My dip is pretty dim can I buy “better” bulbs?
Surely 55w is 55w?

You can get more light for your 55w though. I’ve got some Philips bulbs in my car that are appreciably brighter than the originals.

edit Just remembered, the ones I have are called X-Treme Vision. Sounds pretty corny, but they’re definitely better, if hardly “extreme”.

55w is the energy it uses, not the amount of light it gives out ( think comparison between incandescent and LED bulbs ).

I have some “performance” Phillips bulbs in my car and they are noticeably better than the generic ones I had before.

Got some sort of Osram (Nightbreaker?) bulbs in the dip and main beam, significantly brighter, while still being 55w.

Philips extreme or night breakers.
I put an upgraded wiring loom on my vw T4 as there’s a considerable voltage drop due to the length of the loom.

I have 65w osram bulbs in my car, they are technically illegal, but as i have them aimed down a bit i dont get flashed.
They’re definitely brighter than the standard 55w bulbs, without being antisocial.
I had them in my previous car too, and the one before that.
In the 90s, i had 80w bulbs in my volvo, I didn’t get flashed in any of these cars.
Headlamp aim matters.
I practically never use main beam, no need.
EDIT: osram nightbreakers.
They were around £20 a pair on ebay.

I’ve used various ‘plus’ bulbs. Osrams were good, the Plus 50% seemed the best balance of brightness v lifespan. Philips didn’t last that long(this was a few years ago they may have improved). Last few sets I’ve bought have been Ring Max (130% I think). Seem the best balance of price, performance and lifespan IMO.

Anyone know if Osram Nightbreaker Laser are significantly better than the Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited bulbs?

Cheers

brighter output bulbs last less long.
If you have sh*tty headlamp housings, brighter bulbs will only help a bit, its the optics that matter most.
white light appears to be brighter, but yellow is supposed to give better visibility. Many ‘brighter’ 55w bulbs are white>blue light, so no real world benefit when it starts raining/fog etc

must do something about mine.
got an osram super bright whiter than white offside one, and an el cheapo nearside yellowy one, so it looks a bit odd.
it passed the test recently like that.
but one of the sidelights seems to have blown the very first time I turned them on after that test (on the side that’s a pita to change bulbs, of course)

Bosch Pure Light is another “normal but better” bulb. Life on them is good and available in Halfords for ease of purchase. Haven’t used anything but these in the last few years for dipped bulbs. They are consistently good and decent life.

I had orsam nightbreaker dips and mains, theyre bright, but bulb life is abysmal. The dips lasted about 8 months then blew within a week of each other.

Mains have lasted longer but obviously get used less.

Not sure theres much point in bright dips, they’re aimed down at the road, so why no need for 200m visibility. The main beams I’d have agian though. The only problem is my dips (halfords heavy duty (long life, not brighter)) are now yellow in comparison.

I’ve litrally just finished replacing Nightbreakers with Nightbreaker Lasers in my van. They are a bit brighter and the hue is a bit bluer. The Normal Nightbreakers have been fine for a couple of years but I thought I’d try the brighter ones as I have a bunch of driving in the dark coming up. Not driven it yet but my first impression is that I wouldn’t pay the premium for the Lasers again.

Not sure theres much point in bright dips, they’re aimed down at the road, so why no need for 200m visibility. The main beams I’d have agian though. The only problem is my dips (halfords heavy duty (long life, not brighter)) are now yellow in comparison.

Other than the fact that dips are going to be your most used light, that will be essential for illuminating the nearside verge and the road ahead at a reasonable distance, so the brighter and ‘cleaner’ the light, the safer it’ll be.
I had to drive a Peugeot 208 down to Bridgwater along the M4/M5 between 6-7am the other day. The top edge of the dip beam extended just a little above the top edge of the bonnet, in fact, when I put my index finger on the top of the wheel, the top of my finger was level with the top of the headlight beam.
On top of this, the light was yellow and pretty weak, making it a particularly difficult drive.
Contrast that with the Vitara I drove along the same route, at the same time, the dip beam was incredible, really white, with a ruler-straight top edge that extended right along the nearside verge, and across in front, making main beam redundant even at motorway speeds.
Both cars were pretty much the same age.

Is it just me that hates over-bright car lights? So many these days are almost blinding.

I would think its poor alignment rather than the brightness.

Could be that they are aiming too low…
I used a different garage once and for some reason they decided to adjust the headlight beam.

Made the car virtually undriveable at night; they’d angled the headlights down so far….
Used a different garage to check and reset the beam height and all was well again. Not been back to the original place again…

Is it just me that hates over-bright car lights? So many these days are almost blinding.

…which I am sure is leading to people to buy even brighter lights for themselves so they can see past/outshine cars coming the opposite way.

Halogen get dimmer with age – so refresh them!

Is it just me that hates over-bright car lights? So many these days are almost blinding.

People switching on their front fog lights really doesnt help with this

I had to drive a Peugeot 208 down to Bridgwater along the M4/M5 between 6-7am the other day. The top edge of the dip beam extended just a little above the top edge of the bonnet, in fact, when I put my index finger on the top of the wheel, the top of my finger was level with the top of the headlight beam.
On top of this, the light was yellow and pretty weak, making it a particularly difficult drive.

That’s surprising in a french car. Every Peugeot and Citroen I’ve had had really bright lights. When the domestic market was restricted to 45W and a yellow lense, they took some time to design proper reflectors.

orsam nightbreaker dips and mains, theyre bright, but bulb life is abysmal.

I had the same thing. A lot brighter than my originals but only lasted about a year. I bought some more at £13.65 a pair though.

Another issue is the availablility if cheap LED bulb retrofit kits. People can easily throw a brighter bulb into a reflector or projector housing and see a brightness increase. Unfortunately reflector housings are not good with LED bulbs for light cast and will result in massive glare. Projector housings are also different between halogen and HID, so throw an LED into a hid projector and the optics are off.
A bulb is not a simply a bulb. Different types create their light at different parts of the bulb and the optics are designed to focus the light where it should be on the bulb in the housing is designed for.

Interested in this as the dipped beam on my honda accord is appealing and I’m sure I put in some phillips things last year.

That’s surprising in a french car. Every Peugeot and Citroen I’ve had had really bright lights

Yeh I just got rid of a Peugeot 307 and the dipped beam was fantastic.

Juts got a new suzuki swift last week and the dipped beam is excellent.

I’m sure you have but it’s worth checking the lights aren’t gunked up with road salt. My low beam lights were virtually invisible at one point on a drive up the M5 at the start of this week.

I also find the Osram Nightbreakers a a bit brighter but don’t last well. Ebay is usually the cheapest. AutoExpress also do an annual bulb-off, although it’s probably advertising pretending to be editorial.

Is it just me that hates over-bright car lights? So many these days are almost blinding

Don’t have this problem in my van, in fact I’m probably part of the problem (Osram nightbreakers all round). have even tweaked the beam so that on dip setting “3” it is set up in the normal position. When I’m out of town/autobahn, need to see, but can’t use full beam I’ll twiddle the wheel to “1” to pull the lights up.

The standard setting in the van is pretty crap and leaves you wondering where the road goes at night (severe lack of reflective paint and cats eyes in Germany)

The GF has a lowered MX5 (as if she needed to be any lower…) and driving through town with a SUV or van with xenon bulbs is unpleasant.

Forgot to add that if you want to see further then adjust the bulbs shop that the setting for when loaded up is normal. Use this setting around town /where it is busy and twiddle the dipped setting to raise the beam when out of town.