My bulbs have probably done 1,500-1,600 hours now on my estimates and are not looking as bright as I remember they used to be. Some reports suggest they have a 2,000 hour lifetime and that their performance degrades by as much as 50% after 40% of their lifetime. What is the general opinion? Also, are the performance types such as Phillips Xtreme worth the money? And, where best to go to not get stung for nearly £100 per bulb? I want OEM colour temperature by the way, the blue ones are nice and attractive but crap at being used as headlights IMO.

I think the 50% output drop after 40% of their lifetime is very pessimistic. I think they loose 10% of their output in the first 200 hours, then after that the output drops much more slowly.

 

Do you do mega mileage, mostly at night? I ask as 1,500 hours seems a lot of night driving!

 

But the problem of Xenon output drop with age has crossed my mind on before. But my calculations kind of put my mind at rest.......My Octavia is 8 years old/80,000 miles. It has factory Xenons from new and it is still on the original bulbs. A pessimistic estimate of my cars long term average speed seems to be about 45 mph so 80,000 miles is around 1775 hours. I think the proportion of time the lights are on due to rain or darkness is about 40%. So I don't think my bulbs have done more than around 700 hours.

 

I was parked next to a friends one year old Octavia with factory Xenons recently. I took the opportunity get both cars parked towards a wall, and turn on our headlights to compare output and to the naked eye I couldn't notice much difference between the two cars output, so I stopped worrying about it.

 

So I'd advise you to try and find another newer Octavia with Xenons and compare them side by side before you replace them.         

as above really, they dont need changing till they break and the bulbs are proper worn out. In that case you wouldnt need to ask.

 

Thats why they are so expensive, they have a huge lifespan and well worth the £100 each price tag

Confused :S

 

What do you have fitted? 

 

OEM xenon's, an aftermarket HID kit or upgraded incandescent bulbs?

 

The reason I ask is the title mentions HID's but then you ask opinions on Philips Xtreme which are normal bulbs.

Philips extreme vision are also d2s bulbs silver

So they are, you learn something new every day!

 

I have done 80,000 miles and my working hours mean that most of those, at least when not in high summer, are done with lights on.

I have the OEM lights and they have been brilliant (!) but I can now notice the loom of lights from cars behind me in my own beam pattern and cannot see as far myself as I fancy I used to be able to. Maybe I am just getting old.

Hid lamps do wear out, they produce far less light with age, a friend complained his lights were so bad it made night driving almost impossible, so he replaced the hid lamps and he said his lights were now excellent. Was on a 08 plate so maybe 6 years old. Replaced with lamps from amazon, about £40 for the pair. You live and learn.

£40 for a pair of hids is extreemly cheap, thats half the price one should be

The aftermarket London Colour complete HID kits (including 2x bulbs, ignitors and ballasts) can be delivered to your door for £26.

 

Whilst its safe to assume the quality will lag far behind OEM it can also be fair to assume that £90 for 1x OEM bulb is accompanied by huge margins.

 

I just wish it was easier to determine the quality of the huge choice in bulbs before buying!

I recently had dull xenon's in my mk1 L&K Octavia. The biggest problem I found was the soot inside the projector lenses. Cleared this of with a paint brush and it has made a large difference!!