Are Nightbreakers still the bulbs to go for?

Soldato
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I'd go with Philips Extreme's. Ran Vision Plus for 3+ years no problems, then changed to Osrams on the new car which lasted 6 months for one and 8 months for the other. Currently on Philips Extreme's which are better than the Osrams and are still going strong after 2 years.
 
Soldato
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Pfft.
The very least I expect from a man of your intellect is for you to have knocked up your own flux capacitor in your kitchen using nothing more than some parts from the microwave, a casserole dish and some Cillit bang.

I did but the Mrs made me put it all back :D My plans for world domination, thwarted!
 
Soldato
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Nightbreakers are great if you dont do much night driving ! The light output is very good but if used regularly they dont last long.
A set of H4s lasted about 3 months in my focus over the winter ( approx 1 hours driving a day 5 days a week ) and they both blew within a few minutes of each other on the way home.

Wonder if the H4's are more prone to this? Had the H1's in the dipped beam of my Coupe for best part of a year and no problems. Now I've said they are bound to blow, so I think I'll order some spares!
 

mjt

mjt

Soldato
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Wonder if the H4's are more prone to this? Had the H1's in the dipped beam of my Coupe for best part of a year and no problems. Now I've said they are bound to blow, so I think I'll order some spares!

3 months is shocking!

my H7s lasted 6-7 months, on all the time..
maybe nightbreakers weren't such a good choice in hindsight, considering they burn much hotter than normal bulbs..
 
Soldato
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hmph! last time nightbreakers were all the rage and everyone was loving them! I bought some...only a LITTLE difference from my stock VW ones, I guess there's something wrong with my projector lens but I wont be buying nightbreakers again
 
Soldato
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i only have night breakers in my main beam so they are rarely used. hid in the low beam for the win etc. main beam is damn good though
 
Soldato
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Another vote for Philips Extreme. Think I've had mine for at least 18 months now.

I bought Philips Vision Plus when they were the best bulbs available and they gave over 5 years service over 2 cars*.



*...and yes I did take the bulbs out of my old car before scrapping it :o
 
Associate
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Fitted my Philips Extremes today. Cheapest I found was powerbulbs for H7 fitment. There are also 10% discount codes floating around which I used. They came next day with the free shipping. I can't comment on their performance until the morning though.
 
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Soldato
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hmph! last time nightbreakers were all the rage and everyone was loving them! I bought some...only a LITTLE difference from my stock VW ones, I guess there's something wrong with my projector lens but I wont be buying nightbreakers again

As said the main problem with projectors is the very sharp cut-off, beyond which there is virtually no light. Standard reflector type lights scatter quite a bit of light beyond the cut off point. Nightbreakers noticeably brightened the projector headlamps on my Fiat, but only within the rather inadequately sized pool of light that existed before (unsurprisingly) so they are still pretty crap, albeit a good improvement over the standard lamps that made night driving a very stressful experience.
 
Soldato
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As said the main problem with projectors is the very sharp cut-off, beyond which there is virtually no light. Standard reflector type lights scatter quite a bit of light beyond the cut off point. Nightbreakers noticeably brightened the projector headlamps on my Fiat, but only within the rather inadequately sized pool of light that existed before (unsurprisingly) so they are still pretty crap, albeit a good improvement over the standard lamps that made night driving a very stressful experience.

looking at the projectors when on they look yellowy a bit, dont suppose they need polishing or anything?
 
Soldato
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I had Nightbreakers in my car and wouldn't use them again for dipped beam due to the short lifespan they seem to have. I now have Nightbreakers for main beam and Philips Diamond Vision for dipped. The Diamond Visions are great and I've just put a Phillips Crystal Vision in my bike although I havent tested that yet.
 
Soldato
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*bump*

I neeeed some Bulbs OcUK.

Osram Nightbreakers don't get raving reviews on here or the world of google from the searching I've done.

So Its a toss up Between H7 Philips X-treme Power at £20.95 delivered..

or..

Halfords Extreme Brilliance at £24.99 < Currently on BOGOF (two bulbs for £24.99)

Or are there better alternatives out there?

Ta.
 
Soldato
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Philips make a lot of the E marked HID bulbs for OEM fitment so I would like to think their quality passes onto their Non-HID range. Last time I checked they made the only E marked 6500K HID Bulbs.

Age old saying - Buy cheap, buy twice.
 
Soldato
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I use the EB halfords jobbies in the puma, the ones fitted originally verged on being dangerous - the halfords bulbs made an incredible difference so i would highly recommend them.
 
Soldato
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The Nightbreakers in the projectors of my Fiat have now been going for around 17 months, and they are used quite a bit. However, the light output of the dipped beams has significantly reduced, something I've noticed before with high output bulbs as they age. I decided to get some Xtreme vision ones for a change and found that they aren't even available in the UK yet in H1 fitment ( powerbulbs say 10th November...maybe ).

Hmm, tempted to try and get some 4300K HIDs again (last order vanished on the way to me, and the company didn't want to risk sending any more). Out of interest how many people have had failures of aftermarket HID kits?
 
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