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I would be willing to put up with such a short bulb life IF the promise of more brightness and longer sight lines at night were in fact true.
The source of the information on Philips' increased brightness is what? At least Sylvania puts the lumens on their web site such that the complete lack of more brightness in their specialty bulbs is there for all the world to see. Philips does not reveal such information on their site that I can find. At this point, I want empirically tested numbers before I believe those folks again. And less than one year of driving on headlights is, for me at least, a bad joke.
CR did a test of aftermarket headlight bulbs in the Jan 2006 issue. For Philips, they tested only the Crystalvision which came out only equal to than OEM bulbs in two of three cars tested, less than OEM on another. Philips advertises that bulb primarily for its wannabe coloration, but Philips also claims that Crystalvision has "significantly increased light output", a puffing claim that did not stand up to empirical testing. The Philips bulbs that I bought last spring claimed increased distance on visibility and were European manufactured. Frankly, my personal impression was that the the brand new Philips Hi Visibility provided less lighted distance than the no name stock bulbs they replaced, but I really cannot test that. Philips claim they shine farther, but Philips also provides no numbers to back it up.
The jury is out on E-code for me too. I put E-code lenses on my Miata a few years ago. Not really a very plus experience either. The cutoff verically is so sharply pronounced on the lefthand side that road signs on the left are not readable on a dark country road as opposed to the city where at least there is auxilliary lighting from street lights and the other ambient light of urbanization. The same for pedestrians on the left side of a dark road. Nothing like being surprised by the sight of a pedestrian lighted only from the waist down, visible only because they were wearing light khaki trousers. And, the broad spread of light sideways appears to diminish the amount sent straight ahead for distance lighting for high speed runs on very dark roads which is the one aspect I value the most. I think my DOT lenses did a better job in that respect on the Miata. Maybe Saab does a better job on its e-codes. After my Miata experience, though, again I would want to see numbers rather just to have something a little different.
posted by 72.227.1...
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