Best halogen headlamp bulbs?

Bigwheels1111

I’ve used every brand mentioned above over the years.
To be honest I’ve now reverted to Lucas bulbs.
The standard bulbs work great for me.
H7
HB3.

ThisIsWeird

Bigwheels1111 said:

I’ve used every brand mentioned above over the years.
To be honest I’ve now reverted to Lucas bulbs.
The standard bulbs work great for me.
H7
HB3.

You've reverted to standard because the brighter ones just don't last long enough? 

I was really looking for an improvement, as I find the dips just adequate, but not reassuring. Most of my driving is rural, and much of this on dip; I just find having to dip for oncoming cars on twisty country roads leaves me struggling to see beyond a very short distance, partly due to the oncoming lights, so I was hoping that the dipped range could at least be illuminated properly! 

Anyhoo, I've replaced the blown lamp with a standard, but have the Philips on order.

I'll report back when I've had a chance to trial them. 

Mgman1965

Old proverb say,

Candle that burns twice as bright last half as long.

[Deleted User]

I use the GT200's as well, last about a year for me, but have a spare set ready, both failed within an hour of each other, one on the way to work and the other on the way back!

ThisIsWeird

Hmm, they'd better make a significant difference if they only last around a year! The recent lamp 'blow' was the first, and the car is 7 years old.

Bigwheels1111

ThisIsWeird said:

Hmm, they'd better make a significant difference if they only last around a year! The recent lamp 'blow' was the first, and the car is 7 years old.

Same here, 6y 3m old.
No blown bulbs yet.
I’ve got 10 spare H4 Lucas bulbs and 4 Bosch hb3 bulbs.

ThisIsWeird

The annoying thing is that, since I've replaced the blown H7 using a £6 'RAC'-branded lamp kit from B&M Stores, the dipped illumination is actually pretty good. I now realise that something was amiss from before it blew, as the beam patterns from the two headlamps didn't match, and focus was poor. It's now quite 'ok', and I wouldn't have bothered with the 'super' bulbs had I known

Anyhoo, I have them now, so will fit them when the rain stops...

facade

ThisIsWeird said:

The annoying thing is that, since I've replaced the blown H7 using a £6 'RAC'-branded lamp kit from B&M Stores, the dipped illumination is actually pretty good. I now realise that something was amiss from before it blew, as the beam patterns from the two headlamps didn't match, and focus was poor. It's now quite 'ok', and I wouldn't have bothered with the 'super' bulbs had I known

Anyhoo, I have them now, so will fit them when the rain stops...

I had this when I replaced a bulb on my woeful Renault Nissan. Due to poor "design" it is almost impossible to get to the back of the light, and you do it by feel.

On a Proper Olden Days Car the bulb tangs go into slots and you cannot fasten the clip with it wrong. On the Renault Nissan there are like tiny raised pips that the tang goes between. Rotating the bulb til it stops and seemed to slot in meant it was in the wrong place (I think on top of a pip not between them, I couldn't see), and the beam was a splodge about 6 feet in front of the car.

Someone in the owners club tipped me off, and careful refitting sorted it out.

As an aside, it goes through head and tail lamps like an elephant goes through sticky buns, I think it is a combination of the high charging voltage and the atrocious "roads" nowadays.

ThisIsWeird

facade said:

ThisIsWeird said:

The annoying thing is that, since I've replaced the blown H7 using a £6 'RAC'-branded lamp kit from B&M Stores, the dipped illumination is actually pretty good. I now realise that something was amiss from before it blew, as the beam patterns from the two headlamps didn't match, and focus was poor. It's now quite 'ok', and I wouldn't have bothered with the 'super' bulbs had I known

Anyhoo, I have them now, so will fit them when the rain stops...

I had this when I replaced a bulb on my woeful Renault Nissan. Due to poor "design" it is almost impossible to get to the back of the light, and you do it by feel.

On a Proper Olden Days Car the bulb tangs go into slots and you cannot fasten the clip with it wrong. On the Renault Nissan there are like tiny raised pips that the tang goes between. Rotating the bulb til it stops and seemed to slot in meant it was in the wrong place (I think on top of a pip not between them, I couldn't see), and the beam was a splodge about 6 feet in front of the car.

Someone in the owners club tipped me off, and careful refitting sorted it out.

As an aside, it goes through head and tail lamps like an elephant goes through sticky buns, I think it is a combination of the high charging voltage and the atrocious "roads" nowadays.

The Citroen is largely done by feel too, tho' not as bad as the C3 before it.

I don't think it was due to a twisted/not sitting bulb, as that appeared to be correct when I removed it, but when I looked through the clear outer cover to determine where the lamp was located - so I could target it correctly from behind - I did noticed that the front of the bulb was a strange light grey colour. I've chucked the bulb now, but it seemed as tho' the light-blocking coating on the bulb front/tip had deteriorated, and may have been allowing light scatter and not all focused. It was certainly transformed with the replacement.

Access was so tight that I couldn't fully see the wire spring clips that hold the bulb in place, so couldn't work out how they were undone. Even a torch beam struggled to land on target without the torch itself getting completely in the way. I struggled, and even bent the metal holder for the wire clip in my near-blind attempt to undo it (really thin and soft - beware). After googling how the clips undid, I finally managed the job, and it was done a couple of days before Christmas. Guess what Santa brought me as a 'joke' gift? A pair of slip-over, two-fingered 'gloves', with tiny white LED lights mounted just over the first knuckles, operated by a wee podule on their backs - completely tailor-made for this job - they keep your fingers free, but shine a couple of LEDs exactly where your f'tips are. The pressie-giver was taken aback when I burst into tears.