Lately my LED tail lights went dead from water getting caught between the potting material and circuit board.When it froze, the two parts separated causing the tail lights to go dead. It's -5*F outside so I'm not testing that unless you ask.The painted one is on the right.Now straight on. Looking directly from the back, there is NO apparent difference in the brightness.I think because the frenal lens in the plastic is designed for the bulb. .I stopped the exposure down and had this result.To me, it's a close tie. I would need some type of 3D map of the light output to demine which one is brighter.From the side, it's close also.