After a few threads recently where I saw people saying about replacing their bulbs and having a noticeable difference in output, I thought I would ask a few questions, and some of them are probably stupid, or is it a stupid person asking them?
1) Which bulbs have people fitted? Links would be good, and the more specific you can be the better about brand, model and colour temp.
2) How long do bulbs last? An Osram datasheet gives a couple of different ways of measuring it and quotes 1800h (B3) or 2300h (Tc), but it isn't clear if that is until failure or for the light to drop to a certain proportion of the original output. How old were your old bulbs if you have replaced them?
3) How much of the marketing stuff about being brighter is utter guff? I was looking at Osram bulbs on Amazon (links below), and found NightBreaker Laser Xenarc which claim to be 200% brighter, but the datasheet says 3200lumens, and 20% whiter (4600K). I then found the CoolBlue Intense Xenarc which claim to be 20% more light, but the same 3200 lumens and the colour temp seems to vary depending on what data you look at but somewhere between 5500K and 6000K.
I bought a set of Nightbreakers and the light output is ace, but they were surprisingly yellow for xenons. I ended up returning and swapping them for Cool Blue Intense which are still brighter than standard (and road legal at 6000k).
PS ignore the brightness % numbers on the boxes as they're massively misleading - they compare the Nightbreaker to the "minimum legal standard" whereas the Cool Blue Intense is compared to a "standard xenon bulb".
The difference between the two isn't massive, and the CBI is still noticably brighter and whiter than the OEM Philips ecobulbs.
I've recently replaced the bulbs in my car and have initially trued Lunex on the recommendation of a fellow BMW nerd.
I've fitted a pair of 6000k bulbs which so far seem like an improvement on the crappy Lucas bulbs that were in there. I was all set to pop sone Philips jobbies in but these were £30 so I thought I'd give them a whirl.
My question about how long they last was more about how much my current bulb will have degraded than about the new ones. I expect that the bulbs are the originals, so maybe 10 years old, and any decent new bulb should be functional for long enough that it isn't really any issue, not light cheap halogens that burn out quickly.
One of mine went all pink just before Xmas, had both replaced at Halfords for around £90 including fitting (I couldn't be bothered ).
These were Osram something (I have the boxes in the garage if you need the model), same as those that were already fitted, and they've lasted since 2013 I suspect)
My question about how long they last was more about how much my current bulb will have degraded than about the new ones. I expect that the bulbs are the originals, so maybe 10 years old, and any decent new bulb should be functional for long enough that it isn't really any issue, not light cheap halogens that burn out quickly.
The Philips jobbies were £120 even discounted on Powerbulbs so I figured these were worth a shot. The ones I took out were Lucas ones, so have been replaced at some point.
Osram CBI for me got them on the 135i since Xmas 2019 much better then nightbreakers as there more a yellow tint at around 4300k light where's the CBI are around 5-6k light and whiter too
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