Hey Mythos...
I like your approach - based on logic, facts and empirical comparisons. My personal experience in retail comparisons, especially Asian-sourced ones, suggests to me very strongly that the
_Cougar_,
_JDM_ and
_Auxito_ H4 LEDs are all the identically single-sourced product, branded by individual retailers. For example, you can see from
_this example_, the identical physical build merely with altered colours - a common technique as every seller will want you to believe "only" theirs uses the "best" chips and the "purest" aluminium, etc etc... but reality is rarely as impressive, especially from the prolific copycat abilities of those commonly Chinese suppliers - doesn't make them "bad" - LOTS of GREAT stuff is produced there... just make sure you're buying one over the other for the right reasons.
The Cyclops on the other hand, without researching it in detail (which I have not done) strikes me as their own personal design - regardless of where they had it built. However, I personally MUCH prefer the fanless designs (for ANY brand), because if (IF) fanless can sufficiently cool the emitters, it will beat a mechanical fan
every single time (as is the case with computer towers - mechanical fans invariably die first or initiate failure). So I'm with you on the price comparison. Whether the physical emitter design and chips used in the Cyclops makes it better than any other style remains untested as far as I know.
As for the two sides of the Cougar et al., and the chip layout - I would first say the image on the Cougar page is *NOT* an H4 bulb being shown - likely just a "single beam" (h1/h7/9005) example being shown. H4 would require dual emitter zones and I have never seen one without a physical anti-dazzle shield - you can see what I believe is an identical manufactured H4 version at the AUXITO link. I would expect if you order an H4 from ANY of those 3 "branded" ones, you will (SHOULD!?) get an H4 dual-beam style as shown in the AUXITO ad, and with emitters on BOTH sides. I offer no opinion on any, including the Cyclops, being better or worse than any other.
For $20/bulb, I would agree with you - it almost sounds worth an impulse-buy test!
I already have a Philips LED myself (for which I likely overpaid for no reason... ha) so I have no need to try one out or I likely would also.
All of the above - just my personal 2-cent opinions and experience.
Good luck with your choice.
:bigthumbsup: