What do you guys think of using 'off road use only' H4 bulbs?

I am sick of having a poor vision at night, the headlights are dim compared to the newer vehicles. I've tried it all, new bulbs, getting them adjusted, bulbs that advertise whiter light, none of those made the improvement I was looking for.

Rather than retrofitting LEDs/HIDs that our headlight housings aren't designed for and risk decreasing performance, why not just fit more powerful halogens?

More powerful halogen bulbs are available, they are rated to 90 watts/ 12 volts and usually marked 'off road use only'. In comparison standard DOT approved halogens are only 60 watts.

The 'off road use only' is a way of saying that you shouldn't use them on road because they aren't DOT approved. I'm not concerned about the higher watt bulbs blinding other drivers because this is compensating for the 20 year old headlight housings that don't do their job as well as they once did. I am doubtful these will be any brighter than the lasers mounted to Teslas and new BMWs.

My only concern is that the additional 30 watts could damage the wiring or socket. Has anyone fitted higher wattage bulbs to their vehicles?

 

I'm ok with brightness of the headlights of my 4Runner but I live out in the sticks where it's dark. On a long empty road at night I'll occasionally turn on my light bar.

Back in March, I put a set of these Katana LED headlights ($40) into my 2006 Nissan Frontier. They are plug and play:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078W5SLVB?ie=UTF8

OMG! 100% improvement both on low and high. On high, they are brighter than my KC ditch lights. They match the LED brightness of my 2020 Rav4. I eventually will add a set to my 4Runner.

38 page review on them:
https://www.clubfrontier.org/threads/gotta-admit-i-was-wrong-about-led-headlamp-bubs.351579/

Different vehicle but similar outdated head lights.

 

Might melt the wiring or housing ? You are going from 4.5amps to 7.5 amps
LEDs in a halogen housing is a big no no.
No matter how you dice it and slice it, at this point in time, led technology can’t replace a bulb on regular housings. It’s a physics problem.

 

With my experience with multiple LEDs bulbs I used on stock halogen housing it gave better light output than stock leds on newer 4runners. Cutoff line on low beams were sharp too. I'm also happy that they use way less current than halogens.

In the past I changed 55w H4 to a 100w H4 halogen on my dad's and it was a mess. I did use a wire harness with relay but it wasn't enough. I had to get a better alternator and bigger battery. I would never try high power halogens again.