[Closed] I want some decent headlight bulbs

Osram Night Breaker seemed to get lots of recommendations when I was looking. EDIT - note of caution, there are plenty of super bright bulbs but many of them are not legal for use on the road so worth checking that before you potentially spend an age trying to bend your arm in 6 places to fit the damned things (your car may differ!)

Ah how I miss the illegal 100 watters I used to have in my headlights, Oscar long range and fogs when I was young and daft. Great visibility, didn't stop me rolling the bloody thing in the middle of the night!

Osram night breakers.
I used them in my Subaru legacy, H7 bulbs.
They transformed the lights from ‘sort of ok’ to ‘definitely good enough’
Mine were 65w dipped, i have it on good authority that any more will melt the subaru headlights.
Totally illegal, but passed 3 mot’s, i did pay attention to making certain they were aimed correctly though.
Beware fakes on ebay, genuine night breakers will be c£30.
They’re worth it.
Find a good mazda forum, you won’t be the first to think the headlights are poor, and someone will tell you which bulbs are an actual upgrade.

Osram Nightbreaker are very good, Philips (Xtreme vision?) also.

Buy a decent brand, not just the ones with the biggest numbers.

Subject change but I came across a right bloody asshat last night with his (or hers, I couldn't see a bloody thing) Defender complete with one of those stupid roof-mounted LED bars that they took ages to switch off. This was in a street-lit residential area too - absolutely no need FFS.

+1 for Philips x-tremendous Vision. They have made a significant difference to my partner’s Polo’s lights and are legal.

@slowoldman
Yeah i used to have 100watt dipped in my old volvo 440, aimed slightly lower than normal, to avoid dazzling.
I never got flashed, and I hardly ever needed full beam either.
Literally brilliant.

Wiring loom on the T5. If they are the same as T4’s the loom makes a huge difference to poor headlights as they are last on the circuit I think.

I never got flashed, and I hardly ever needed full beam either.

Ah now once I was driving along the road through Clocaenog forest and a car came around a bend with full beams on. I gave him a friendly dab on the full beams - thus illuminating a police car.

Sure enough 5 minutes later he was up behind me blue lights flashing. "Dip switch not working boyo?" he said. "Mine's fine", I replied, "How's yours?"

A quick check of the tax disc and away he went. I nearly went off later on the Crafnant road. As I said earlier - young and daft.

Nothing will make T5 headlights bright. I had Osram Nightbreakers in mine and the light was slightly whiter but they were still useless on a dark B road.

I believe you can buy an uprated headlight loom which delivers more juice to the bulbs and might make a bigger difference but I never tried one.

Already mentioned, but another recommendation for the Osram Nightbreakers. The brightest halogen bulb I've used.

On the not-for-road-use side, I've heard that the Philips Ultinon Pro9000 LEDs are very good in projector-style headlights.

T5 headlights: I swapped my Transporter headlight units for the twin lens Caravelle headlights. Didn't bother swapping the loom but there was a huge improvement in light output combined with Nightbreaker bulbs.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/product-group-tests/76760/best-car-headlight-bulbs-2021

I have bought some of the twenty20 bulbs based on this review. Hopefully they will come today and I can try them over the weekend.

I think I fitted philips 'G-force' or something like that. It's definitely brighter than standard, but it's still feeble compared to modern leds.

Nothing will make T5 headlights bright. I had Osram Nightbreakers in mine and the light was slightly whiter but they were still useless on a dark B road.

I believe you can buy an uprated headlight loom which delivers more juice to the bulbs and might make a bigger difference but I never tried one.

Hmm, yeah, I was vaguely aware of this issue with T5s. I might have a look at the loom stuff then.

Nothing will make T5 headlights bright.

A V70 will.

Check the lifetime hours before buying. I saw some of the new Nightbreakers only have 150h estimated lifetime.

I have the Philips RacingVision GT200's in my Hyundai i40 - better than anything else I've put in.
Had the Night Breakers previously but they didn't last very long.

I saw some of the new Nightbreakers only have 150h estimated lifetime.

Have you missed a '0' off the end of that figure, because that seems unfeasibly short lived. In general you're correct about them not lasting as long.

My van takes H15, the shitty standard ones from Halfords are about £40/pair.

Its worth checking the voltage at the light, if its low fitting decent wiring and relays to get full voltage at the lights can make a difference (new feeds fused obviously).

Check the reflector is ok, also the condition of the glass (or plastic).

Pick your poison of what "upgraded" bulb you want, they will normally have a shorter life and be more fragile than a standard bulb.

A V70 will.

My V70 (proper one made from right angles) had piss poor lights so ran off road bulbs in it, nothing melted.

think i settled on phillips something or other on the volvo as cheaper/OEM bulbs would pop too often. The phllips ones didn't ever break and had good brightness without being silly and hence I forget what model they were

tthew

Have you missed a ‘0’ off the end of that figure, because that seems unfeasibly short lived.

Nope! The datasheet from the new Night Breaker :

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(okay so it'll likely be between B3 and TC but still, the warranty is only 6 months)

Blimey, that's pretty useless in a vehicle with auto lights, they tend to illuminate when it's merely dull, not actually dark!

If you think the Mazda lights are poor- don't ever drive a Zafira tourer at night! Absolutely awful lights

If you think the Mazda lights are poor- don’t ever drive a Zafira tourer at night! Absolutely awful lights

Its a Vauxhall issue generally - Vectras were the same. Non-xenon/led insignisas etc as well. I cannot understand how any manufacturer post 2010 ever put anything other than xenon/leds in anyway. the tech has been around for a long time time now and the cost is not going to make the overall cost per unit of the vehicle prohibitive
bloody annoying

If you think the Mazda lights are poor- don’t ever drive a Zafira tourer at night! Absolutely awful lights

To be fair, that Mazda's aren't terrible, but £20ish on some decent bulbs can't hurt. And, what, nine(?) years after we bought it from you it refuses to die, it's chuffing great that car

The T5's are shocking mind, looks like I can get a loom for £30 so I might give that a go.

fazzini

I cannot understand how any manufacturer post 2010 ever put anything other than xenon/leds in anyway. the tech has been around for a long time time now and the cost is not going to make the overall cost per unit of the vehicle prohibitive
bloody annoying

Halogens can be okay in a well designed light. I had a mk7 Fiesta and a mk2 Octavia both with halogens and projector lenses and they were pretty decent. Cheap to replace the bulbs as well.

The current non=projector halogens on my 2019 focus however are absolute dog shit. How did one of the cheapest fiesta specs get projectors, and one of the most expensive specs of focus get these?
The yellow bulbs look cack against the blueish DRLs as well, which leads me to wonder if they did that on purpose to encourage people to spec the expensive adaptive LEDs.

The problem with OEM LEDs is that when they go pop, often they have to be replaced as a complete unit, which is expensive.

My V70 (proper one made from right angles) had piss poor lights so ran off road bulbs in it, nothing melted.

By my Mk3 they have it nailed. Best lights I have ever used - and they are standard bulbs.

Its a Vauxhall issue generally – Vectras were the same. Non-xenon/led insignisas etc as well. I cannot understand how any manufacturer post 2010 ever put anything other than xenon/leds in anyway. the tech has been around for a long time time now and the cost is not going to make the overall cost per unit of the vehicle prohibitive

the problem is that all vauxhalls of that era us projection lights. I had a 2006 Signum (vectra) with them, and now a zafira tourer. The signum came with halogen bulbs, the zafira had HIDs. Projectors cut something like 30% of available light from a bulb. For HIDs this is fine, plenty of light around, for halogen bulbs its terrible. I retrofitted HIDs to the signum (no annoyance to other users as its projector casing), and it was great. Only have to take the front of the car apart to fit new bulbs once every 6 years as well (stupid design)

they fit halogens to bottom spec cars so that the 'posher' specs have an upgrade.

so for the zafira tourer user - put HIDs in, and it'll be fine.

the problem is that all vauxhalls of that era us projection lights. I had a 2006 Signum (vectra) with them, and now a zafira tourer. The signum came with halogen bulbs, the zafira had HIDs. Projectors cut something like 30% of available light from a bulb. For HIDs this is fine, plenty of light around, for halogen bulbs its terrible. I retrofitted HIDs to the signum (no annoyance to other users as its projector casing), and it was great.

so for the zafira tourer user – put HIDs in, and it’ll be fine.

Ha, well fair do's, that's my theory on why my old cars lights were better soundly dismissed!

Check the lifetime hours before buying. I saw some of the new Nightbreakers only have 150h estimated lifetime.

Yeah they are shit, new or old. As said above of your car has auto lights on then they don't last long at all.

The T5’s are shocking mind, looks like I can get a loom for £30 so I might give that a go.

If you're going to do that, be aware that exposed relays tend to corrode and fail over time, also you want a loom that ideally has a separate relay for each dip beam plus one for the high beams, so if you lose a relay you still have lighting, which is useful.

Uprated relays are great on older VW stuff like Mk2 Golfs and Corrados - done both - but I was under the impression that more recent VWs are better. The basic level headlights on the T5, the H4 ones, are just a poor design I think. I actually stuck some (illegal) Philips Ultinon Extreme, I think, LEDs in ours as a quick experiment and they were still terrible. The same bulbs in a Mk2 Golf are fantastic, bright and with an excellent cut-off, so go figure. The classic solution is an aftermarket Caravelle headlamp unit, the standard T5 headlights are just not very good. It's like trying to upgrade a bike with a terrible frame with decent wheels.

so for the zafira tourer user – put HIDs in, and it’ll be fine.

MrsBeanZ one is a 2016 model. I'll have a Google

And, what, nine(?) years after we bought it from you it refuses to die, it’s chuffing great that car

9 years !!! Was it really that long ago.
We did the loom and Phillips bulbs upgrade on our T5 camper- definitely worth the money.

I’ve used various versions of Philips and Osram in various vehicles. Ring Xenon Max seem the best balance between brightness and lifespan. They are better than the standard T6 bulbs mine had but still  it good enough. I ended up changing the whole headlamp units

the problem is that all vauxhalls of that era us projection lights. I had a 2006 Signum (vectra) with them, and now a zafira tourer. The signum came with halogen bulbs,

Well I've since moved on to a 2015 VW passat estate and the headlights on that are about as much use at illuminating the road at night, or in wet weather, as striking a match in a hurricane. No wonder the led upgrades at new were c £1200. Bastards.

We did the loom and Phillips bulbs upgrade on our T5 camper- definitely worth the money.

Did the loom really help? As per my post above, I think the headlights are just a poor design when it comes to turning bulb output into useable light even with really, really bright bulbs installed. Bear in mind too that when people switch to new, uprated bulbs, there's often a double whammy of simply getting rid of old, tired, low quality bulbs. A bit like the thing where you change forks from one that's old and neglected to a brand new fork that's better anyway, but feels better still because your old one was so tired.

I guess the loom is worth a go, but some of the aftermarket ones are quite cheaply put together with non-sealed crimp connections and unprotected fuses / relays.

I don't have a problem with my old school standard incandescent bulbs not giving me enough light to see at night. What I do have a problem with is being constantly dazzled by every prick with super bright white headlights. So this thread is a red rag to me.

The trouble is it's now an arms race which those of us with normal headlights are losing. I find night driving increasingly stressful/difficult and I never used to have a problem at all.

Not sure how to upgrade mine without being a dick about it.

@uniqueusername - those are the people who put hid bulbs in halogen casings.

@grum- I know what you mean but I think it’s the same issue as above, the upgrade bulbs are just more focused in one spot rather than being brighter.

@IHN - have you tried raining the lights using the adjustment screw 1/4 turn at a time. You can set the drivers side a bit higher as this aims at the hedge. If you are careful you won’t dazzle anyone. They often come from the factory adjusted low and dealers often don’t bother with any pre sale checks to save money, then do them if a customer comes back to complain about an issue.

The trouble is it’s now an arms race which those of us with normal headlights are losing. I find night driving increasingly stressful/difficult and I never used to have a problem at all.

This ^

Ah yes T5 headlights. A direct connection to an anti-light source somewhere in Hannover. When I first drove ours at night I had to stop and check some berk hadn't put a bulb in upside down. There is only one reasonable route to fixing t5 headlights - build your own. It's not that hard and you can get superb results without having to blind oncoming drivers with increasingly high outputs and dubiously legal beam patterns.

I used Morimoto BiLED units as making LEDs mot-compliant is far easier than HID. They're proper shielded, biased cut-off projectors with a solenoid shutter for dip-main activation.

While I was in there I cranked the main beam projector adjuster down about 4 clicks. For some reason from the factory its set up as an anti-aircraft device.

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What I do have a problem with is being constantly dazzled by every prick with super bright white headlights. So this thread is a red rag to me.

This isn't a thread about blinding people with super bright headlights, it's someone asking how they can legally see better at night using a legal headlight bulb upgrade.

I don't think it is just people putting in after market illegal bulbs though, it's new cars with bright white lights. I think the white, more of the light spectrum, lights are half the issue. I used to think my eyes were being sensitive, now I wonder if it's the opposite and half of MY issue is my job having trained my eyes not to react to staring into light. My job for the last 18 years has me spending all day staring into a light source (monitor) in generally dim or even dark rooms.

I know what you mean about white lights, more dazzling as our eyes are designed to work in a yellow hued light. I seem to remember the French chose yellow lights initially as this was found to be the best colour for low light.

Mini lights seem to cause me the most issues.

I also don’t think legislation has not kept up with headlight technology so as long as they pass the basic test they are ‘fine’

I used to use night breakers or extreme vision and stock up in the summer when on offer. I would get 6-18 months out of them. They made a difference in reflector units but projectors were still awful.

My apologies to @IHN for the unnecessary derail. I hope the on topic info is shining through.
My wife groaned when she asked what I was posting about. When I explained that motorway driving and feeling trapped in a lane because I can't tell if the dazzly lights are safely far enough behind was my biggest issue with it. She suggested maybe I need to get an eye test and mention this to see if there is anything that can be done. So in the new year i will.
Hope the bulb swap goes well.

Whatever is in my VW’s lights are what you want… cos I seem to be the only **** on the road who doesn’t need full beam on as soon as it gets dark!

I've put Osram in just about everything, nightbreakers are excellent... But that 150 hours mentioned up there would be a dealbreaker, that's **** all use.

It's a bit more effort to direct wire them but definitely can be worth it in underperforming lights.

OSRAM LEDriving. Obviously illegal for road use as they lack the CE mark.

But:
Not stupid bright, comparable to night breakers.
Will pass an MOT* even though they shouldn't.
Gives a very sharp beam cut off, almost too sharp, you can see the individual reflector elements in the pattern, which you couldn't with the halogens.
Will outlive the car.
No need to add a relay kit/uprated wiring, they draw about 1 amp each (Vs 5A for night breakers).

The downside, they're not cheap*. But if the comparison is night breakers then they pay for themselves in a couple of winters, especially on rough roads or speed bumps.

*doubly so if you have separate dip/main bulbs. But then you could put night breakers in the main beam where they'll last longest and get used least.

*on my car you can only see the bulb if you lie on the floor and look up at the lens from underneath, the engine bay / wheel arch side is behind a shroud. So in theory they could see it without dismantling it.

No need to add a relay kit/uprated wiring, they draw about 1 amp each (Vs 5A for night breakers)

Won't that difference cause a warning light on most modern(ish) cars?