ABSOLUTELY agree! I've never found any of the aftermarket (easy) replacement bulbs to be bright enough, not even the 'spiderlight' expanding bulbs. An issue not mentioned in the article is simply one of power. Although LEDs are more efficient - depends on the LED, but roughly 4-8 times as efficient - you STILL need a certain number of watts to produce an equivalent amount of light. Due to the practicalities of size, the aftermarket LED bulb assemblies cannot handle that much power and heat.
As many here know, I did my own. It took a while and cost a lot, certainly in time and effort. As I progressed, I compared new (one side) with old (other side) and didn't give up until the LED side was as bright or brighter on and off axis. Mine use about 5-6 watts of power when full on (brakes). Now that's more than really necessary given the LED efficiency, but needed because of the lack of individual reflectors (the outer LEDs I used have 120degree beam pattern, so disperse their light more than absolutely necessary). Auto manufacturers can design the reflector system to make the most of their LEDs and so can use a lot less total power.
Anyway, here's mine, brakes on, left side is the LED setup, right side is the old incandescent bulb:
[attach=1]
