New Headlights with LED DRL's

I've always thought that smoked headlights would improve the appearance of my Impala, but refused to live with the reduced light output that invariably comes along with smoked headlight covers. However, since I now have BPS Perfect Fit LED's on the way, which produce significantly more lumens of light than the stock halogen bulbs, I decided to revisit the notion of smoked headlights.

Since LED's typically will not function in reduced-voltage DRL mode, I thought I'd shoot for something with independent DRL emitters. I've read that LED emitters don't work well with projectors, and those generally don't get very good performance ratings anyway, so nothing fancy. Just some reflector-type headlamp housings with smoked lenses and dedicated DRL lights. I settled on these ...

Materials and construction quality appear to be on par with the OEM
housings, and the fit was perfect. These also appear to be well sealed
against moisture, but I won't be certain until our monsoon season rolls
in. That will be a month or two from now.

I marked the low-beam pattern of the OEM headlamps on a wall before
installing these, and then compared that against the pattern produced by
the aftermarket pair after installation. The left headlight pattern was
spot on. The right was slightly low, but I was able to bring the beam
up to the same height as it had been with the OEM by using the vertical
adjuster in the housing.

Here's a shot of the right headlight in DRL mode. The halogen low-beam
is still operating at reduced voltage, but I anticipate that the LED
replacement will not illuminate in this mode. This will leave only the
park lamps, side markers, and the row of LED's active. We'll see ...

Note that these housings are NOT D.O.T. approved. I don't
think any smoked housings can qualify for D.O.T. approval, so don't
follow my lead if you live in a state that is diligent about enforcing
headlight compliance.