What is it about Xenons that people like?

[JonCope]

Where I live - in a village at the end of a long, unlit, hilly, winding country lane - the non-Xenon headlamps on my Octavia are way more than ample and I curse every driver coming towards me with Xenons because their lamps are blinding, especially at certain angles coming up or down hill. Can people not see well enough with standard lights?

[vRSLen]

If they are set up correctly, they should not cause you any problems.....

[RADIOTWO]

Where I live - in a village at the end of a long, unlit, hilly, winding country lane - the non-Xenon headlamps on my Octavia are way more than ample and I curse every driver coming towards me with Xenons because their lamps are blinding, especially at certain angles coming up or down hill. Can people not see well enough with standard lights?

Hi Jon

As Len says only if they are not set up right, and that can apply to standard lights, if you have never driven with them you need to, as they are a far better light output,(if at the right color 6000)

I have driven with a Octy1 with them as standard and are great, and retro fitted to my car, and it lights area's where normal lights don't, had them set up by the dealers three years ago and passed MOT's since without any problems, and never get flashhed from others (unless they know me)

Radiotwo

[helix]

Where I live - in a village at the end of a long, unlit, hilly, winding country lane - the non-Xenon headlamps on my Octavia are way more than ample and I curse every driver coming towards me with Xenons because their lamps are blinding, especially at certain angles coming up or down hill. Can people not see well enough with standard lights?

As well as their benefits, Xenons can be distracting to other drivers. i notice it on motorways when you can sometimes see lights for long distances behind you, as if on main beam. Also they can appear to flash as the cars go over rises and falls in the surface. I've also occasionally found it hard to see an indicator light, being masked by the very bright xenons. As in all these things, not all drivers ensure the lights are set up correctly

[mannyo]

They are a real pain if the auto levelling fails and they end up stuck out of alignment.

[sms]

if they coming around a left up behind you they will seem brighter than if they were coming up behind you around a right hand bend due to the kick up they have towards the left to stop blinding on coming cars and light up whats at the side of the road. Xenons are hell of a lot brighter to normal bulbs and use less power to normal bulbs. I have them but must admit im not totally satisfied with them especially when cars flash you (and mine have been set up correctly at a mot establishment). Its the kids with aftermarket HID kits on their corsa's and pugs that i find the most irritating and dazzling one.

[dstev2000]

Its the kids with aftermarket HID kits on their corsa's and pugs that i find the most irritating and dazzling one.

10,000K HID kit for the win innit bro :P

I find the nearside 'kick' a tad excessive on the standard Octavia xenon setup. When passing slower traffic on the motorway it dazzles the drivers via their mirror. I've got rid of the kick and raised the beam level slightly, its much better IMO and I've never been flashed since.

[Stoofa]

Where I live - in a village at the end of a long, unlit, hilly, winding country lane - the non-Xenon headlamps on my Octavia are way more than ample and I curse every driver coming towards me with Xenons because their lamps are blinding, especially at certain angles coming up or down hill. Can people not see well enough with standard lights?

You'll find that a good majority of Xenon's that dazzle are after-market ones - there is a reason why you cannot legally retrofit Xenon's to a car for road use.

With any kind of luck MOT stations will start correctly checking lights (as they have now started doing with numberplates) and some of them will get removed from the road.

[VRSVFR]

Mine are standard factory fit with auto level and have never been flashed.

These lights are better than the old Halogen as they were better than the bulbs before that.

[chavdarlk]

People, read carefully:

Where I live - in a village at the end of a long, unlit, hilly, winding country lane - the non-Xenon headlamps on my Octavia are way more than ample and I curse every driver coming towards me with Xenons because their lamps are blinding, especially at certain angles coming up or down hill. Can people not see well enough with standard lights?

There is no solution for this problem. And auto-levering could not help on this.

[dstev2000]

People, read carefully:

There is no solution for this problem. And auto-levering could not help on this.

No but correctly setup and maintained xenon headlights will minimise this problem.

[Tung]

Re Stoofa's comment: "You'll find that a good majority of Xenon's that dazzle are after-market ones" - I travel frequently between Manchester and Dorset, usually in the hours of darkness. I can say, if Stoofa is right and he may well be, there is a heck of a lot of people who must have after market Xenon’s and they are a serious nuisance, particularly on the winding dark Dorset roads.

[Babs]

Xenon's are awesome

If they blind you, don't look at them, and if they dazzle your rear view mirror then press the anti-dazzle leaver below it!

[Jules59]

I where specatacles and find HIDs very distracting especially in the rain at night. But also view people seem to realise that their indicators may become invisible by the HID's over-powering brigthness.

For me they are simply an annoyance and are not a particularly effective contribution to road safety.

[Jules59]

Xenon's are awesome

If they blind you, don't look at them, and if they dazzle your rear view mirror then press the anti-dazzle leaver below it!

How considerate.

[gadgetman]

Drive a Mk3 Mondeo without them after having them in the Octy, and it's like 'who turned out the lights'.

Even the best halogens arent a patch on a decent Xenon setup.

[ncarring]

Amazing how those with Xenons never see a problem with them

(or to paraphrase: "stuff you, Jack, I'm alright...")

[bahnstormer vrs]

To answer the OP question;

The clean bright light, compared to a yellow hue from most regular halogens (ignoring uprated bulbs), with good range and spread,allowing me the best opportunity to see in the dark; particularly as for 7 months of the year my commuting is in the dark.

I have made sure that the beam pattern is correctly adjusted and rarely get flashed by oncoming drivers.

What I hate though, are drivers with regular halogen headlamps (non projector style) fitted with HID conversions that are guaranteed to dazzle everyone.

[shark_90]

Another vote for Xenons here. Much better light output and much clearer details too. Driving a car with "normal" headlight is like trying to drive in the dark in comparison.

As said, there is a massive craze for fitting aftermarket HIDs to reflector headlights, which are terribly dazzling due to the light scatter. If I had my way I'd stop each car with them and smash both headlights.

[Babs]

I where specatacles and find HIDs very distracting especially in the rain at night. But also view people seem to realise that their indicators may become invisible by the HID's over-powering brigthness.

For me they are simply an annoyance and are not a particularly effective contribution to road safety.

Perhaps try an "anti-glare" coating for them, or have them adjusted so they sit closer to your eyes, not on the end of your nose.

Never had the problem exacerbated by wearing glasses!

Baldy adjusted lights are the problem, not xenons themselves. I get more dazzle from badly adjusted normal lights than xenons.

I had xenons on my Fabia vRS and I miss them!

[shark_90]

Yes, there's nothing worse than a Baldy adjusting the lights!

[youngbaz]

Yes, there's nothing worse than a Baldy adjusting the lights!

Speaking as one of the follically-challenged clan I resent your having brought Babs' innocent typo to wider attention in this way!

In fact we baldies are uniquely equipped to carry out headlamp adjustments single-handed, thus cutting down on what might otherwise be an outrageous stealer labour charge. Whereas for most technicians the job involves a laborious sequence of: adjust - sit in car & check - leave seat - walk to front - readjust etc etc, the trichorially-absent technician simply has to squat down in front of the headlight and, using his finely-polished pate as a reflector, adjust the beam until the bounce-back is perfectly aligned into the headlamp's own reflector. Job done!

It's also worth pointing out, in the light (no pun intended!) of the currently running thread on: Why do people like xenons?, that all I have to do as a baldy, when faced with dazzle from an oncoming ill-adjusted Xenon beam, is lower my head and bounce their ghastly beams right back in their faces off the old shiny pate! They dip pretty quickly I can tell you!

[shark_90]

Legend!

[cheezemonkhai]

FWIW having just driven 400 miles I'll say the following:

- Nearly all the cars that were blinding me were with aftermarket HIDS.

(Too old or wrong light type to have been factory fitted)

- There were a couple of cars that were factory fit (Std item on the cars) and still glared on the hills

- There were also badly set up halogens too.

The thing with Xenon lighting is that while it gives more light and at a colour closer to daylight (4700k-5000k typically) any problems that you may have with halogen lighting still exist, but are much worse when they occur.

A badly adjusted halogen is quite blinding when the car is close to you, a badly adjusted Xenon is totally blinding from a long distance back. Never mind when the things are fitted to an old car without projectors as opposed to a factory system.

[sms]

Amazing how those with Xenons never see a problem with them

(or to paraphrase: "stuff you, Jack, I'm alright...")

i do but get told by everyone on here how amazing they are and i must be wrong.