because of the white light.

Edit: Maybe Team-BHP should forward this thread to HMSI and Bajaj and make them do something before it becomes prevalence in every motorcycle. I wonder if they will just respond that riders should use high beams responsibly or something along that line.