Headlight Bulb Recommendation

[Vendee]

I know there are lots of high wattage headlight bulbs out there but a lot of them won't last a year before blowing. What bulb gives the best compromise between better performance and decent longevity?

[Stoney871]

Osram nightbreaker unlimited or cool blue intense last pretty well for high output bulbs.

[madmole]

Phillips, last longer than osram and are as bright, Swapped my highs and lows for the ultra brights and very pleased with them

Although the standard bulbs from ford are lower output Phillips as well, so Ford rate them

[Vendee]

Thanks guys.

[artscot79]

Osram are junk if you want bulbs that outperform osram are bright white and last a long time theres a kit on eBay with side lights fogs and headlight bulbs xenon bulbs at £12.99 that ive had and are very good so good i chucked the highly rated but rubbish osrams out

[artscot79]

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/191302177084?nav=SEARCH

[madmole]

There is NO way a bulb with blue tint all over it can out perform good quality clear glass Phillips or Osram's. The blue filter makes the bulbs look whiter by taking away light output from the bulbs. your eyes associate whiter with brighter, but a light meter will show the difference. ANY bulb with a filter on it is compromising light output

The light output is governed by the temperature the fillament is heated too, unfortunately physics says that the brighter the filament gets the weaker I is and the lower a length of time it lasts

The Osrams are probably the brightest but suffer from a short life (6-12 months) the Phillips seem to last that much longer and are 99% as bright I think the consistency and build quality of the Phillips bulbs wins

I've had a full off-roading landroader for 14 years and it eats bulbs, I drive off road at night and the vibration and shaking destroys cheap bulbs (like the eBay ones) in about 2 hours, the Osrams about 6-9 months and the Phillips last around a year. Sylvania also last nearly a year

I've had good success with the Halford ones but the are very inconsistent, sometimes they last well other times a few days

One thing I have noticed with ALL these extra bright bulb is how quickly full performce drops off, if you change bulbs after even a couple of months, new bulbs are always brighter..

Its a trade off between brightness and longevity. High Quality makes a difference here

I now stick to Phillips

Also make sure your bulbs have a UV filter internally. If not then you will eventually yellow the plastic of your headlamp. A lot of the cheap bulbs get a tadge more brightness by omitting this extra filter, also keeps the cost down

Ford fit Phillips bulbs from the factory for reason. they are definitely not the cheapest they could buy, but are very consistent and high quality

[artscot79]

Well ive used the osrams and the ones linked and put one in each light so i know which bulb works better and its not the osrams given ive also used those bulbs for over a year and theyre still better than the osrams ide say ive blown youre idea out the water also a cobalt bulb worth £4.99 blew phillips and osram out the water in independant tests.

Each to there own what they want to use but osram arent all that great expemsive for a bulb that barely lasts 6 months and ive not yellowed any headlights despite using those bulbs for the last 20 months the bulbs linked work that well the osrams were a dissapoinent in comparison phillips i havent used again expensive bulbs

[madmole]

We'll find out. I just ordered a set. I'll put them in one side of my Focus and take light/UV meter readings and comparison shots in daylight and at night so we have numerical data rather than subjective. Will be an interesting comparison

[artscot79]

I drive on back unlit roads and for me theres no comparison between the two brighter whiter light that shows more of the road as they are brighter i wouldnt pay £26 for osram nightbreakers then take them out if they were as good in truth i was dissapointed with the osrams and will not be buying them again as i say ive not used phillips but the price puts me off but i can assure you they do not yellow headlights the uv filter is present in those bulbs

[Stoney871]

I drive on a lot of unlit country lanes and have always found my Nightbreakers to be very good.

The cool blue intebse highbeam bulbs I have are excellent for motorway use as they light up signs, lines and cats eyes very well.

[sonic113]

We'll find out. I just ordered a set. I'll put them in one side of my Focus and take light/UV meter readings and comparison shots in daylight and at night so we have numerical data rather than subjective. Will be an interesting comparison

Im looking forward to these results as Im looking to upgrade my bulbs and I think its between the Philips and the osram. If ford fit the philips then I may just go with them as you say they don't fit them just for the sake of it. To be honest I would want reliability because nothing as bad as driving and bulbs blowing all the time, in the long run it would be more expensive to keep buying new bulbs every 6 months. But please do post the results when you get them as I think they may be interesting.

:)

[madmole]

Just received confirmation that the bulbs have been dispatched. Hopefully will be here for weekend. I will grab my light meter and UV filter and get measuring and filming.

If anyone is near Staines/Ashford/Heathrow area at the weekend and has the Osram bulbs we could measure those as well

S

[artscot79]

You can if you wish there are others on here who also use them and agree they are better than the osram i for one will continue to use them tests mean very little to me its how they perform on the road that im bothered about and they perform very well

Osram are too expensive £50 a year on headlight bulbs is ridiculous given £12 bulbs sre as good or better and last at least 3 times as long as i said 20 months ive had those bulbs given i got fogs main and dipped and sidelights all which still work these bulbs show a almost daylight beam onto the road very white the osram still have a yellow tinge that obscures the road ahead to a degree you can see just not enough there are also cobalt bulbs which beat all the rivals for hid effect bulbs http://www.1stautobulbs.com/Bosch-Cobalt-Blue-Bulbs.php

[madmole]

Well, interesting 50 mins so far. The eBay bulbs as recommended by Artscot79 arrived yesterday and I've just fitted them to Zaphod (yes, strange name for a car I know, but I always name mine based on the number plate and it was all I could come up with!)

Now is bright here at the moment, so I backed the car up about 2 Meters from our garden wall for the tests

Firstly the bulbs. Quality and build look fine. On par with Halfords own, but the finishing and soldering and the metal used is nearly, but not quiet as good as the Phillips that

they replaced

Pics are thumbnails, click on them for larger image

Phillips out and new ones waiting to go in

Comparison of the bulbs

They are E marked

Fogs, Originals were Osram from Ford

So pretty comparable on build quality, but not price, Will the £14 wonders outperform the nearly £20 a bulb Autocar Best performing in Test Phillips. Well for Daylight, Here was the view after 10 mins of engine running and lights on to make certain they were fully up to temperature

Dip Beam

Fullbeam (ie both bulbs on)

I'll let you decide which side is what

Here is the view the other way. I'll grant they are lovely and white looking, even the Mrs commented they looked nicer

Notice how the Phillips have caused the camera to shut down and darkened the sky (ie they are far brighter)

The Phillips are focused, have the correct beam pattern and are bright, The internet cheapies are a weak single spot, out of focus and too high

Readings the absolute figures, taken from 1 meter in the center of the bright spot by a Lightmeter (no dome fitted so directional), I'm no stating theses are absolute values as my meter is not calibrated and designed for photography use

Phillips 1523 (you can feel the heat from the light at that distance)

eBay 743 !!!!! (no heat felt and you can look straight into light without going blind)

Fog lamps, Unfortunately my greenery blocks their throw so cant take a pic of pattern, but here are shots looking back at car

Not a lot in it from level, but of course these should point down. getting on hands and knees and sticking head on ground, the osrams are dazzling, the ebays, well blue!

I'm going to go out tonight and take pics of the beam patterns, throw etc before making my mind up. These pics and measurements were taken in sunlight so that could be washing out the blue light

Stephen

[artscot79]

I do note I compare them better than the osram have never used the phillips to compare they were also mot tested and beam pattern etc was passed

[madmole]

The beam pattern would pass MOT fine. Nothing bright goes outside of the zone, unfortunately there isn't a lot IN the zone either

Its a shame they are so pathetic really as they are a lovely colour. Makes me wonder how a set of blued Phillips would compare. I'd be willing to sacrifice ultimate power for a whiter light

[artscot79]

There are some autocar recommended one is autobrites cobalt which are hid effect others are phillips blue i can certainly confirm the ones i have are not pathetic perhaps they get them from a different place it was 20 months ago i bought them i did upload pics with them on a while ago and they are way brighter than in the pics you put up

[madmole]

Here are the night shots

Dipped. I leveled the lamps for a better comparison, pattern is ok, but is just so weak it didn't show in daylight. Its extremely blue light to the eye

Full beam and the answer to why there was nothing showing on the daylight pics. Have checked and the bulb is correctly in the holder. The element is to one side inside the glass

Fogs

Looking at car

Dips

Full

and for comparison, My DRL's (ford), which are brighter than the eBay bulbs

Also look at the consistency of the light within the beam of the Phillips, the eBay specials are very patchy

Only one conclusion to take from this, these cheap bulbs are false economy. I would go so far to say that driving on a complete set of these eBay bulbs would seriously compromise your vision at night. They also are so blue that at night there is no doubt you are a boy racer. They will be coming out tomorrow and going in the bin, I'm not even keeping them as spares!

As stated before and obvious simple physics. ANY bulb that uses a coating or filter to change the colour of the light does it by removing a range of frequencies and therefore lowers the total light output. Also the human eye is more sensitive at 4500 (yellow) than at 6500K (white) so although your brain thinks high temp lights are brighter (sunlight) you can actually see better with yellow light (One of the reasons streetlamps were originally yellow)

So for those of you still looking to good bulbs, the Phillips are a great choice

[jcs95whufc]

What are the bluer/whiter effect bulbs you have in there... I have been reading the post im just being lazy to scroll back up and read through again!

[madmole]

They are a really cheap eBay set, the link is at the start of the thread. Definitely NOT recommended, they are crap, Would be better off holding a good torch in your teeth while driving. They are only 60% of the light output of the OEM set the car come with

If you must have a blue set, then go for a Phillips/Sylvania/Osram set, but you are trading brightness for white

[jcs95whufc]

something like this...

H7 OSRAM Cool Blue Hyper 5000k Headlight bulbs? I understand I will lose some brightness.

[madmole]

Yes, that will give you a whiter light and a lot better quality and brightness than the eBay specials

[jcs95whufc]

Easy for installation? again having one of those dumb days..... ive read that some bulbs can produce some sort of alarm that will stop them from working?

[madmole]

Filament bulbs will not throw any codes. They are a straight swap. 10 mins a headlamp

Its only when you swap a high reistance filament bulb for a low resistance LED bulb that you can get issues (many LED's have extra resistors in them to avoid the circuit sensing the low resistance as a blown bulb)