Better headlights?

[tezzerh]

Have any of you used Philips H7 X-treme Vision headlight bulbs? I've read good reports on them and wonder if they would improve the less-than-stunning beam on my new Berlingon Multispace XTR. Would fitting them invalidate the warranty? I know my dealer won't fit Xenon bulbs as they have fried the wiring on cars.

[Jed Clampit]

I think you'll find the head light bulb's are H4 the only way to find out is try them they give you a better beam and light output the only thing is the life span of the bulb's but there only about £ 14 so it's up to you

[ntm1275]

The Berlingo uses the H4 type bulb not the H7 that you refer to, but Phillips do a H4 variant anyway
http://www.philips.co.uk/c-p/22107030/x-...b/overview

These particular Phillips bulbs are Halogen not Xenon

If you are thinking about going for Xenon bulbs, please be aware of what is being advertised as there are variants
1. Standard argon and nitrogen filled bulbs with a tungsten filament = Halogen
2. Xenon filled bulbs with a tungsten filament = Halogen
3. Metal-Halide mix with Xenon to start the bulb and tungsten filaments = HID - high intensity discharge

Quick word of warning about using Xenon (HID - high intensity discharge) bulbs
By law, it is illegal to fit HID Xenon bulbs in to a headlight unit that was designed for a Halogen bulb.
It does not stop you doing it though.
You will dazzle oncoming cars because the halogen designed headlight units cannot control the beam pattern of the HID Xenon bulbs and so the light gets scattered everywhere.
I believe MOT stations are instructed to check for this and to fail any cars with HID Xenon bulbs in a Halogen headlight unit.
I have also heard stories of the police booking motorists with this combination of bulb and unit.

HID bulbs are different from Halogen bulbs, so if a bulb claims to be Xenon filled, it is probably still built to the Halogen specifications so may have Xenon gas inside instead of the normal argon and nitrogen mixture. These bulbs are not necessarily any better that other standard 'Halogen' bulbs.
Proper Xenon (HID) bulbs need a ballast unit to create the initial high voltage pulse to start the bulb which is about 2.5 to 6.0kV

To use HID Xenon bulbs, you must change the whole headlight unit to one that is specifically designed to use HID Xenon bulbs and the unit must have headlight cleaning and self levelling
The dip beam must also stay on when the main beam is on because these bulbs are slow to 'light up'

The link below should tell you everything you need to know
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...dlamps.pdf

[3rensho]

When I got my car the first thing I did was change out the headlight bulbs. I use Osram Nite Breaker Plus (H4). They seem to last an average of 18 months in my car. It made a huge difference in what you can see at night.