Do you have 9003/H4 bulbs and are too cheap to buy real HIDs?

S

Scottwax

New member
http://autolamps-online.com/halogen/visionplus1.htm



Phillips Vision Plus, Euro spec. Noticably brighter than SilverStars. Very nice white light, longer and wider beam pattern than stock, no fake blue look either.



$28 shipped from the UK and I got them in a week, plus they tossed in some extra matching 168 bulbs for the corners. Not sure if my car uses them though, haven't looked yet.



$28 is a lot less than $400 and while they obviously aren't as bright as HIDs they are definitely the brightest stardard bulbs I have tried.
 
I heard that Hoen Titanium Xenon bulbs are pretty good. They last longer then silver star but you have to order it online and it's a bit expensive. Here's how it looks like



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Be careful with some of those lights cause I see people buying these fro over seas all the time and the more wattage bulbs are causing some discoloration in the headlights and some plastic to melt.
 
they've also been known to melt the wire harness unless that's been upgraded.



Gotta check the wattage
 
rallylights.com is an awesome website with excellent prices and massive bulbs. Just make sure you are not over powering you lamps with bulbs that are too strong.
 
2001civicex said:
Be careful with some of those lights cause I see people buying these fro over seas all the time and the more wattage bulbs are causing some discoloration in the headlights and some plastic to melt.
Click to expand...



The Phillips Vision Plus are stock wattage.
 
I upgraded my bulbs as well. My stock harnesses can handle ~120 watts. I upgraded to 80/100. Here's a before and after of the low beams...yes, I know the car is in a very non-Autopian state in the "before" pic. I didn't have a garage spot back then!



16070headlightsbeforeafter.jpg






BTW, I've been running this setup since Christmas of '03 without any problems whatsoever.
 
Both sets imported from the UK. I'd give a slight edge to the OSRAM bulbs. I find they work real well. Both bulbs are stock wattage.



One of the UK magazines did a comprehensive test of all the big name aftermarket bulbs...they used some very sopshisticated gear to quantify beam characteristics. They gave the #1 slot to the OSRAM bulb.



(The OSRAM Silverstars are very different compared to Sylvania's Silverstar bulb.)
 
Tom-where did you get the OSRAMs? I like the DOT approved version but the beam pattern is pretty narrow and not very long, similar to stock bulbs, just a whiter light. The VisionPlus are much better....and cheaper!



In what way are the OSRAMs better than VisionPlus?
 
Scott, here's the link to the and the website where I purchased.



Osram Silver Star



5 Star award - Best Buy Award - Beam: 96.9m



"The flagship bulb in Osram's range, the Silverstar's 75m figure was only a fraction better than that of arch-rival Philips (right), but it performed significantly better at 50m. Add a price advantage, and the Osram's plus 50 per cent competitor is our Best Buy."





Buy Online: H1, H4 and H7
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Philips Vision Plus



4 Star award - Recommended Award - Beam: 95.1m





"It's behind Osram's finest, but Philips' top-of-the-range option is a superb bulb which performed comfortably ahead of the plus 30% premium versions. You just cannot ignore the performance, which is why the Vision Plus merits our Recommended award."



Buy Online: H1 , H4 and H7
Click to expand...
 
you can access the story by clicking and then select "Bulbs - Plus 50 per cent" from the pull down menu at the top of that page. There is another portion of the same review under: "Bulbs - Plus 30 per cent"
 
Thanks, Tom! I did some poking around last night and found another site that also offers those bulbs. Interesting that at a long distance, the bulbs are similar but closer in, the OSRAMs have an advantage.



That site also has the Phillips "power 2 night" bulbs that supposedly give the range of the Vision Plus with a bluer tint (which really doesn't interest me). I may have to try the OSRAMs too. It is only money, right? Besides, I can try several bulbs before reaching the cost of true HIDs.



beau-maybe if you want the self leveling feature, HIDs cost $1000 but there are several kits that run around $400.
 
Scottwax said:
It is only money, right?



Click to expand...



:D Egggg-zactly!







I think the DOT (NHTSA?) shut down importation of all HID conversion kits earlier this year...these are the kits that contain a bulb + ballast only. I guess they view them as problematic.
 
I purchased the OSRAM Silverstars for my wife's car and they are great! Nice and bright - a definate improvement over stock.



I purchased them from powerbulbs.com.
 
I'm confused about what lighting alternatives might be available for my vehicle. I have a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder LE and according to the manual it uses HB2 60/55W lights. Searching the sights posted here I couldn't find much as a better replacement. I'm confused because one site I visted listed H4/9003/HB2 lights all together and they sometimes were the same replacement.



Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated as as my wife isn't happy with the current lights as our old vehicle had low beam Zenon's.



Thanks.
 
Thanks EEB. I wonder where the HB2 comes from. If we know that the European and American equivilants are is this the Japanese type? Oh well...



I do have one other question though. Is OSRAM the European Sylvania? I saw in Tom P.'s post that Sylvania' and OSRAM's SilverStars are very different. Is this because OSRAM is making the bulb for the European market?
 
Yup!! Osram Silverstars are for the European market. The bulbs are similar to Xtravision here but the light output is 50% more instead of 30% here. Also, the Osram Silverstars don't have the bluish tint like the Silverstars here so they last longer and actually improve the visibility at night.
 
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