Your favorite non-OEM halogen headlight bulb?

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Well, those SuperNova bright headlights behind me is why I carry handsful of Stinger drywall screws in a jar next to me..




I really hope that's a bad joke.

A little off-topic here, but 95% tint on the rear windows makes driving at night a lot more enjoyable. If lights are excessive though, I'll just coast until they pass me, then follow with the brights on. That doesn't happen very often though.

I use MotoMaster bulbs (generic Canadian Tire). They're cheap and seem to last as long as anything else.
 
Uhm, yes, the Stinger remark was a joke. My anger at tailgating maggots with HID lighting, legal or not, crowding so close they have no chance of stopping as fast as I in traffic however, is no joke.

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You and those like you are what's wrong with today's driving public




CBD, if that was directed at me, you mis-directed. Save it for the SuperNova bright illegal headlight drivers. THAT arrogance is what's wrong with today's driving public.
 
This isn't directed at anyone in particular but at the risk of opening a can of worms I'll state what should be obvious: automotive lighting products are exactly as oil in that they're full of marketing ________ and "snake light". And just like oil there is a lot of science behind it. Not only lighting science but "how humans see" science. Education is the key.
 
I can't agree more with Quickbeam's statement. Certain lighting gives an illusion of improved lighting, but actually decreases the distance the light enables you to see. I experimented with this using a standard 9004 bulb and a Sylvania "Cool Blue" bulb in my headlights. The "Cool Blue" appeared to be brighter, and was most definitely whiter, than the standard 9004 bulb (and admittedly, it "looked" better on my car). But in a side-by-side comparison, it was obvious that the "Cool Blue" didn't illuminate as far down the road as the standard bulb. It did however appear to light up the ground directly in front of the car much brighter. This is the illusion I'm referring to. Most people would assume it is putting out more light based upon how things directly in front of the car look. But objects in the distance aren't as visible. This gets more important as vehicle speed increases. I now run standard 9004 bulbs in both of our vehicles (I forget what brand). I am however continually looking for improved lighting, and may try the XtraVisions in the future based on all of the reading on them I've done. I'm also looking into converting my 9004's to 9007's, but am still a little undecided on this. I have read that the 9007's filaments are better positioned to take advantage of the housing's reflectors or something to that effect than the 9004's. Does anyone have any concrete facts about this? Or is it another useless mod people do to be "cool"?

Toocrazy2yoo, I know how you feel. I dislike HID's, and really despise tailgaters. That's why I've installed a switch on my dash that turns on my reverse lights whenever I flip it. Tailgaters get off my rear pretty quick when my reverse lights come on while doing 70 mph on the interstate. Makes them think I slammed it in reverse and will start going backwards.

Dave
 
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I have read that the 9007's filaments are better positioned to take advantage of the housing's reflectors or something to that effect than the 9004's. Does anyone have any concrete facts about this?




This is a fact. The 9007 filaments are axial while the 9004's are not. In other words, the 9007 filaments are oriented like this: | The 9004 filaments are oriented like this: -

When you compare the two side by side, it's easy to see the differenece.

Converting 9004 to 9007 is a pain. Not only are the lugs that allow the bulb to fit into the housing different, but the pin-out on the connector is different as well.
 
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What is your favorite non-OEM headlight bulb?



I'm not partial to brand. However, I do like getting the brightest bulb (not the one that has an optical illusion to appear brighter, but the true brightest bulb) I can easily find, that stays with the stock wattage (power). I don't like going higher wattage (more power) than stock, both because that can put stress on the wiring and lens (both of which get hotter than they were designed for), and because any extra power puts more load on the alternator (i.e. slightly more gas used, to produce the extra electricity).

However, what some people don't realize (and the car parts makers seem to do a good job of "hiding" the specs for), is that not all 55 watt car bulbs produce the same light output! While the difference between bulb quality/efficiency isn't huge, it is a real difference. And some headlight models are "slightly" (in some cases, as much as 20%) more energy efficient than other (more common) brands/models of bulbs. And while an extra 10%-20% light output (for the same wattage/power) isn't a lot of extra light, it is IMHO still useful. Which is why I look for halogen bulbs (in the "stock" wattage rating) that have higher quality construction/gasses (and therefore slightly more lumens per watt), as long as the extra cost of the bulb isn't outrageous.

Which is why I ended up going with NAPA "Xenon BrightLite" bulbs the last time I put headlights in my car (because the Xenon gas in them, gives slightly more light for the same wattage/power than the cheaper gasses used in many halogen headlight brands). As a result, for an extra $5 or so a bulb (cost of the BrightLite bulbs, over what I would have spent on regular halogen bulbs), I got headlights that were noticeably brighter. The difference in brightness wasn't huge (nor would I expect a 10%-20% brighter bulb to make a huge difference), but it was more than enough to be quite noticeable with the naked eye (when I was looking at what was lit up by the headlights)! And considering that headlights often last a few years, an extra $10 for brighter bulbs seems real cheap for what I'm getting (which is slightly more light on the road to see by)...

NOTE: NAPA isn't the only place that sells higher than average efficiency headlights, they were just the easiest place to get them from near me. Of course, you really have to dig into bulb specs to get the lumens/watt info, as most car bulbs don't list their lumens output (or in many cases, even their wattage) on the package itself.
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NOTE: You want totally CLEAR glass on any headlight bulbs you buy! This is because any color/tint on the bulb, comes at the expense of lower light output. Clear glass (or is that really a quartz, in the case of a halogen bulb?) is the only "color" glass that will allow virtually all the bulbs light to go out as useful headlight light. Any "tint" (including the marketing gimmick of "blue" bulbs) comes at the expense of lower light output (and therefore less you can see on the road)...

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Back in the day, I tried as many "blue" headlights as I could find. I figured out that most didn't last very long at all.



Blue headlight bulbs (except for "HID" bulbs, which are naturally a little bluish) aren't useful IMHO. And the reason is simple: Incandescent bulbs (including "halogen", which is just a more energy efficient incandescent bulb technology) naturally put out (slightly yellow) "white light". So if you want to convert that "white light" into any other color (including a bluish tint), you do so by throwing away part of your potential light output of the bulb (leaving only the colors of light you are interested in)! This means that "blue bulbs" have to be less "bright" than a clear glass "white" bulb of the same power (wattage) level! Which in turn means, that you are giving up light that you could otherwise use to see the road, by going with the "blue" bulbs.

i.e. IMHO "blue" bulbs are just a "marketing gimmick", that actually works against what you want (which is as much light to see by as you can get). Which is why I seek out bulbs where the "glass" is totally clear.
 
Human eyes are most sensitive to the yellow-green portion of the spectrum, so yellow will tend to appear brighter than blue everything else being equal. Some of the popular 'blue bulbs' appear to trade off bulb life for higher output but are also tinted, which reduces output.

When I drove motorcycles I use to use 55/100 watt bulbs, as a number of cars had the habit of leaving their brights on even if you blinked them them with the stock high beams; not a problem with the 55/100 bulbs.
 
In a conventional wattage/fit bulb, the GE line of NightHawk are the best, about 20% brighter than OEM, in some applications; no improvement in others.

There best bulbs by far, also conventional wattage are GE invented, Toshiba built 9011 and 9012 bulbs. They need to be slightly modified to fit to replace 9006 and 9007 bulbs but ther are about 50% brighter!!! They use a novel globe shape and a deposit of clear material that reflects heat back onto the filiment to get the greater efficiency. I use them in my PT Cruiser and Toyota RAV4 (1998) and they perform as advertised. You can order them on the web. Chrysler used them in a few vehicles but charges an arm and a leg for their Toshiba supplied part.

Richard.
 
Those 9012 bulbs sound good, if a little expensive. Shouldn't the 9012 low beam have a shaded end on it to reduce glare, like the 9006? What are the lifespan on these things?
 
I had two 9006 Silver Stars, and neither lasted more than 6 months. I just switched tonight to GE NightHawks. We'll see how they perform. I noticed today at Advance Auto the new SilverStar Ultras. The only difference advertised from the old SilverStar is longevity. I hope so. Anyway, they were too expensive. Too bad, because I loved them. They worked well in my 03 Tahoe.
 
I got them at Wal-Mart, and I think they were either 25 or 29 bucks for the pair. About 10 bucks less than Silver Stars. My bet is that they will last much longer. They are nice and bright, but not quite as good as the Sylvanias. More than enough to make up for the short life, however.
 
The 9011 and 9012 bulbs have normal life performance. The vastly increase output is a result of a clear coating and special globe shape that reflects the bulb's heat back toward its filiment. GE sells a line of these for outside building lights, etc., and licensed Toshiba to sell the automobile parts.

Richard.
 
osram silverstars, not the silly sylvania blue ones we get here in the US.

You need to get the imported euro ones from ebay.

Well worth the money, the best bulb i've used.
 
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