i think they are very hot.. however, I don't feel it at all when cooking. they are far enough from you. but you can really feel it if you are trying to clean your hood.

My hood uses halogen lamps. They are very hot if I touch them, but I don't notice them while cooking. I placed a higher value on hood width, depth, cfms, and baffles.

Halogen creates more heat than any other lightbulb I have seen.

When we moved into this house 19 years ago, there were two recessed halogen flood lights over the cooktop. The summer day our butter melted from the heat of these two floods was the day I got rid of the halogens.

I also have a halogen torchiere in one room in our home. The amount of heat it puts out is amazing.

We recently did a complete kitchen remodel. I bit the bullet and got all LED recessed lights in the kitchen. It is the way to go, IMO, if you don't want any more heat than normal cooking and summer climates will give you.

Our Kobe hood has halogens which DH plans to replace with LEDs, but he told me it would be 10 years before that happens. I don't notice the heat from the hood lights because they're small and I don't have them on unless I'm working over the cooktop. I agree with the others that it's not a big deal unless you touch them.

Cheryl

I don't see any advantage at all. They are hot but not really a problem. The best thing i did was put LEDs under my counters. It is clean light and not 'can' style 'fan' light. (the umbrella looking spots) . I could not find replacements at box stores and had to order from Zephyr. A pain but i just ordered 4. Mine burn out regularly and i rarely use them...they are placed in the way back and do not really help much on the cooking surface. (my model was updated with them placed further forward and the exhaust buttons more accessible under the front edge...go figure) ...when we installed i immediately said our placement was flawed. Good that they fixed that for others. I did try to fit an LED strip somehow invisible to avoid using the halogens altogether but i could not find a way to hide it

Get what works in look and function for your needs. I would not be concerned too much about halogens. Though, if i see replacements for led i will get them. I had a very specific size and look without a demolition on my original teak custom cabinets so i was limited and did not really know about the sub-par halogens.
Not enough heat output to be a trouble, just not necessary.

I have halogens. Just replaced a bulb yesterday. Mine get hot enough to burn if touched. They heat the area enough to make it warmer than anywhere else in the kitchen for bread to rise. And because mine are on dimmers in an older hood, I can't make the switch.

If I was getting a new hood I would definitely go with LED. Far more economical, not as hot and light that's just as good. However, I'd check carefully if there's a dimmer to see exactly which brands of bulbs are compatible/usable. It can get tricky.

LED is the future. Halogen is the past.

My Kobe hood came with LEDs. The light is harsh to the eyes, a little bluish and cold, despite the fact that the LEDs are real 3W Cree bulbs (i.e. top of the crop).

I think that, lumen-wise, the light is as bright as the 20W halogens that come with other models. Even with the diffuser, the LED light is more coherent and "unnatural".

I don't want to sound like a Luddite, but LEDs still have a long way to go before their light quality is as good as the halogen. They're much more efficient and cold (or, to be more precise, a little warm) to the touch, they may last longer, but their light output is still much worse quality than the one produced by the incandescent.

To be honest, I don't understand what's the fuss regarding halogens in a range hood. The wattage is rather low (2x20 to 4x20), which produces far, far less heat than the range itself. Most of the heat will be pulled away by the airflow anyway, therefore the only risk is touching them.

Heat from the halogens is not a problem unless you touch them. They should be angled toward the cooktop, not toward the cook. I would put the type of lights (not the amount of lumens or number of lights) way way down on the priority list when choosing a hood.
LEDs don't last as well in a hot environment, so don't expect those in a hood to last like they would unenclosed. Life drops about 4% per degree F increase.

If they are powerful enough, heat is a problem if you almost touch them. My Wolf Pro Island hood uses three 50W halogen flood lights. If one is standing under a lamp a few inches above one's hair it is quite uncomfortable without a hat. Replacement by LED floods eliminated that effect, but their flood angle is somewhat narrower, so illumination is not as even as would be desirable. Eventually I'll get around to trying out various brands for beam angle.

kas

My Rangemaster, which I really like, has both: non-halogen for actual illumination, and halogen (big) to use only when holding food on the warming shelves.

Mine has halogen - I didn't find any with LED in the CFM that I needed when i put it in - I hope to swap at some time but it is not too bad unless you leave them on all of the time.

I have seen the Xtreme Air range hoods with led lights. Not sure how bright the lights are. Anybody have any experience with Xtreme Air?

Hood has two R20 PAR light sockets (full size Edison bases).

I have halogen floods.

The wattage of the bulbs determines how much heat they throw off more than the type.

A small source for 20 watts is hot 9the filament os many thousands of degrees F).

My soldering iron is way less than that and gets over 900 F (with zero light output besides the temp display on the controller).

In the PAR package (especially the heavy duty indoor-outdoor style) the actual halogen capsule is inside the reflector, helping spread the heat generated.

The old PAR lamps for indoor use only have much thinner glass, and where 'de rigueur' in photo studios for many years.
They got HOT.

The better light quality from Halogens was great.
The daylight correction filtering was much less (and so less loss of light in the filter pack).