The best Headlight bulb on the market today. (1 Viewer)

Sorry for the slow response. away on biz. Mr. Stern did not advise against. But when I mentioned the heat issue, he gave me a shoulder shrug. Best friend is a 20+ yr Benz Guild tech, tells me simple lack of heat dissipation on my E320 4matic wagon fogs. (which our 100 replaced)

finished one side of 9011/9012's

So just finished one side with 9011\9012 from Home Despot. No question the low is brighter\whiter\crisper. Could feel the heat from the high easily just holding my hand a foot or so from the beam. Finishing cutting the other side and will go out and take some comparison pics on the garage door. Probably wait till tomm night to finish though since I have to take my nice Slee battery tray and 400lbs dang battery out to get the driver side bulbs in.

You know you can cut those notches with a pair of side cutters? Lol. Nice glass of cab though!

I posted the following in this thread (https://forum.ih8mud.com/200-series-cruisers/701565-hir1-high-beam-bulbs-brightest.html#post8328212) earlier this year about high beams in my 200:

**********

I like bright high beam lights.

The HID low beams on the LC200 are great, but the 9005 high beams I received as stock were crying out for some improvement.

Shortly after purchasing the truck new last September, I installed a pair of Sylvania Silverstar Ultra 9005 bulbs which were approx. US$35.00/pair from Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-SilverStar-Ultra-Halogen-Headlight/dp/B000M5W25E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361133590&sr=8-1&keywords=Sylvania+silverstar+ultra+9005

The Sylvania bulbs were noticeably much brighter than stock, so I was pretty happy ... until I started to read about HIR1/9011 bulbs from Philips which are supposed to be even brighter with no harmful draw on the stock electrical system.

Search on here for "HIR1" and you will find all the pertinent discussions about these bulbs and how to trim them to fit where the 9005 bulbs used to live.

But which HIR1 bulbs are the brightest? Are there fakes on the market? Are they all the same? Are they really brighter?

In an attempt to answer these questions, I purchased two types of HIR1/9011 bulbs currently on the market.

The first were the Philips HIR1/9011 bulb being sold by Amazon.com for approx. US$35.00/pair: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00480J5CW/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Here's what the base of that bulb looks like:



The second were the HIR1 bulbs currently being sold by HIRHeadlights.com for approx. US$57.00/pair: http://hirheadlights.com/



Here's what the base of that bulb looks like:



I trimmed both bulbs so they would fit. This was very easy and both fit perfectly in the 9005 socket after trimming. No modification to the headlamp socket was required.

I have a digital light meter:



So I decided the easiest procedure would be to measure the light output of the Sylvania bulbs already installed, then install and measure the light output of each of the HIR1 bulbs.

In order to be as consistent as possible when measuring, I measured all bulbs with the engine idling, headlights on High, holding the Light Meter's sensor in exactly the same place directly over the high beam center marking dimple in the headlight housing - circled in red in this photo:



I was surprised by the results, let's see if you are.

Sylvania Silverstar Ultra 9005 bulb:

168,800 LUX

HIR1 bulb from HIRHeadlights.com:

181,300 LUX (7.4% brighter than the Sylvania bulb)

HIR1/9011 bulb from Amazon.com:

>200,000 LUX (>18.5% brighter than the Sylvania bulb)

The upper measurement limit of my Light Meter is 200,000 LUX.

Color temperature of all three bulbs was subjectively the same - very slight yellow/brown tint compared to the HID low beam light.

Conclusion:

Don't waste your money on the HIR1 bulbs from HIRHeadlights .com

The HIR1/9011 bulbs from Amazon.com appear to be a great value at approximately the same price as the Silverstar Ultra bulbs with significantly higher light output. They are what I will put in my truck.

I did not purchase the HIR1 bulbs offered by Candlepower.com for US$52.00/pair: http://store.candlepower.com/9011.html My suspicion is, however, that they are also overpriced.

I hope you find this evaluation helpful.

Please let me know if you have any questions/comments.

**********

May be some helpful info.

Thanks for posting the data, that's good stuff.

It does appear that the candlepower.com bulbs may be different. The description says "3rd Generation". Just marketing? For that matter, maybe the HomeDepot/Amazon bulbs are 3rd Gen too.

And it looks like hirheadlights.com now just points to candlepower.com for purchases.

gaijin said:

I posted the following in this thread (https://forum.ih8mud.com/200-series-cruisers/701565-hir1-high-beam-bulbs-brightest.html#post8328212) earlier this year about high beams in my 200:

**********

I like bright high beam lights.

The HID low beams on the LC200 are great, but the 9005 high beams I received as stock were crying out for some improvement.

Shortly after purchasing the truck new last September, I installed a pair of Sylvania Silverstar Ultra 9005 bulbs which were approx. US$35.00/pair from Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-SilverStar-Ultra-Halogen-Headlight/dp/B000M5W25E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361133590&sr=8-1&keywords=Sylvania+silverstar+ultra+9005

The Sylvania bulbs were noticeably much brighter than stock, so I was pretty happy ... until I started to read about HIR1/9011 bulbs from Philips which are supposed to be even brighter with no harmful draw on the stock electrical system.

Search on here for "HIR1" and you will find all the pertinent discussions about these bulbs and how to trim them to fit where the 9005 bulbs used to live.

But which HIR1 bulbs are the brightest? Are there fakes on the market? Are they all the same? Are they really brighter?

In an attempt to answer these questions, I purchased two types of HIR1/9011 bulbs currently on the market.

The first were the Philips HIR1/9011 bulb being sold by Amazon.com for approx. US$35.00/pair: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00480J5CW/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here's what the base of that bulb looks like:

The second were the HIR1 bulbs currently being sold by HIRHeadlights.com for approx. US$57.00/pair: http://hirheadlights.com/

Here's what the base of that bulb looks like:

I trimmed both bulbs so they would fit. This was very easy and both fit perfectly in the 9005 socket after trimming. No modification to the headlamp socket was required.

I have a digital light meter:

So I decided the easiest procedure would be to measure the light output of the Sylvania bulbs already installed, then install and measure the light output of each of the HIR1 bulbs.

In order to be as consistent as possible when measuring, I measured all bulbs with the engine idling, headlights on High, holding the Light Meter's sensor in exactly the same place directly over the high beam center marking dimple in the headlight housing - circled in red in this photo:

I was surprised by the results, let's see if you are.

Sylvania Silverstar Ultra 9005 bulb:

168,800 LUX

HIR1 bulb from HIRHeadlights.com:

181,300 LUX (7.4% brighter than the Sylvania bulb)

HIR1/9011 bulb from Amazon.com:

>200,000 LUX (>18.5% brighter than the Sylvania bulb)

The upper measurement limit of my Light Meter is 200,000 LUX.

Color temperature of all three bulbs was subjectively the same - very slight yellow/brown tint compared to the HID low beam light.

Conclusion:

Don't waste your money on the HIR1 bulbs from HIRHeadlights .com

The HIR1/9011 bulbs from Amazon.com appear to be a great value at approximately the same price as the Silverstar Ultra bulbs with significantly higher light output. They are what I will put in my truck.

I did not purchase the HIR1 bulbs offered by Candlepower.com for US$52.00/pair: http://store.candlepower.com/9011.html My suspicion is, however, that they are also overpriced.

I hope you find this evaluation helpful.

Please let me know if you have any questions/comments.

**********

May be some helpful info.

Click to expand...

Those following this thread know that I have a huge smile on my face right now. :-D

buddysharp said:

So just finished one side with 9011\9012 from Home Despot. No question the low is brighter\whiter\crisper. Could feel the heat from the high easily just holding my hand a foot or so from the beam. Finishing cutting the other side and will go out and take some comparison pics on the garage door. Probably wait till tomm night to finish though since I have to take my nice Slee battery tray and 400lbs dang battery out to get the driver side bulbs in.

Click to expand...

Illuminating post thanks. Did you compare heat to other side (high, OEM? side)?
Just a thought, it may be easier to just remove headlight housing leaving battery in.

gaijin said:

I posted the following in this thread ^^^^^^^^^
****
***
**
*
^^^^^^^^^
May be some helpful info.

Click to expand...

Thank you gaijin, I'd read these in other threads and was hoping you come to this thread. Good stuff

Excellent point! But the dremel was much more impressive for my kids, who then found a dozen things we needed to cut. Did get chastised by the wife for using power tools while drinking...

I did compare the heat by hand, lacking a proper tool. Marginal difference in heat at 2 feet for either high or low, but the light output to the naked eye was unmistakable for the low beam. Will take pictures tonight and post. And thanks for the tip on the headlight housing; I'll pursue that route tonight BEFORE the wine!

OregonLC said:

T****
It does appear that the candlepower.com bulbs may be different. The description says "3rd Generation". Just marketing? For that matter, maybe the HomeDepot/Amazon bulbs are 3rd Gen too.

And it looks like hirheadlights.com now just points to candlepower.com for purchases.

Click to expand...

From what little info around on 3rd gen or Philips' HIR bulb spec "I'm only guessing here": 1st generation refers to GE first with reflecting IR off internal coating in bulb onto to filament. GE drops out of manufacturing for auto, Toshiba & Philips copy GE design with-- 2nd gen. Toshiba drop out of market, Philips no longer uses reflective IR with internal coating --- 3rd generation.

CP or HD sell same bulb IMHO, anyone else care to speculate or shed some light on these so called 3rd generation 9011 & 9012 HIR's?

I really don't know why people would waste time or money on stock low beam bulbs or replacement 9006's of a different brand for the low beams. The HIR's (9012) flat out blow the OEM bulbs or any other 9006 out of the water. A bulb's lumen output doesn't lie.
Oh and BTW, my 9011's arrived today I'm going to run HIR high beam bulbs in all six bulb housings. To do a before and after photo would mean I have to wait until tonight to take the first set of pics and then get the bulbs in one by one with pics and more pics and taking forever! I hope I can restrain and not just rush home from work and throw them all in ASAP!!! Also, my Iggee synthetic leather seat covers came. Should be a fun weekend.

buddysharp said:

Excellent point! But the dremel was much more impressive for my kids, who then found a dozen things we needed to cut. Did get chastised by the wife for using power tools while drinking...

Click to expand...

To be honest is wine really considered drinking? It what I do to feel sophisticated! I drink beer when I'm drinking! It's still sophisticated bottled beer though!

2001LC said:

From what little info around on 3rd gen or Philips' HIR bulb spec "I'm only guessing here": 1st generation refers to GE first with reflecting IR off internal coating in bulb onto to filament - 1st generation . GE drop out of manufacturing for auto, Toshiba & Philips copy GE -- 2nd gen. Toshiba drop out of market, Philips no longer uses reflective IR with internal coating --- 3rd generation.

CP or HD sell same bulb IMHO, anyone else care to speculate or shed some light on these so called 3rd generation 9011 & 9012 HIR's?

Click to expand...

The quick reading I did said something about the third gen not doing the reflecting thing...of course I read that after buying 4 of them off of Home Depot website. I really don't care about heat, color, or any of that other stuff that some people care about. I care about lumens, that is the measure I will go by on all light sources ever! The more the better! I just hope replacing the bulbs are as easy as they were in any of GM vehicles!

My bulbs shipped today. I will try my hardest to some kind of write up about install with before and after pics. At least the pics will be beneficial to people on the fence.

Actualeyes said:

Doesn't this count most 100 series in? Perhaps it depends on laden vs unladen?

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In the EU, the LC100 is type-approved with a GVW of about 3.3 metric tonnes. That's what counts for the law.

aaronrules said:

To be honest is wine really considered drinking? It what I do to feel sophisticated! I drink beer when I'm drinking! It's still sophisticated bottled beer though!

Click to expand...

To be honest, is a dremel really considered a "power tool?"

gaijin said:

To be honest, is a dremel really considered a "power tool?"

Click to expand...

Depends on how much one has had to drink...

So I was able to install the 9011's in the low and high beam locations last night. Wow, what a difference. I have a couple pictures. The first picture is showing the 9011 in one low beam side and the stock 9005 in the other. The second is the 9011 in both low beam locations and then I forgot to get a pic of the high beams on with the stockI bulb. Sorry. The third pic is the 9011's in all 4 high and low locations. HUGE difference. The numbers recorded by gentleman earlier in the thread don't lie. These babies turn night to day for me.

Elijah said:

So I was able to install the 9011's in the low and high beam locations last night. Wow, what a difference. I have a couple pictures. The first picture is showing the 9011 in one low beam side and the stock 9005 in the other. The second is the 9011 in both low beam locations and then I forgot to get a pic of the high beams on with the stockI bulb. Sorry. The third pic is the 9011's in all 4 high and low locations. HUGE difference. The numbers recorded by gentleman earlier in the thread don't lie. These babies turn night to day for me.

Click to expand...

Wow, wait a minute I've got to get my sun glasses

Very nice, just for reference how many hours on stock 9005?

I didn't know we could get these 100's at a 90 degree. .LOL

I find myself wanting to "like" replies like 2001LC's above...

Elijah, all kidding aside I really do appreciate your posting these pictures, just as I have all your posts. I have a fairly decent LCD monitor to view these pic on, and I must say; all four 9011's on for a total of 260 watts is very bright, ergo the sun glasses remark ^^.

Nice comparison pic of low beams, the PS 9011 65w which is obvious brighter than the DS stock 9006 51w Low Beam. Am I correct stock "9005" low beam is a typo or was this a earlier mod?

Thanks for the pictures, and if I may be so presumptive; I can't wait to get your subjective view while driving at night and the DRL's in the daylight with your new illuminations in the 100 TLC.