Anyone ever buy these bulbs?

[Panzer_M]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/8500K...34605626QQrdZ1

for 13$ are they worth it. How much are Silver-Stars at the parts store? How do they compare other these ebay thing being a brand I've never heard before and the Silver-stars are Osram-Sylvania(German firm IIRC)?

[Bluebimma]

I personally havent tried the bulbs from ebay, but my friend has tried the yellow ones and theyre not too bad as long as you have nice, clear headlights. The silverstars on the other hand, are pretty nice and give off more visual light, but cost 30$/pair. The ones on ebay are gonna run you about 20$. So for about 10$ cheaper, youd probably be getting the same thing, but not sure about the ebay quality.

[bullmand]

Don't know about the eBay items, but my experience with the Silverstars is that they only last about a year. IMHO they're way too expensive for such a short lifespan. I would suggest the Philips Xtravision. They're moderately priced and holding up well. You might want to read this guy's site for more in-depth info.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...lbs/bulbs.html

[DustenT]

Originally Posted by Panzer_M

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/8500K...34605626QQrdZ1

for 13$ are they worth it. How much are Silver-Stars at the parts store? How do they compare other these ebay thing being a brand I've never heard before and the Silver-stars are Osram-Sylvania(German firm IIRC)?

Stay away from these types of bulbs. Any time you added a colored coating to a bulb you are blocking some light from exiting the bulb. Those bulbs have a blue coating. If you want HID look, pay the $250 for an HID kit and do it the right way. These bulbs can cause serious electrical problems if they drawn more power than what the stock bulbs do (ask me how I know ).

[pnosker]

I have a set of 4300k 55/65 watt bulbs from eBay. They have a light blue tint to them but I think the color is definately better. Even if they are slightly more dim than regular halogens, your eyes can pick up on blue tint better than yellow for an overall better field of vision. I've only had mine for a week so I can't comment on durability. I paid $15 a pair.

[Panzer_M]

didn't want the HID look, just some cheap bulbs for the spare box in case whatever I have in the car crap out.

[Tyler]

If you want cheap bulbs that are brighter than piaa's and the silverstars but regualr sylvania bulbs. My silverstar bulb blew and i couldn't spend that much $$ so i bought the normal bulbs and they are twice as bright as the silverstars for half the price. $20 for the pair. The silverstars are $40 a pair and piaa's are $80. I posted a thread with the picture of the box of the sylvania ones,i'd find that thread nd buy those for the spares.

[Triple_A]

dont think this question needed a new thread: has anyone ever bought a pair of headlamps from Eurolights.com. they look pretty nice from the pics that buyers have supposedly sent them but, they look to be just as strong as the Silverstars and the same set up for the high, low, and fog lights are cheaper, then the same set up with all PIAA products, like $60 less.

[aceyx]

Originally Posted by pnosker

your eyes can pick up on blue tint better than yellow for an overall better field of vision.

You have eyes that defeat the laws of physics then. Cool!

[pnosker]

Human eyes are most responsive to the yellow-green spectrum, which after the blue tint is applied (to my 4300k bulbs at least), is what comes out instead of the predominently yellow spectrum. S cones are most sensitive to blue violet, M cones are sensitive to green, and L cones are sensitive to green-yellow. And V' rods are sensitive to green. With the blue tint applied, the output spectrum is filtered for greenish yellow light for my 4300k at least, and I definately see better with them for the same wattage rating. I'm not sure how physics comes into play here with different non-linear sensitivities to light spectra.

[aceyx]

Blue light scatters easily due to its short wavelength. It is literally difficult to see.

[pnosker]

Yeah, that's true, but your eyes are more sensitive to it since it does not trigger the eye closing reflex as much, which allows the lens to expand for more light to enter. Either way, it produces a more natural spectrum (at least my 4300ks) than my old halogens (Sylvania). I'm not a physicist or anything... but similar to green light, the human eye can pick up blue better than yellow contrast wise. (Which is why green light is used for the "go" light in stop lights as well as in night vision)

[aceyx]

Your pupil dilates in the presence of blue-only light because it can't see (needs more light to process the information), not because it can see it better.

My guess is that your 4300k bulbs are still halogens, just coated with a tint and the light pattern focused to create a 4300k hotspot. There might be a little xenon in there for truth in advertising, but xenon is wicked expensive. Ask anybody with a home theatre projector.


In the end, if you think you can see better, stick with it. As long as they're not blue (remember, blue scatters which equals glare for the rest of us) I don't really care. There's just a lot of marketing BS out there, and it's not my eyes that are getting damaged.

[pnosker]

Yeah, I agree with that. The color of light isn't blue, it's more white. The blue sees to filter out the yellows and create a whiter pattern. The >6000k bulbs are definitely too blue to be of any use. My bulbs are halogens with most likely a few % of xenon, which wouldn't do much good since there's no electrical arc.

As for the projector thing, I'm quite aware. My projector needed a $300 bulb recently. Xenon "look" lamps that are 8000K or so are definitely marketing BS.

[DustenT]

All the blue tint does is BLOCK light from coming out. They aren't any brighter unless they are higher wattage bulbs. If you are running higher wattage bulbs, becareful, they will melt things like wiring and plastic headlight parts.

Without the tint ALL the light comes out. You can't possibly be saying that the light output is actually brighter because some of the color specrum is being blocked. Do you think the manufactures of those bulbs REALLY put any thought into the light output? Or do you think they sell them because they look like HIDs when you look at them?

Not trying to stir up anything, I'm just saying that I've had halogen, coated bulbs and real HID lights. The coated bulbs were by far worse than any of them. One set even melted the headlight switch in one of my cars.