# What is the best H7 Halogen bulb?



## dingchavez (Oct 8, 2009)

Or at least some top rated bulbs...Brightest, long-lasting, etc. Give me some ideas please all the bright silverstars i invest in die so quickly.


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## Buddha (Oct 18, 2000)

I have been using these and love em 
http://store.candlepower.com/osraulhiouh7.html


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## jkoll42 (Oct 29, 2010)

Buddha said:


> I have been using these and love em
> http://store.candlepower.com/osraulhiouh7.html


Same here - using for 6 months and they have been great. Same life as stock but significantly brighter


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

dingchavez said:


> Or at least some top rated bulbs...Brightest, long-lasting, etc. Give me some ideas please all the bright silverstars i invest in die so quickly.


You have to decide if you want more light output or long life - you really can't have both.


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## cabzilla (Jan 3, 2000)

jkoll42 said:


> Same here - using for 6 months and they have been great. Same life as stock but significantly brighter


this


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## macc70 (Sep 30, 2007)

dennisgli said:


> You have to decide if you want more light output or long life - you really can't have both.


Exactly Thats why I use Osram Nightbreakers. Installed 2 years ago and still going strong.
There is a new + version available which is supposed to be brighter


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## rajuncajun37 (Apr 25, 2008)

I just got Hella E-codes installed on my car. Running some junk H7's but it's still bright as hell and dog gone SEXY looking. I'm looking at NEW H7's to maximize the performance of these Hella lights.

Here's what I've seen so far:

*NEW Philips X-treme Vision H7*








_Philips Xtreme Vision delivers 100% more light on the road than a standard bulb and maximum brightness. _ :thumbup:





 

This is a 55w bulb which through design gives nearly 100% more light than an OEM bulb. Remember eye sight is a terrible way to measure LIGHT. These are expensive but also safe for any headlight. Low consumption of power and low heat production means you can run bright bulbs without damage to Plastic Housing, Plastic Lense, wiring and no damage to the switch or harness. Expensive but powerful option for H7's. We should consider this bulb.

*NEXT on the LIST*

*Osram Night Breaker PLUS H7*









Another 55w bulb with great design and technology. This is an award winning bulb that is less expensive then the EXTREME VISION bulb. Some people prefer these just from experiences. It's considered a BEST BUY by most vendors. No danger of damaging anything on the car. If you research these bulbs you will see that junk like SLYVAiNA and HELLA and PIAA simply can NOT compare.

*This next bulb is TRIED and TRUE*

*Philips X-Treme Power H7*









This bulb won YEAR's BEST three years in a ROW. IT too is a best buy product and it produces 80% more light over OEM. It is safe and reliable. It produces a ton of clear white light. BUT, it is older than the others listed. STILL, it's a great product. I would simply make my decision between this EXTREME POWER and the Night Breaker over PRICE. Buy the one that cost less. Most drivers feel the Night Breakers look bright but Most test show the X-Treme Power bulbs to technically be brighter. Your choice.

*NEXT to FOLLOW is*

*Philips Rally H7 80W* aka: High Wattage H7 bulbs....offroad use....









_You guys running high wattage bulbs must have added wiring and relays...? Correct? If you run a 60 or 70 or 80 watt bulb on factory wiring and harness you will only get 70% to 80% of the bulbs efficiency. High wattage bulbs on a factory setup will be brighter than OEM but you REALLY need a relay and wiring to the battery to she the full benefit. _

ALSO, their is a possibility of damaging the plastic lenses when you run high powered bulbs in the US headlights with plastic lenses. I'm considering to run 100 / 130 WATT RALLY bulbs in my high beams. Without the relays I'll get 50% of the bulbs true output. SO...I'll probably order the relays. If I run the high wattage bulbs for extended time I could melt the bulb housing. The HELLA E-Codes use H1's instead of H7's. I will use these kick a$$ bulbs mostly for the following:

_Flash to Pass
Give Right of WAY
Get driver's attention
Warn fellow driver's of LEO's
Identify objects in road
Brief stretch of dark highway
*Ask fellow driver's to dim their freak'n brights
Annoy the Hell Outta people with extremely bright bulbs or misaligned head lights. 
Fake HID bulbs suck and annoy me worse than Fart Cans now a days. *_

XENON and Fake HID's suck....:thumbdown:


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

dennisgli said:


> You have to decide if you want more light output or long life - you really can't have both.


OK, I guess you have to choose if you want more light output, long life, or "SEXY looking"?

But I wouldn't call the last one "performance"!


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## rajuncajun37 (Apr 25, 2008)

That fake blue crap don't look good, WAL-MART HID wanna bees don't belong in GERMAN cars. Anybody running the purple or blue tint CHEAP bulbs should park their cars at night.


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

rajuncajun37 said:


> If you run a 60 or 70 or 80 watt bulb on factory wiring and harness you will only get 70% to 80% of the bulbs efficiency.


Just curious - how are you coming up with these numbers?

Most of those bulbs you show are mostly fancy packaging with meaningless claims. Funny that the bulbs I buy just come in plain little cardboard boxes!


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## rajuncajun37 (Apr 25, 2008)

some bulbs say 50/60 watts
Some say 55 watts others say like 80 watts
If you have a 55/65 watt bulb then it produces probably 1100 LUMEN with 55 watts and 1300 or 1400 LUMEN with the full 65 watts.

Those 75 and 80 watt bulbs can and should produce about 1600 LUMEN and a 100 watt bulb should reach 1800.

Check it out:

A unit of light flow or luminous flux. The lumen rating of a lamp is a measure of the total light output of the lamp. The most common measurement of light output 
(or luminous flux) is the lumen. Light sources are labeled with an output rating in lumens. For example, a R30 65-Watt indoor flood lamp may have a rating of 750 lumens. Similarly, a light fixture's output can be expressed in lumens. 
As lamps and fixtures age and become dirty, their lumen output decreases 
(i.e., lumen depreciation occurs). Most lamp ratings are based on initial lumens (i.e., when lamp is new).

80 watt bulbs with 55 watts of power will produce less LUMEN or less light. Just divide 55 watts by how ever many the bulb is rated for. That would yield a percentage. Multiply the percentage by the max LUMEN rating. 55 w on a 65 watt bulb is probably about 14 % or so.


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## Wolfpack Noob (Aug 25, 2010)

ECS was featuring these yellow low beams but said they were super bright, you can see better, etc...

It makes me curious cause I do wear a yellow lensed sunglasses at night when I am riding my harley

Anyone doing this?


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## rajuncajun37 (Apr 25, 2008)

Yellow tint blocks the BLUE spectrum, Probably enhances the other colors like WHITE, RED and of course YELLOW. Block the blue so you can see better in rain and snow. Night clarity is tough to determine. Just better in fowl weather for sure.


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## Wolfpack Noob (Aug 25, 2010)

rajuncajun37 said:


> Yellow tint blocks the BLUE spectrum, Probably enhances the other colors like WHITE, RED and of course YELLOW. Block the blue so you can see better in rain and snow. Night clarity is tough to determine. Just better in fowl weather for sure.


Thank you, good to know :thumbup:


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## Gtiminar (Jan 6, 2009)

H7's for my car.
I have had the Sylvania Silverstart Ultras, they were terrible no projection at all.
Then i switch to Orsam Silverstarts and they were good.
The last bulbs i tried were Piaa's. Xtreme wht plus.
The Piaa's by far were the brightest whitest and projected the furthest.
However they were $80 a pair on ebay.

After 3 months all the bulbs listed above lost there brightness and had to replace. i was buying 2 sets a year and i decided to switch to a Depo Hid projector headlights. I found some on ebay there were plug and play. All the wiring, harnesses and bulbs were done by the seller. It is the only plug and play Hid kit on the market under $300. Very high quality to. It took me longer to take off the bumper and grill and put back together then it did to install the Hid headlights. Yes i said plug and play HID's for under $300


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

What model VWs does DEPO make HID headlights for???


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## Larsmeister32 (Aug 11, 2010)

Wolfpack Noob said:


> ECS was featuring these yellow low beams but said they were super bright, you can see better, etc...
> 
> It makes me curious cause I do wear a yellow lensed sunglasses at night when I am riding my harley
> 
> Anyone doing this?


Yeah ECS has a lot of the Ziza bulbs anyone have any experience with these? I am thinking about upgrading to them, pretty cheap at 25 bucks a pair.


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## Gtiminar (Jan 6, 2009)

im know for sure Depo/Helix makes projector headlights black outs and chrome for MK4 and MK5 Golf GTI's. Im not sure about other models. However they are not HID. They have the projector euro beam lens but they come with Halogen H7 bulbs. They are ready for a HID kit.
I found a ebay seller that take the Depo headlights and guts them and install the entire HID KIT.
Relay, fuse, ballist, xenon bulbs of your choice and he even gets all the necessary harnesses. 
It is a true plug and play Hid Headlight. simply take out your old and plug in the new. all for under $300. They even have Angel eyes Halo rings for the daytime driving lights. Both in halogen and LED Halo Rings your choice. (BMW) trademark.
IF you want i can give you the sellers ebay name and you can look and see what you want.
Honestley for $300 its a great HID kit.
Yes the OE R32 Hid headlights have the leveling motors but no way im paying $2000 for headlights.


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## Gtiminar (Jan 6, 2009)

by the way powerbulbs is in Europe and the exchange rate is more expensive.
If its says $25 its more like $33 american. 
Watch out for cheap bulbs that say they are really bright. They are cheap because the bulbs are over 55 watts sometimes 80 watts. It will melt the wiring and or harness.

I highly recomend the Piaa extreme whts. $80 Only problem is they dim and burn out really fast (Just like the Osram and Silverstars and any other halogen bulb).


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## dingchavez (Oct 8, 2009)

Damn didn't know so many people commented on this thread. I wound up getting some Philips Xtreme H7's for a good price, but in short they suck. The silverstars were definitely brighter. I think Ill get OSRAMs in the near future.


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## LagoCaddy (Nov 11, 2011)

I wouldn't waste your money on ziza's, I just bought a set last week and after 2 days one burnt out. I also checked my low beam on the the other side and the bulb was starting to look like the glass was melting. :what: They're cheap quality and aren't very bright. I'm thinking about getting Osram's now after dealing with this bull****.


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