I had 100W rally bulbs for the main beams in my previous Octavia and they were a vast improvement.

*walks off wondering why the **** he hasn't fitted them to the current Octavia*

Just went to my local Halfords for bulbs - amazing deal, got two H7 Super Brilliance [for dipped beam] for £19.99 the pair !! [it is a "buy one, get one free" deal]. If anyone wants main, dipped, and the minor bulbs they will save a bundle.

Just put them in so tonight I'll get to check the improvement - I hope!!

p.s. when I talked about how good a deal it was, the server told me they were currently doing a £25 screwdriver set for free with 5 litres of synthetic oil.

have halfrauds got the philips ones?

have halfrauds got the philips ones?

No

Just went to my local Halfords for bulbs - amazing deal, got two H7 Super Brilliance [for dipped beam] for £19.99 the pair !! [it is a "buy one, get one free" deal]. If anyone wants main, dipped, and the minor bulbs they will save a bundle.

Interested to see how you get on with these. I've just had a look and they are the ones I put in when I wrote the guide. That was on 4th Jan 2007, and one of them failed a couple of weeks ago so it lasted less than 9 months (about 16k miles although obviously not on all the time).

Oh - and I'm not sure but I think that Buy One, Get One Free deal is a permanent offer on those. Still a good price though!

where can i get these philips ones that everyone whisper about

If you are referring to the H1 Philips Vision Plus bulbs on Stu's website then they came from Ebay.

where can i get these philips ones that everyone whisper about

Try Car Bulbs from Power Bulbs - upgrade xenon car bulbs, headlight bulbs, autobulbs and autolamps from Philips, Osram and GE They sell the legal 55W Philips Extreme (80%) bulbs that I have for dipped beam and the 100W Rallye bulbs I have for main beam...

Chrisd

where can i get these philips ones that everyone whisper about

I got mine cheapish off ebay. Can tell they're genuine from the markings and the glass (or quartz in the case of these bulbs) size.

im off to have a butchers

The 100w Bosch H1 that are sold at halfords apparantly work well in the octy 2

Thanks for the replies guys, bulbs now changed leaving headlamp in situ. Currently fitted Osram Silverstars +90% light, so far seem much better, time will tell - got them from Powerbulbs, not the cheapest but excellent service as usual!

Just did my first really dark run with the new Halfords bulbs and found them excellent. Even only with me changing the dipped, the main is better too because the new stronger dipped beam is of course on at the same time.

Anyone using the even better bulbs mentioned will really find it worth the money and effort. Only took 10 minutes a side to change mine.

Are the car electrics happy/safe to run 100w bulbs? i.e. almost double the current draw? especially if you change double up both the dip and main beam? I wouldn't want to melt any of my electrics...

I changed the bulbs in my Focus for H1 and H7 Halfords Super Brilliance and they were a big improvement. I also like the blue-white light from them. There was an AutoExpress test a few months ago that put Silverstars first and Phillips Visionplus a close second. Halfords were a bit average, but at half price I'm not complaining.

Upgrading to 80 or 100w might be nice idea in the country, but it is technically illegal and I doubt dealers will honour warrenties if the electrics fail or the headlamp units melt!

That said if the fuses don't go the electrics should be fine, as they provide over-current protection.

Has anyone upgraded the foglights - I fancy going for 'all weather' type bulbs.

Have a look at Osram Night Breakers - seem new this month and sound the business - I would be interested if anyone has tried them.

Has anyone upgraded the foglights

No, but I did use the extra pair of slide light bulbs that came with the Philips ones to upgrade the map reading lights

Ive got the Osram +90% light bulbs, from Powerbulbs. Seem much better than the Osram +50% I had in my Octy mk1, different headlight design may also be a factor.

Are the car electrics happy/safe to run 100w bulbs? i.e. almost double the current draw? especially if you change double up both the dip and main beam? I wouldn't want to melt any of my electrics...

Also following on from this question, what about the headlight units themselves? Will they melt? surely increased wattage will mean more heat.

I personally wouldn't uprate the dipped beam beyond the manufacturers wattage as they can be on for hours at a time.

The main beam is a different metter as these bulbs are on for limited periods of time.

I had 100 watt rally bulbs for the main beams on my previous Octavia II and it was fine, there was no visible damage to the perspex cover and the fitting itself was fine. The wiring wasn't showing signs of overheating either.

I wasn't too concerned about the extra wattage as the main beams were on for no more than 2 or 3 minutes at a time.

All at your own risk at the end of the day.

If you haven't uprated the fuse value, then the fuse will blow before you melt the cabling...

Perhaps the biggest concern is the additional heat the lamps generate?