Ok, so i obviously do more right hand turns than left as the offside foglight bulb has gone in my 63 plate yeti.

 

Going to replace the pair while i'm at it so couple of questions:-

 

Are they easy enough to access and replace?

 

Is it worth upgrading while i'm at it? eg osram night breakers or Led type?

 

Cheers

 

Easier if you have smallish hands but I found it reasonably OK

I replaced my bulbs with Osram Night Breakers after about a week from new.....noticeable improvement 

My nearside one went last week, so I'm currently waiting for a set of night breakers to arrive (bought via Amazon). I took the faulty bulb out (and refitted it) at the weekend to see how easy it was - it's a simple job provided you get the bulb aligned properly with the holder.

Go with the Osram's or their Phillips equivalent.

LED ones will need an additional resistor to "cheat" the bulb failure system, and the one's I've seen haven't been very good anyway.

The Osram Nightbreakers are good, but bear in mind (like all higher output bulbs) their lifetime is significantly reduced.

 

Osram quote figures for lifespan, and for the Nightbreaker Unlimited (which is the current/latest model) the "Tc" figure - which is the lifetime around which 2/3rds of bulbs have failed, is typically around 250 hours.

 

Probably OK for foglights, but I got fed up of changing them when I used them as headlight bulbs, as during the winter months I typically drive for 2.5-3 hrs per day and they'd usually last for 2-3 months. And when one of a pair went, the other usually went within a matter of days, so it was important to carry spares!

The Nightbreaker Plus bulbs I have in my headlights have lasted 3 years, and i drive a lot at night!!

Just quoting Osram's own data, my own experiences, and experiences of many others. You don't get owt for nowt; the trade-off of a brighter bulb which runs a hotter filament is a shorter lifespan.

Note that the current model is Nightbreaker Unlimited, which supersedes (and I believe is brighter than) the Nightbreaker Plus; I can't find the datasheet of the Plus though, to see if the typical lifespan is any different.

 

If anyone is about to spend more money on these bulbs, and if they are awkward to change, then I thought it might be handy to be armed with some facts.

 

For the record, I think the bulbs are brilliant (pun intended), but do find changing them regularly a bit of a pain. I've found it cheapest to buy online, usually some sellers on Amazon that do good prices.

I had some Hella 100w H1 headlamp bulbs that I ran as main beams in a succession of cars for at least 10 years.  In a rural area you do quite a bit of night driving on main beam, also when acting as chase/management car for rally cars on events in the dark.  Only reason I haven't got them now is I forgot to swap them out when I sold the last car they were fitted to.

Not advisable to be fitted to cars with plastic lens covers though.

Thanks all. Fitted some nightbreakers last night, simple job really. only tricky bit was getting the locating tab lined up. Nearside one went in first time

I gather you have the fog light cornering function enabled. Each to their own but I have mine turned off and daylight running lights enabled. I don't really see the point in the cornering function.

I questioned the effectiveness of the cornering fog light function on my Octavia vRS as the fog lights were small and very low to the ground.

 

When in for service I was given a Yeti to drive, the cornering fogs were brilliant, a marked improvement over what I was used to.

 

I think where you live and the roads you drive on effect peoples perception of their usefulness. I spend quite some time performing slower manoeuvres on dark unlit rural roads with high hedges. In this environment I've found that they are great. 

 

Closer to home in urbanville, they are hardly noticeable.

I questioned the effectiveness of the cornering fog light function on my Octavia vRS as the fog lights were small and very low to the ground.

 

When in for service I was given a Yeti to drive, the cornering fogs were brilliant, a marked improvement over what I was used to.

 

I think where you live and the roads you drive on effect peoples perception of their usefulness. I spend quite some time performing slower manoeuvres on dark unlit rural roads with high hedges. In this environment I've found that they are great. 

 

Closer to home in urbanville, they are hardly noticeable.

Seconded here - never thought they were any use on my Superb, but on the Yeti that followed it (pre FL) they were excellent and genuinely useful especially on unlit roads

 

Now moved to Octavia Elegance, and they're not activated as standard on Elegance spec but given where they are on the car I just don't see the point.