How long do your headlight bulbs last?

[Dreamer]

Hello everyone, I haven't been around for a while, but thought I'd drop by with a question for you...
How long do you expect your headlight bulbs to last?... and do 'VisionPlus' fail earlier than the standard BM-fitted variety?

I fitted Phillips H7 VisionPlus a year or so back and my dipped headlight's failed - not a big deal, but I'm just a little suprised. The VisionPlus bulbs advertise 50% brighter... I wondered whether they also run 50% hotter!?

Cheers,
Dreamer

 

[fatbaldbob]

Bulbs

34000 miles and never a bulb blown so far! I do remember a mate who bought vision plus bulbs for his CL1200 only to discover they where the same as already fitted to his bike from new?

 

[Paul Young]

I've just had a run-in with Halfords over their superbright bulbs failing after 3mths in my car. I wouldn't mind, but they're £19.95 each & the response was that "it's luck of the draw & they could last a week or a year", but 3 mths was not considered an issue...

I went to see another local motor factors & told them the story. The lad told me about the Phillips demo he'd seen where the rep lit a bulb & splashed water at it. Unsurprisingly, the bulb blew when water hit the hot glass. He then lit one of their bulbs & did the same trick, with no damage, even when he dipped the bulb into the water. So far, I'm very impressed but they've only been fitted a few weeks. The one's I've fitted were the "80% brighter - racing technology" ones - can't remember exactly what they were called - but were £34.95 for a pair.

HTH,

 

[artman975]

i've had philips bulbs in my 1150gs fo the last 40,000 miles one went about half way through.

 

[Slowdown]

....So far, I'm very impressed but they've only been fitted a few weeks. The one's I've fitted were the "80% brighter - racing technology" ones - can't remember exactly what they were called - but were £34.95 for a pair.

HTH,

Ha! - my '80% brighter' bulb in the dipped beam has blown after 3500 miles.....

 

[Packer]

If upgrade lamps are costing almost £35.00 you might just as well upgrade properly and put HID's on. Plenty of info on the forum and they don't have a filament to fail. You're not talking 50% or 80% brighter but 350% to 500% brighter depending on the rating and no increase in power consumption either.

Colebatch is the man to talk to, I'm pretty sure that he will reasure you that HID's are good for 1,000's of hours.

 

[Dreamer]

I've just had a run-in with Halfords over their superbright bulbs failing after 3mths in my car. I wouldn't mind, but they're £19.95 each & the response was that "it's luck of the draw & they could last a week or a year", but 3 mths was not considered an issue...

Sureley that's a clear case of 'not fit for purpose'... and therefore 'not of merchantable quality'? I would have demanded a full refund *assuming you still had the receipt... that's the usual problem)

 

[jkersh1]

The H4 in my 1100GS has 65,000 miles on it. The low beam, an H7, in my K bike only last about 25,000 miles, or one deer suicide.

 

[Paul Young]

Ha! - my '80% brighter' bulb in the dipped beam has blown after 3500 miles.....

At the moment, that's about a year on my bike but about 2mths in the car

HID's are certainly on my list for next time, but not for the car... Car MOT testers seem much more picky than the guy who does my bike tests.