Had a set of the main beam - H7 fitting ones (I call this main others call this driving) and the second bulb went today, lasted 12 months.

I've covered 23k in a year but I shouldn't have to buy bulbs annually

Just my experience.

Just ordered some Osram Night Breakers - 20 sheets with free post on fleaBay, will report back on my findings

never had a problem with the philips ones on the old car - not changed the bulbs yet on "Greedy" only picked him up today. Osram I have heard v good things about.

Change you sig... you need to photoshop him yellow :P

I think that you will find that bulb design is always a compromise between performance & service life & cost. Unfortunately when performance is increased (filament is burnt harder) service life and cost suffer. My first Philips Vision Plus bulbs lasted 2 years, but their replacements seem to have passed that. Having said all that, having bulbs with a shorter service life is okay when the performance is vastly improved, but just keep this in mind when fitting them, ie keep your old bulbs handy!

12 months sounds OK tbh, they say on the box they last only half the time of a standard bulb.

12 months sounds OK tbh, they say on the box they last only half the time of a standard bulb.

Boxes aren't much good for internet purchases though :P

Just ordered some Osram Night Breakers - 20 sheets with free post on fleaBay, will report back on my findings

Lovely lovely white bright bulbs, took pics but crap mobile won't cut it.

These bulbs are really really good (I'm not on commission either )

I would add that I snapped part of the bulb housing while putting the clear back cover onto the lamp rear - duct tape it is then :( It was the drivers side with not a lot of room to play about with.

However my sister in law did pay £15 for a (£1) bulb and (£14) fitting once so I'd rather snap bits for free then pay that out

My Osram Silverstars lasted about 40k/2 years in the Mondeo so I was happy with them and I'm hoping the replacement Philips Xtremes last a similar amount of time. My Philips 100W main beams are still going strong though

I guess one factor in how long they live is how often they're switched on and off?

Chris