I found these led tail light bulbs at the local parts store....for two it cost 16 dollars....ahhhh. You get a brighter, crisp look to your tail. Looks way better and I am sure it will last longer than the regular wire bulb. So far it's been 4 months with no problems.

I got one picture of the bulb


86 244 wagon

 

better light in reverse?

 

you don't have the tired out tail lights look. Even if your tail light assembly is freakin pale. If these don't go out til the end of the year, they will be worth it.

 

I have LED's in the tail lights of both my 245 and 144. The real advantage is lower power consumption and lower heat. If you have an auto and sit in traffic w/ foot on the brake eventually the tail lamps begin melting causing all sorts of outages. LEDS run cool...
Light output? White LED reverse lights suck...that's the only definitive description. They're pretty...but illuminate far less than standard bulbs. Still...they are quite visible to others...just don't work as well for the driver. Using them in turn signals provides another set of issues. As older Volvos use a thermal flasher, the LED's don't provide enough resistance to trigger the flasher...so they flash sloooowwwwww. Unless you wire in resistors at all 4 corners or manage to score the appropriate electronic flasher...which is the cure!
Finally, it's always important to know LED's basically emit light in only a narrow spectrum so for optimal light output, you need to put red lights behind red lenses, yellow behind yellow, white behind clear. Try to get replacements that have as many LED's as possible and still fit into the lamp. More LEDs...more light.
Are they worth it? If only to save the expense of replacing lamp assemblys, yes. Tail/brake light replacement is simple as are fron parking lamps. Turn signals are a small issue and for reverse lights it's a tossup. Here in Dallas, back up lights are more for the other driver to see you're backing up. In more rural areas without street lights everywhere, I'd stick w/ stock bulbs...way more light.