HIR1 High Beam Bulbs - Which Are the Brightest? (1 Viewer)

[gaijin]

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.

 

[dasgeek]

Great post! Thanks for the work you put in to this.

 

[dtt255]

Awesome thx!

 

[dtt255]

BTW what part needed to be trimmed etc?

 

[gaijin]

BTW what part needed to be trimmed etc?

The info is in the links I posted, but here they are by themselves:

http://shnu.us/HIR%20Trimming%20A.htm

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-91565365470012_2243_878180

 

[paflytyer]

Great info! Thanks for doing the legwork!

 

[mot]

That's fantastic!

Ditto on doing the legwork!!

 

[dogdaysindurham]

Thanks for doing this! Glad I went with the Amazon route to get my HIRs. I wonder why the different b/t the 2 Philips bulbs?

 

[dstantdog]

After reading this thread last week I purchased 2x HIR1/9011 phillips from amazon for $21.xx each.

Got them and did a before and after picture below from roughly the same spot. I'm pleased with them. There isn't really more light coverage, but just brighter light. It's nice. Good cheap upgrade, hopefully they last...

Before with stock low beam lights:

After with 9011 low beams:

 

[paflytyer]

Did you purposely use the high beam bulb for the low beam? I know some 80 guys do that. The 9011 is the high beam bulb and the 9012 is the low beam bulb.

 

[LCKID]

i replace all NON-HID lights, fog and main beams, with PIAA on all my cars. they are simply the best i have found, however slightly on the higher-end on price!

 

[dstantdog]

Did you purposely use the high beam bulb for the low beam? I know some 80 guys do that. The 9011 is the high beam bulb and the 9012 is the low beam bulb.

Yes, my mistake. I purchased the H1R2 9012's from Amazon, not the 9011's. Link here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00480N18G/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Some reviews say the bulbs only last 2 or 3 months or have an overall short life span. I picked up 3 to keep a spare + kept the originals so we shall see...

 

[Kandee]

A genuine Philips 9011 lamp has a 400 hour life which is 80 - 100 hours longer than the 9005 lamp you are replacing. The reviews you report of having only 2 -3 months life --PLUS-- the pictures by the author reflect that the AMAZON lamps displayed and discussed in this thread are most likely counterfeit lamps.

The lamps I ordered from Candlepower were shipped free and on the same day I ordered. The lamps came in a white box had Wagner (Federal Mogul) UPC codes on the box (thank you Android QR. I had assumed they would be in retail boxes and my email replies indicated that their Philips Vendor sells the same lamps to both Federal Mogul (Wagner, Napa, Car Quest) and to FORD Motor Company. They also reported that the company has been in business for 45 years and they supply the major warehouse distributors as well as Cat, JD, Yamaha Canada and all the big Motorcycle Retail/catalog companies.

Check them out - They have thousands of lamps and have answered ALL of my questions in both technical and layman's terms. Really nice company to deal with -- free Postal shipping on orders over 25 to boot!