Good headlight bulbs

[brawleyman]

I have a 2007 Ford Focus with single bulb headlights (double filament for low and high) and driving lights. Bulbs are 9007 low/high beam and H11 driving light.

I want to replace my OEM lights. Right now, my Focus has one of the best reflectors in the headlight because the lights are extremely bright, however yellow, but actually "whiter" than other cars with standard halogens. I want to get something that will give me the "HID look" without buying the expensive HID kits.

Has anyone used Eurodezigns? I have been looking into both of these lights, but can't find anything really clear cut or any good pictures comparing the 2 side by side. The Silverstars have a short life span from what I have found, and the Eurodezigns have a lifetime warranty so that if for any reason they burn out, they will be replaced for under $7 for shipping and handling sent to the company.

The Eurodezigns sound really good with the lifetime warranty, but if they are not very white, then there is not point to getting them. I used to have Silverstar Performance on my old focus and they were really white and bright compared to my old OEM bulbs. I am just curious as to how the Eurodezigns hold up.

Any suggestions or pictures?

 

[vi edit]

The "HID look" without being actually HID's will do nothing other than lower your actual visibility and annoy the piss out of people coming at you.

Less functional + annoyance to others = fail.

 

[brawleyman]

I beg to differ...When I had the Silverstar performance on my old focus, it was much brighter and really white compared to the OEM bulbs, and the OEM bulbs were new so I know they were not just old and dim. I think that at least with the Focus, aftermarket bulbs really help out because they have such a good reflector. So, I am wondering, though, what people think of the Eurodezigns compared to Silverstar's vs OEM.

 

[Colt45]

Don't be a douche, run stock bulbs.

 

[T2urtle]

for the most part you can get silverstars on sale for $20-25 a set of 9007.

I've ran the following. eurolites HID look a likes, silverstars, xtravision and now i'm on HID kit.

both in 9004 and 9007 confirguations on my maxima and lancer.

eurolights stink. looks great white/blueish output on the ground is NOTHING... its light driving with a AA mag-lite in your headlight
xtravisions were nice but still stock like
silverstars had that white look and are pretty nice
now i'm on HID kit and after i aimed it lower its really noticeable.

problem is when u get look at HID with dual filaments you normally loose highbeams unless you opt to pay an extra $50 for the option. And well honestly i was like um...i rarely do use my high beams. Now i use my fog lights to commiicate with other drivers.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: brawleyman
I beg to differ...When I had the Silverstar performance on my old focus, it was much brighter and really white compared to the OEM bulbs, and the OEM bulbs were new so I know they were not just old and dim. I think that at least with the Focus, aftermarket bulbs really help out because they have such a good reflector. So, I am wondering, though, what people think of the Eurodezigns compared to Silverstar's vs OEM.

Sorry, but your perception deceives you. Silverstars emit fewer lumens. Fewer lumens ALWAYS means less seeing.

However, due to the blue tint (used to achieve the "whiter" light), the Silverstar bulbs create vastly more glare. The human eye perceives glare as "brightness" even though the actual ability to distinguish objects is diminished.

It has been proven time and time again that the yellower the light, the better people are able to see at night. The only reason that headlights are not yellow is because it is necessary to maintain some color rendering ability which full yellow light tends to mess up even though the ability to distinguish objects increases.

ZV

 

[chucky2]

While I'm not going to discount any studies conducted in a blind manner using calibrated test conditions and metering equipment, since I've done none of that myself...

...how is it possible that I swapped out the stock bulbs on my mom's '93 Sable with Silverstars, and I could see farther down the road?

And, I'm not talking imagining seeing farther down the road, I'm talking farther down the road. When her one headlight burnt out, I put in a Silverstar in it because that's all they had on the rack that night, one Silverstar. I could physically see the Silverstart beam much farther down the road than the stock bulb in there. The next day I went to another AutoZone and got another Silverstar, and when I took the car out that night again, it was much more pleasurable to drive since I could finally see WTF was around me.

So, it wasn't my imagination or eye tricks...the Silverstar the first night was - without a doubt - better than the stock bulb.

Chuck

 

[Kremerica]

I'll go with

Originally posted by: chucky2
your perception deceives you

for $500 alex

 

[chucky2]

Originally posted by: Kremerica
I'll go with

Originally posted by: chucky2
your perception deceives you

for $500 alex

I'll make this very simple then:

The first night, I could see about a house, house and a half, more on the Silverstar side than the stock side...

...was I perceiving that or did I actually see it?

I'll take the I actually saw it Daily Double...

Chuck

 

[Kremerica]

I "see" images in my head all day, sometimes even when I sleep, but it doesn't mean they are real!
(my bad, i'm not contributing anything worthwhile to this post)

but, I have seen studies (can't reference any off the top of my head), where they show your vision is not as clear when the light is that blueish white of bulbs, like mentioned above.

 

[chucky2]

Originally posted by: Kremerica
I "see" images in my head all day, sometimes even when I sleep, but it doesn't mean they are real!
(my bad, i'm not contributing anything worthwhile to this post)

but, I have seen studies (can't reference any off the top of my head), where they show your vision is not as clear when the light is that blueish white of bulbs, like mentioned above.

I don't doubt that at all, and I lump it into someone taking a K&N airfilter and putting it on a stock Civic and all of a sudden it's l337 faster!!!

However, just going by a very dark street, and seeing how much farther one one side I could see vs. the other, the Silverstar's over stock bulbs are definitely better.

One thing maybe is that her lenses have a fair degree of yellow in them...so maybe that's why the Silverstar's are better in her setup than maybe a vehicle with clear plastic with no yellowing.

I'd love to see some tests...off to Google!!

Chuck

 

[Zenmervolt]

Here's the thing, the "XtraVision" bulbs put out more lumens than the Silverstars. That's a fact. They also cost less, are not tinted, will not destroy your night vision, and will not cause undue problems for oncoming drivers.

As far as the "seeing better" with silverstars, what you did was destroy your night vision with the blue-tinted light. This created a much more dramatic cutoff between lit and unlit areas. Regular bulbs do not do as much damage to your night vision, which results in a gradual fade-out of vision. With regular bulbs, you retain at least some ability to see "beyond" the fringes of your headlights. That is lost with the silverstars and what you are seeing is just the immediate cutoff between seen and unseen. We tend to rate coverage by where the light of normal headlights begins to fall off, not where our actual ability to distinguish objects ends. Thus the gradual fade from lit to unlit of the stock bulb is perceived as shorter, even though it's not.

There is not enough difference in lumen output between Silverstar bulbs and stock bulbs to account for an extra 100 feet (the width of a typical lot where I'm from) of beam throw. There are four options that I see:

1) You are deceived.
2) When installing the new bulb, you knocked the headlight out of alignment.
3) Manufacturing differences in the Silverstar bulbs cause the filaments to be misaligned within the lights, mangling the beam pattern.
4) The old bulbs had dimmed with age (headlight bulbs do dim with age) and you would have seen the same improvement with any new bulbs.

ZV

 

[chucky2]

Ordinary bulbs are cheap, and I value my mom, so I'll try and get an ordinary and one of these XtraVision bulbs to test against the Silverstar's that are in there now.

Light fall off is subjective at best...ideally, there's be blind tests done with a calibrated light meter in controlled conditions that tested all these different bulbs.

The degree of brightness where I can actually see - not begin to see - objects and the extra distance I can actually recognize an object is readily apperant in my mom's Sable. Maybe it's the yellowed lenses, maybe it was old bulbs, but comparing at least the old (which were about a year old) bulbs to Silverstar's in her Sable (which again, has a fair degree of yellow in the lights) was easy.

Hopefully I'll get some time over the next few days and I can test this out...I'm all for XtraVision's given us even more light, that's the name of the game afterall...

Chuck

 

[Raduque]

My mom wants to put those ridiculous blue headlights in her ricer Eclipse. I keep managing to talk her out of it, plus the fact she's cheap helps (they're like $20 vs replacement bulbs of her current H1s for $5/ea).