What kind of headlight bulbs do you use?

[TacoRocco]

Hey guys/gals,

Looking at replacing my OEM headlights in my 09 Tacoma.

Living in Northern Canada and traveling long distances in some austere conditions (snow, rain, wildlife on roads) in looking for more out of my lighting than what came with my truck.

What are you guys running and find reliable in terms or replacement bulbs?

 

[wanderer-rrorc]

sylvania xtra-vision...I've ran them in every vehicle I own for the last decade..

great light...durable (4x4 and just plain hours and hours runnin)...and available in a 2pk for right around $20..:sombrero:

 

[alexrex20]

yup Sylvania XtraVision. they have the best light output for the best price. my friends use those SilverStar bulbs that are marginally brighter/bluer but for $50/pr, no thanks. keep in mind, the brighter the light, the shorter the life. but i think the XtraVision last long enough to justify the $20/pr price; compared to the SilverStar at $50/pr that last maybe 1/2 as long as the XtraVision.

 

[Wes Craiglow]

I'm ready for an upgrade, myself. Just bought some PIAA "Intense White 4100K" a couple of weeks ago, and didn't like them. I witnessed zero brightness increase, and that's what I was looking for. (For what it's worth, they were quite white, though.) Besides, I hear that the PIAAs wear out as quickly as the Silverstars. I returned them to Amazon, and am now ready to spend that money on some good headlights...

Subscribed.

 

[Street Wolf]

HID conversion. Only way to go for improvement.

 

[Mr. Leary]

HID conversion. Only way to go for improvement.

I have been thinking about HID myself. I would love to hear from anyone who runs them on their rigs.

BTW, I have the Sylvania bulbs in mine and still feel like they aren't bright enough.

 

[Street Wolf]

I have been thinking about HID myself. I would love to hear from anyone who runs them on their rigs.

BTW, I have the Sylvania bulbs in mine and still feel like they aren't bright enough.

What do you want to hear? I run them. lol

 

[brianjwilson]

The HID's in halogen reflectors are a bad idea. I am tired of being blinded by the glare and light scatter from people running HIDs in reflectors that are not designed for it.
Most people who have HIDs love them (sure they are bright), but everyone else on the road is getting blinded causing unsafe conditions for the rest of the traffic. I don't care if they are aimed lower, they scatter light like crazy.
They are great for off-road lights but I really wish people would stop running them in their head lights.

I run silverstars personally, they are not $50/pair if you buy them from amazon.com. They do not last as long as standard bulbs, it is a trade off.
I have also run nokya yellow fog lights bulbs before and they are nice in the rain/fog, adding some contrast and helping reflect off of the side markers.
If you can't see well enough, running legal head light bulbs, you shouldn't be driving at night in my opinion.

 

[chrismc]

I've been extremely pleased with the Philips Xtreme Power bulbs I upgraded to in my Jeep KJ. After doing quite a bit of research, they looked to be a much better option than the Silverstars or PIAA's, with no gimmicks. They're a bit difficult to track down (I believe they're imported from Germany), but I ordered them from these guys and had super-fast service.

http://store.candlepower.com/phxtpobuhe.html

 

[Street Wolf]

The HID's in halogen reflectors are a bad idea. I am tired of being blinded by the glare and light scatter from people running HIDs in reflectors that are not designed for it.
Most people who have HIDs love them (sure they are bright), but everyone else on the road is getting blinded causing unsafe conditions for the rest of the traffic. I don't care if they are aimed lower, they scatter light like crazy.
They are great for off-road lights but I really wish people would stop running them in their head lights.

I run silverstars personally, they are not $50/pair if you buy them from amazon.com. They do not last as long as standard bulbs, it is a trade off.
I have also run nokya yellow fog lights bulbs before and they are nice in the rain/fog, adding some contrast and helping reflect off of the side markers.
If you can't see well enough, running legal head light bulbs, you shouldn't be driving at night in my opinion.

Blah blah blah blah... you need to learn who to be mad at and direct your anger to that group rather than everyone running a HID conversion.

I have HID's in my car, my Land Rover that sits up higher than most traffic, a friends car, and another friends car, none of which ever get flashed by other motorists in complaint that they are blinding.

The problem is most people are not very smart and have no idea how to properly do even the simplest installs. Which a HID conversion is one of the simplest, therefor most HID converted vehicle you come into contact with are going to blind you. Done right, no problems.

 

[Stan the Man]

Blah blah blah blah... you need to learn who to be mad at and direct your anger to that group rather than everyone running a HID conversion.

I have HID's in my car, my Land Rover that sits up higher than most traffic, a friends car, and another friends car, none of which ever get flashed by other motorists in complaint that they are blinding.

The problem is most people are not very smart and have no idea how to properly do even the simplest installs. Which a HID conversion is one of the simplest, therefor most HID converted vehicle you come into contact with are going to blind you. Done right, no problems.

Says the guy who has them. HID's in halogen housing glare no matter who installs them or how they are installed. You can adjust them all you want, but the pattern will still look like *** because they scatter and they WILL blind everybody on the road.

Go take a look at any factory HID light head on and compare it to ANY aftermarket HID kit. You see the difference? Probably not because you're retina's will be burned. Not to mention installing HID's in cars not offered with them is illegal (at least in CA).

I run Silverstar Ultra's. Bought them from Amazon for ~$25 for the pair. Great light and more than enough for on-road driving. In the dirt, I have my auxiliary lights to show me the way.

 

[brianjwilson]

Says the guy who has them. HID's in halogen housing glare no matter who installs them or how they are installed. You can adjust them all you want, but the pattern will still look like *** because they scatter and they WILL blind everybody on the road.

Exactly. I don't understand why people still try to deny this. No matter how they get installed, if they are going into a HALOGEN assembly they cause a lot more glare and light scatter than a halogen bulb. Some reflectors are not as bad as others, but they always scatter light more than stock. A projector is different as they produce a fine cutoff without light scatter and hot spots.

When I fly at night I can clearly make out HID retrofits even from the air, believe it or not. They scatter a ton of extra light around on trees, fences, and other things that aren't illuminated by the other vehicles.
I love HIDs don't get me wrong. They have there place in projectors, and off road lights, even aircraft lights (this application especially rocks!). But not on the road, in a reflector that isn't designed for them.

 

[Hilldweller]

I've been extremely pleased with the Philips Xtreme Power bulbs I upgraded to in my Jeep KJ. After doing quite a bit of research, they looked to be a much better option than the Silverstars or PIAA's, with no gimmicks. They're a bit difficult to track down (I believe they're imported from Germany), but I ordered them from these guys and had super-fast service.

http://store.candlepower.com/phxtpobuhe.html

Correct answer. Also try suvlights.com

The HID's in halogen reflectors are a bad idea. I am tired of being blinded by the glare and light scatter from people running HIDs in reflectors that are not designed for it.

I agree; it is also illegal to run HIDs this way and carries a $10,000 fine.

Done right, no problems.

Done "right" means that a housing must also be installed during the retrofit that was designed for HID bulbs, their size, hot kernel, etc.

Here's a great forum to browse to learn about vehicular lighting. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=87
As was previously mentioned, Phillips Vision Plus bulbs are great, Osram Silverstars (not the junk Sylvania at Pep Boys), Narva, Hella ---- all good bulbs. You can also optimize your bulbs' output by wiring them directly to your battery and using a relay.

 

[AlexJet]

I have a few solutions for your question.

1. Silvania bulbs - direct drop-in replacement. I used PIAA, they are nice, but with a price tag of 3x of Silverstars, I'd go with SIlverstarts. I had Silverstars for a year and they are nice upgrade to stock lights. Cost is ~$55-60

2. HID. As it was mentioned HID in reflectors will give some glare. The right aproach here is to limit the glare. I used a few kits in my '05 4Runner when I had reflectors there before converting headlights to projectors. One thing to remember is our Canadian specific conditions. Many "cheap" HID kits doesn't work good in harsh Canadian winter. I had numerous problems with ballast and kits overall. I changed 4 ballasts on one kit under warranty. At the end I ended with the Xtreme kit from XenonDepot. This one was working great at any range of the temperature and gave minimum glare, I wasn't flashed for monthes driving with it while before with others I got flashed a few times a night. I was so satisfieed with their quality, then when I upgraded my lights to projectors I got their H11 kit which I'm very happy with. Cost ~$200 on sale

 

[Hilldweller]

Calling Sylvania Silverstars or PIAA "good bulbs" is tantamount to calling a stock Jeep Compass a "good trail rig for the Rubicon"....

Osram makes the real Silverstar bulbs; they are EDOT and worth the money. Phillips also makes a fine product called Visionplus.

Please read this before buying replacement bulbs:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/good/good.html

Please read this before doing an unsafe/illegal HID "upgrade":
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html

This will help you too:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html