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Sealed beam headlights work a lot better than you’d think if you only ever read marketing material. They offer plenty of down-road visibility, and you can comfortably navigate dark backroads without issue. It’s when someone with modern, dangerously bright headlights is coming at you when they really start to suck. Still, not bad. They’re better than a lot of the aftermarket alternatives out there, despite what a lot of marketing folks say. That’s especially true with Sylvania’s XtraVisions set in place. I was motivated to finally install Oracle’s conversion headlights on my ’69 Charger when my trusty sealed beams finally fell dim.
It was about a year ago that I wrote my initial impressions piece on the Oracle conversion lights. While I’ve been let down by poorly-designed cheap conversions in the past, these seemed to be much better. I only dragged my feet with the installation because they required some slight modifications to my headlight buckets. I wasn’t quite ready to commit, at least not when my old sealed beams worked just fine.
After all this time, I finally set them in place. And, I have to say, I feel silly for waiting. Had I installed them a year ago, nighttime driving memories I’ve made since would have been that much better.
The Bottom Line
At $104.95 apiece, the Oracles feel like a solid step up from comparable budget conversions. The versatile halo offers styling many will enjoy, especially with various colors available. Installation is a touch more complicated, but the results speak for themselves.
| Oracle Conversion Lights | |
|---|---|
| Visibility | 8/10 |
| Ease of Installation | 7/10 |
| Value | 7/10 |
| Appearance | 9/10 |
| Overall | 7.75/10 |
Oracle Conversion Lights Rundown
As mentioned above, Oracle’s conversion headlights retail for $104.95 per piece. Buying all four for this particular application brings the price up to $419.80. This is way more expensive than just buying new sealed beams, but it is middle-of-the-road pricing as far as conversions go. They are well above the $130-ish conversions you see all over the place. But they are significantly less than premium options, like Holley’s Retrorbrights that list for twice as much.
For the money, you do get a pretty solid light, too. The biggest attraction for many is the halo on the outer edges of the bulb. This does have distinctive styling that a lot of people love. Oracle played to that aspect by offering these lights with a total of five different color options for the Halos. I opted for a regular white light for my application.
You can wire the Halo light to function for styling, aiding visibility, or even as a turn signal. It uses a simple two-wire lead to do so, and it’s up to you to splice it into whatever system you want it to work with.
The housings themselves are projector conversions that mount directly in place of the old sealed beams with light modification. It accepts a 9003 or H4 bulb, which shares the same three-prong connection with the stock halogens.
When you run just the Halo like I did for the lead and final images of this article, it does have a very bold appearance. However, when the Halo runs with the headlight bulb itself or the lights are off, the look of the projector lens is pretty subtle. If you’re not looking close, you won’t even notice they’re there.
Testing Oracle Conversion Headlights on My ‘69 Charger
Installing and testing the Oracle conversion headlights consisted of putting them in place of the old, dull, sealed beams I’ve been relying on for years. That said, these lights have some design characteristics that add a few steps, which separates them from a simple swap.
The rear of the Oracle conversion light housing has a very large register for the bulbs that is too big to pass through the hole at the back of the stock headlight buckets. You need to do some massaging for it to fit. It’s also equipped with a shrouded vent hole that needs some clearancing. And you need to drill holes in the wiring for the Halo to pass through.
Originally, I set these lights up with Oracles LED H4 bulbs and wired the Halo up to work with the high beams. Since the prior lights were near the end of their service life, I did notice a boost in visibility. However, I was disappointed with the LEDs performance in these housings. The beam was scattered and really only worked about as well as a cheap set of sealed beams. In fact, the Halo was to thank for most of my visibility with this setup.
That’s not really a surprise, though. LED’s must be used in housings that are designed around them for the best results. These conversion housings are meant to work with 9003 halogen bulbs. I only asked Oracle to send the H4s for testing purposes because they’re mentioned on the packaging. Swapping the LEDs out for some good 9003 bulbs was the obvious next step. I picked up a set of Sylvania Silverstar Ultras and popped them in place. This is the configuration to run. The beam pattern is sharper and clearer than ever before, and down-road visibility rivals that of a modern car, even with just the low beams in place.
The Verdict on Oracle’s Conversion Headlights
Overall, I think there’s a lot to like about Oracle’s conversion bulbs. Installing them ultimately makes the car more enjoyable to drive. And even with retro amber sealed beams still working as my high beams, the overall improvements to visibility are significant enough for me to recommend them to just about anyone willing to install them. They won’t put your classic car on pace with the latest headlights that rival the power of the sun, but they work really nicely. Just do yourself a favor, skip the LED conversions. Stick with a nice halogen like I did. That’s not because the LEDs are particularly bad; these housings just don’t make the best use of them.
The Halo is probably my favorite aspect of the Oracle conversion headlights. Not for stylistic reasons, though. I personally am not one for that look, but that’s subjective. What I do like about them is the functionality. Being able to wire them up however you want to is a really nice touch. Again, I wired mine to run with the high beams, and this really helps boost visibility. They work almost like a fog light, illuminating the immediate area.
I don’t like the fact that so much work has to be done on the factory buckets for them to fit. Even if mine are pretty beat, cutting up old steel always makes me squirm a bit and this is surely a deal breaker for folks with pristine metal. But that’s about my only complaint.
