New headlamp bulb tests

AutoExpress finally released the results of their new H4 (=9003, =HB2)
bulb tests.

Nothing that shocked me. In a nutshell, OSRAM (not Sylvania) Silverstar or
Philips VisionPlus is the best standard-wattage bulb you can buy, the
best blue-coated bulb's performance doesn't match a decent standard bulb,
PIAA is garbage, and the range of performance in bulbs on the market is
huge.

Viz:

Standard and blue bulbs:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/product_test/product_test_story.php?id=39920

"Plus 30" high efficiency bulbs:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/product_test/product_test_story.php?id=39919

"Plus 50" ultra high efficiency bulbs:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/product_test/product_test_story.php?id=39917


Annd surprise of surprises, people who come to me wanting blue crapola or
demanding to know where I get off trashing PIAA's "good name" are always
stunned at how well they can see when I send them away with...with...well,
by golly, with the bulbs this test, done an ocean away from me, says work
best!

DS
Who is beginning to tend towards cynicism but hates to say "Toldjya"

 

Any one know where to find the OSRAM Silverstar or Philips VisionPlus in the
U.S.? I found the Sylvania XtraVision at Pep Boys, but not the above two.

 

Uhhh, Daniel Stern Lighting might just stock those for ya. :} These
are "Euro" only bulbs, though, ergo not available in types HB1 and
HB5.

Sylvania XtraVision 9003XV is equivalent to Osram Super H4, hmmm? Or
at least so damn similar that it is for all purposes the same.
Theoretically, 9003/HB2 stipulates a 100µ (or is it 100n? My brain's
fuzzy tonight) tighter filament tolerance and, uhhh, that's just
about it. Oh yeah, the HB2 bulbs have "DOT" marked on 'em too. For
quality bulbs, 9003/HB2 and H4 are equals, no matter what the
"competent" authorities may advise you counter to that truth.

 

These comparisons are always fascinating. It's amazing how much junk
proliferates the market, even in real bulb formats like H4 (as
opposed to FMVSS crap, which is junk no matter how ya swing it).

And much as I like the appearance of the quality legal blue bulbs,
that is the reason why I'm not likely to be putting them in my cars.
If I did have real headlamps ($$$$$$) I probably still wouldn't do
it, but as things stand, I can barely see the road on low beam and
hafta drive by instinct and WAGging, so to speak, while bearing the
glare of oncoming traffic's SAE low beams (guess there's no way of
weaseling out of that one).

Shocking, isn't it?

That's assuming they actually have headlamps that "work best", of
course, and that's a major ASSumption in this part of the world. I'm
totally amazed at the mass of folks who own cars with generically
shaped and sized headlamp buckets who are STILL running sealed bum
junk, when they could have real composite headlamps for a relative
pittance. My landlord is still using the DoT crapola on his Jetta,
though I tried to talk him into getting real lights, since he too
drives quite a lot at night and has also been considering doing
major mod jobs to his car (souped up engine, Brembos, sport
suspension, the usual stuff). Sheesh, I mean, if one has the $$$
even to think about all that shawozzles, then I think decent (or at
least half decent) lighting is an essential addition to the mix. And
that's not just because of your bad influence. <g>

 

Top-posting to provide insight to all readers,

Can you translate this so it is useful to the average consumer????

- D.

 

What precisely is eluding your comprehension?

 

Could you please elaborate a bit on this? Tighter filament tolerance than
what?

It so happened that my daily driver, a '98 Honda Civic specified the 9003.
The XtraVision appears moderately brighter. Not sure if it is 30% more.
Not even sure what 30% more looks like.

 

OK, I know that Osram and Sylvania are actually one big happy family,
but is Philips somehow associated with Hella? By what logic are they
using the same name for two different products? Kinda confusing when
someone asks you what's a good bulb and you say "Silverstar or
VisionPlus... oh wait a second..." Even more confusing when one
product with the same name is decent and one sucks...

nate

 

You're assuming that sealed beams are bad, which is not necessarily the
case. I remember being shocked the first time I drove my Daytona at
night - those 40 year old Tung-Sol sealed beams (not halogen, even!) did
a pretty respectable job of lighting up the road - better than some new
headlight designs for sure. Progress? We don't need no steenkin'
progress.

nate

 

The 9003 (also known as HB2) is basically a H4 bulb built to tighter
tolerances. What that means is that the filament placement may vary a
certain amount during construction but in US-spec (9003/HB2) applications it
can't vary much. To for a H4 bulb to meet US standards and to be allowed to
be blessed as a 9003, the filaments have less permission to vary from their
designed position during construction. This dates back to the early 1990s
primarily when US-spec headlamps were still mechanically aimed using the
three bumps on the lens of the lamp. If those were used and the filament
was too far off, the lamp would still be incorrectly aimed. However ECE
regulations permitted more leeway in filament placement because lamps were
visually aimed using the cutoff in the light pattern. The US does permit
visual aiming now (as you may see in lamps with no bumps on the lens) but
the standard for the 9003 bulb still stands for lamps that use the bulb and
yet are still mechanically aimed.

 

Top-posting an answer:

Don't waste money on a) any blue bulb or b) any PIAA product.


TransFixed wrote:

 

In North America: I keep 'em. So does Candlepower, Inc.

Worldwide: You can order 'em from powerbulbs.com, and they'll be shipped
from the UK.

DS
(to write to me, remove the headlamp from my address)

 

http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/tech.html


DS

 

Cross Poster's Suck.

 

In a nutshell:

Reject any headlamp bulb that does not have CLEAR, UNCOLORED glass -- no
blue or purple or "extra white" or "superwhite" or "silver" colors.

Reject any headlamp bulb that is not made by
Philips/Narva/Norma/Wagner/Candlepower, GE/Tungsram, or Osram/Sylvania.

Reject any headlamp bulb making claims about the color or "kelvin
temperature" or appearance of the light produced, e.g. "whiter",
"whitest", "close to daylight", "similar to HID headlamps", etc.

Follow these three rules and you're almost certain to get a perfectly good
headlamp bulb.

If you want better than "good", use:

Sylvania Xtravision (9000-series)
Candlepower Brightlight (reboxed Narva Rangepower, 9000 and H-series)
Narva Rangepower (9000-series and H-series)
Wagner BriteLite (9000-series)
GE High Output (9000-series)
Osram Super (H-series)
Philips Premium (H-series)
Philips High Visibility (9000-series)

If you want the best, and your car takes H7, H1 or H4 (=9003), use:

Osram Silverstar (NOT the same as Sylvania Silverstar!)
Candlepower Super BrightLight (reboxed Osram Silverstar)
Philips VisionPlus
Tungsram Super Megalicht

DS

 

http://vrx.net/dsl/tsb/brite_lite_plus_30.pdf
http://vrx.net/dsl/tsb/brite_lite_plus_50.pdf

Others that may be of general interest:

http://vrx.net/dsl/tsb/DOT_mark.pdf
http://vrx.net/dsl/tsb/9004_9007.pdf
http://vrx.net/dsl/tsb/high_wattage.pdf

DS

 

Yeah, hold yer horses, Ricardo, Nate's got a good point. I can think of a
several dozen different makes and models sold in the 20 years since Ford's
"better idea" stuck us with the first replaceable-bulb headlamps in the US
since '40, on which the headlamp performance is so rotten that the owners
would *kill* for the performance of an ordinary large or small round or
rectangular set of sealed beam headlamps.

That's not to say that sealed beams as implemented in the US were the
be-all and end-all of headlamps, because they weren't and aren't. But the
*concept* of sealed-beam standard-size headlamps has a lot to recommend it
(proof against environmental damage and improper bulbs, inexpensive to
replace if damaged, oldest vehicles get newest lighting advances simply by
replacing old standard-size lamps with new standard-size lamps).

Sealed beams can be made to produce whatever kind of light, in whatever
beam pattern, is desired. It was the implementation that wasn't as good as
we might've wanted, not the concept, and even the implementation as it was
is far better than a great many model-dedicated replaceable-bulb lamps.

I'll confirm that. Many of the old non-halogen sealed beams had much
better beam patterns than the later halogen units. The light color was
piss-yellow, and the high beams were weak due to jurassic high beam
intensity caps (we've now progressed to the stone age), but the beam
formation on low beam was surprisingly good compared to a lot of more
recent headlamps.

DS

 

Which, if any, sealed beam headlamps currently available in the US are
good (or the least bad if none of them are good) in terms of beam pattern?
Or are ECE headlamps from Cibie or whatever the only real option if one
wants a good beam pattern?

 

Valid answer to this depends on what you want to do, with what kind of
vehicle, using which headlamp form factor.

DS

 

Only when it's off topic.

We all have headlights on our cars and most people like better
lighting.
--
Brandon Sommerville
remove ".gov" to e-mail

Definition of "Lottery":
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