Is it me or are these really sh*te.

I mean sure they put out extra light but I've tried both the major brands and neither has managed to get past 9 months of life.

The osram silverstar 50% bulbs lasted 3 years and the phillips nightvision GT 50% about 20months.

Go down to the 30% bulbs and it's no difference from a normal bulbs and they last years.

So obviously 80/90% is pushing the envelope and the life is *much* shorter rather than just shorter with the 50% bulbs.

So does anybody else have similar experiences and any bulbs they have had last longer? If not at £24 for a pair I think I'll go the HID route as at least they will probably pay for themselves.

go for the hids. but with a sensible 'colour'. ive tried brighter bulbs but j have never noticed a real difference

There is another thread running regarding 5k colour HIDs, but the "better" bulbs seem to be brighter for a very very short period of time.

I have Osram Nightbreakers as my Main beam and they are a vast improvement. However for the dip beam i haven't found any reliable "uprated" H7 bulbs so i went HID

Carl:thumbup:

I hear that the 100W bulbs work really well as main beam

Not seen any of them. Had a look in Halfrauds but didnt have them in. Im assuming your talking the Phillips Ralleye ones?

Carl:thumbup:

Bosch, halfords, phillips, ring etc do them and I hear the bosch ones are good

It's been discussed a few times in the Fabia and Octavia sections, and I think the conclusion is to produce more light the bulbs have to run slightly hotter and therefore this shortens the life. On Osram NightBreakers there is a very small graphic of a clock with only the 12 o'clock to 2 o'clock part "filled in" to indicate short life.

Here is one of those threads: http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/nightbreaker-90%

On the other hand I have Philips Vision Plus (+50%) dipped bulbs and Nightbreaker (+90%) main beam. I have had them for over a year with no problems.

Jim, that's only part of it. The real problem is that, to run the bulbs hotter you have to thin down the filaments, which makes them more brittle, and gives them less material to erode in the first place, and there's limits to how far noble gas technology can reduce erosion.

I understand the theory of how they make the bulbs run brighter for the same wattage, it's just very frustrating that you go from years for standard/30% to a bit shorter but not much on 50% to a joke on the 80/90% ones.

I am seriously considering the HID option but still have a few concerns regarding this, mostly related to other road users.

Cheezemonkhai - I have never ever been flashed and i have been stopped by the police on 3 different occasions and they have never once said anything about the lights.

The pattern is exactly the same you just have a brighter light

Carl:thumbup:

Nearly everone who fits after-market HIDs have got away with it.

However you just need to be aware of the legality - prepare for the worst case and when it doesn't happen you'll be happy

Without a washing system the HID upgrade is not road legal.

Will you get stopped - almost certainly not.

Will it be noticed at MOT time - this is the only time it could be noticed and this is where your worse case would come in, a car that cannot get an MOT until you replace your original lights.

Will it actually happen - quite probably not.

However it is worth noting that MOT test stations are now looking very closely at things they once didn't - numerous people getting fails on number plates with missing BSU codes, etc.

Uh-Oh here we go again :rolleyes;

The Briskoda Traffic Legality crew are off again

Carl:thumbup:

Nearly everone who fits after-market HIDs have got away with it.

No they haven't, because "getting away with it" would imply that aftermarket HID kits are illegal without headlight washers and auto-levelling. The only advice from the DoT on the subject used "should" in the relevant places, therefore aftermarket HIDs are legal.

ive ran hid`s in various cars for the last five years

all were retro fit items and never failed an mot or been pulled by the cops (because of the lights :P)

The point is they are much brighter, so what if they don't last for "years"? I'm running Philips 50% whatever they are, on my second set (the first set lasted ~15 months). But they cost £25.

It's like people who don't want to replace their tyres because they're only down to 2.5 mil and 'there's another thousand in them'.

By all means be a skin flint and drive around not being able to see and on bald tyres! ;)

Nothing like that.

The 80/90% are not much brighter than the 50% and IMHO not much brighter than the 30% really.

When the others last 2 years + and a lot longer in most cases then the fact that the 80% and 90% bulbs last 6-9 months is a joke.

Actually it's dangerous because it means that using these bulbs the car is likely to be driven with a bulb out, where it blows when away from home etc and the person doesn't change the bulb by the roadside.

Some light is better than none.

The "N% brighter" measurements are based on light incident on an object at a set (non-trivial) range from the headlight.

But that applies only to the headlamp enclosure used, so obviously one is chosen to maximise that difference.

In the Octy II projectors it makes close to naff all squared difference IMHO.

Actually it's dangerous because it means that using these bulbs the car is likely to be driven with a bulb out, where it blows when away from home etc and the person doesn't change the bulb by the roadside.

Some light is better than none.

You mean you don't carry a spare bulb kit?

Only joking, I only do because of last year's trip. Didn't use them then but have made good use since when headlight and recently brakelight popped.

Yeah I've got one too and I know what you're saying, but the number of cars with one headlight out, it would be nice if they made a longer lasting bulb IMHO.

I notice phillips do a double normal life and 10% brighter bulb these days, which might well interest me next time.

I've switched from the +80/90% to the Philips long life +10%. I have to say that they are really good and that there isn't a great difference between the +10 and +80/90 also they should hopefully last a lot longer.

David

BUT, they're still not a patch on Xenons. Been there, tried that in the works mk3 mondy. Was always like 'who's turned out the lights' after driving the Octy. The Mk4 seems a better light spread, but still poor IMO.

Of course, but unless you have factory fit HIDs then I think they are potentially dangerous on the narrow and very dark country roads.

No they haven't, because "getting away with it" would imply that aftermarket HID kits are illegal without headlight washers and auto-levelling. The only advice from the DoT on the subject used "should" in the relevant places, therefore aftermarket HIDs are legal.

As I've always said - you're call.

The department of Transport have said that aftermarket HID's need to have:

xxxxx

xxxxx

Washer System

If people want to just carry on and install then fine.

But if people suddenly see they can't get an MOT on their car any more....

If I said to you 12 months ago:

I know 4 people who have failed their MOT over the past three months because their numberplates were not display BSU numbers in the bottom corner (even though the rest of their plate was fine, correct font, spacing etc) you would probably have laughed.

The above is true - I do indeed know 4 people with failed MOT's on missing BSU numbers.