Right here goes.

I decided to measure the light output of various bulb options available for my car, so I borrowed a meter from work. Here's the results.

Car - Skoda Fabia vRS using the nearside headlight dipped beam.

Measuring device - A light meter from work with the scale set to "x10" and set to "Hold maximum".

Measurements taken about 500mm from the headlight glass.

I took a 1st measurement by getting the brightest spot at a set distance and leaving the meter head there, then swapped bulbs and noted each measurement.

Results -

Standard 55W bulb = 577 lumens

Lidl 50% brighter bulb = 683

Ring "Sportsblue" 80W bulb = 448

HID Bulb = 830

So there you have it. Not an exact experiment but a good comparison non the less.

Edited 29 October, 200916 yr by vRS G60

And the reason the 50% brighter bulb wasn't; Probably that you should make the measurements at 150 feet, not just under 2.

150 feet or 2 feet! The object of the exercise Ken was to determine which of my 2 sets of "uprated" bulbs were the best ( 3 if you count the HIDs).

Light output is very difficult to put a figure on, moving the meter a few millimeters gives vastly differing outputs.

What it did show is that the 80W bulbs were in fact worse than the OEM bulbs. Something that wasn't to apparent when you compared the 2 on the car.

I thought that different bulbs didn't necessarily have exactly the same light pattern , so you'd need to take readings at a few positions to make a true comparison.

In terms of benefit to the drivers , you'd probably want to check quite a bit further away than that. When I buy brighter bulbs the important thing is how much further I can see clearly , not just how brightly illuminated the spot right in front of the car is.

Nice to know the Lidl bulbs are better and I've not wasted my money though

And the reason the 50% brighter bulb wasn't; Probably that you should make the measurements at 150 feet, not just under 2.

I could be wrong but I think it claims "up to" an extra 50%.

I guess with the Ring sports blue one a lot of light output is lost in the blue filter. Still I'm quite shocked there is less light than a OEM 55w though. Maybe the blueness just "appears" brighter to the human brain or something?!

On the Lidl bulbs, Lidl also had a blue version which didn't claim to be +50%. My uneducated guess is that they are the same as the +50% ones but have a blue filter on which decreases output hence they don't make the 50% claim on them. I have a pair of each but don't know if there's an easy way to tell.

What type of HID bulb is being referred to? Bearing in mind aftermarket HID kits are technically illegal to use on the public highway (need levelling and a certain type of projector etc). (I guess you'll only get rumbled if you upset a police officer though as most reports I see say they go through the MOT and get no hassle off the Feds.)

Edited 31 October, 200916 yr by anewman

150 feet or 2 feet! The object of the exercise Ken was to determine which of my 2 sets of "uprated" bulbs were the best ( 3 if you count the HIDs).

Light output is very difficult to put a figure on, moving the meter a few millimeters gives vastly differing outputs.

What it did show is that the 80W bulbs were in fact worse than the OEM bulbs. Something that wasn't to apparent when you compared the 2 on the car.

I'm not having a pop mate; just saying that your measurement technique is in no way compatible with the standard technique that the light manufacturers all use.

What it did show is that the 80W bulbs were in fact worse than the OEM bulbs. Something that wasn't to apparent when you compared the 2 on the car.

No what it showed was that the blue coating applied to the 80w bulb took out a lot of light. If you had tried a uncoated plain 80W or 100W light bulb you would have found a higher output than the blue 80W bulb.

Also I know you said unscientific, but if you're going to be so close to the bulb, then you need to find the bright spot for each bulb as the beam pattern changes from bulb to bulb.

I think the test would have been more useful taken at 10m+ ahead of the car in a couple of positions.

Finally a common moan I know, but I hope that you're not considering running the HID kit in the fabia with reflector headlights as the beam pattern is all over the place and blind other road users.

No what it showed was that the blue coating applied to the 80w bulb took out a lot of light. If you had tried a uncoated plain 80W or 100W light bulb you would have found a higher output than the blue 80W bulb.

Also I know you said unscientific, but if you're going to be so close to the bulb, then you need to find the bright spot for each bulb as the beam pattern changes from bulb to bulb.

I think the test would have been more useful taken at 10m+ ahead of the car in a couple of positions.

Finally a common moan I know, but I hope that you're not considering running the HID kit in the fabia with reflector headlights as the beam pattern is all over the place and will blind other road users.

I agree with most of this, but there is no technical reason why an appropriately designed HID unit will not have a correct focus when used in an H1, H3 or H7 reflector shell.

The HID bulb used was an aftermarket HID set up.

I used to have them in my A-Class which passed the MOT every time with them in. I've not put them in the vRS, but put one in temporarily just as a comparison.

A mate of mine has an aftermarket HID set up in his vRS with no problems.

I'm not getting into the legal or moral issues of HIDs make up your own minds

The HID bulb used was an aftermarket HID set up.

I used to have them in my A-Class which passed the MOT every time with them in. I've not put them in the vRS, but put one in temporarily just as a comparison.

A mate of mine has an aftermarket HID set up in his vRS with no problems.

I'm not getting into the legal or moral issues of HIDs make up your own minds

That's fine, just expect full beam and then some if you drive towards me with them on.

Anyway the main point I was making was that the blue coating on the 80W bulb will be doing the damage to the output. Try the same with a blue coated 55W bulb from ring and I think that will be tragically low.

Rather than blinding other people:thumbdwn: why not spend the money on a visit to specsavers?

These tests have been done before by David Stern Lighting

These are the results for H1 type bulbs. (sorry I can't make a table)

Standard (plain) - 1550 lm 650 hr

Long Life - 1460 lm 1200 hr

Plus+30 (High Efficacy) - 1680 lm 400 hr

Plus+50 (Ultra High Efficacy) - 1750 lm 350 hr

Blue glass ("Extra white") - 1380 lm 250 hr

As you can see the blue ones give much lower output than even the Standard OEM bulbs. Thay are still legal as they produce more than the legal requirements of 1000 lm +/- 15%.

These results are taken from this page: Daniel Stern Lighting - Safe, Legal, Blue....But Are They Any Good?

As you can see the blue ones give much lower output than even the Standard OEM bulbs.

But still people think more than 6K on xenons is what you need. Xenon or halogen, you hit it on the head. Blue = pish light quality.