The brake lights don't really need to shine up the pavement behind me, just be visibly brighter than the running lights so someone knows I'm on the brakes. In that sense, the brake lights work just fine still, though I may upgrade those anyways to a set from retro as well.
I put the CREE's in this weekend. Definitely a noticeable improvement. With my stockers, I could see NO light output at all on the ground, with these I can. However, it's still not "great." It's a HUGE improvement, but I think I just tinted my tails too dark. They'd work for me, but there are a lot of times the gf needs to drive me home from somewhere (too many of these...:blitzed
and I think she would still like more light in reverse. I may pick up a set of 08 tails, and tint those too, but tape off the reverse light sections.