Halogen bulbs reviewed

[giantsnation]

Have a look and enjoy! Do high-priced halogen headlight bulbs shine brighter? - Yahoo! Autos

[VictoryRed08]

Interesting article, but one important thing that it doesn't touch on is that the higher priced halogens often burn out much quicker than the standard halogens. I was doing some research a while back, into finding some headlight bulbs that give off "white" light instead of yellow, but found that the majority of these "premium" bulbs burn out within ~12months as opposed to the cheaper OE halogens.

[sciphi]

Headlight harness. Those bulbs are attacking the problem through different design, a headlight harness attacks the problem via MOAR POWER!!!!! More power through a halogen bulb filament = more light.

If somebody is thinking of dropping $50 on bulbs, drop that money on the headlight harness instead. It'll last a lot longer than a year, and will make ANY H13 bulb brighter.

The downside to upgrading the headlights either with special bulbs or a headlight harness is reduced lifespan of the bulbs. I'm doing some testing with regular H13 bulbs on my harness now, and have been fairly impressed with their lifespan and output.

[Bac n Black]

Is it possible that because many cars have DRLs and are on more often that it is atleast a partial cause for the shorter life span on the bulbs?

[giantsnation]

Yes exactly and this is a flaw for the cruze. 1 bulb for drl, lo and hi beam is too much.

[sciphi]

The problem with half-voltage and PWM DRL's is that the bulb doesn't get hot enough to do the halogen cycle, so it ends up depositing enough of the filament onto the glass of the bulb to cloud the bulb. It's great for bulb life, but horrible for seeing things.

Halogen bulbs also dim over time naturally, so periodic replacement is recommended. Say once every 5 years or so. That also keeps the bulbs from blowing at the worst possible time, such as at midnight on a dark, snowy road.

[mcg75]

Take a look at the comments section. It's hard to believe that many people are too dumb to know the difference between a slightly brighter halogen vs the illegal HID bulbs.