Philips' NightGuide

[Legacy777]

Anyone ever use/see these things?

http://www.lighting.philips.com/in_en/c ... ng&lang=da

[vrg3]

Huh. I had not heard of this line of bulbs.

I'll tell you what my thoughts are, having read that page:

The "Safety Zone" thing seems to be the same basic thing that you see in all high-output bulbs. All the new whizbang H4s have slightly different filament geometry from the traditional setups, which places more light where it's more useful.

The "Information Zone" thing seems specious. They claim they provide better road sign visibility by shining bluish light towards the shoulder. We all know that that's actually worse than just shining untinted halogen light. There's no way removing the strongest portion of the spectral output will give you more light to see with, and shorter wavelengths are bad for several reasons. It will make uninformed people think they see better though.

Then again, the light normally shining in the upper right area is generally prone to causing more glare than the rest of the beam anyway, irrespective of its color.

I didn't see any pricing info, but these bulbs sound expensive. And they sound like the kind of thing that might be disproportionately so.

So... I dunno. I'm kind of skeptical, but I'd like to know more about the bulbs. If I had to guess I'd say they're probably overall a little better than a normal bulb but probably not as good as a simple high-performance bulb.

[tris91ricer]

I dunno.. that beam pattern they show (the numbered dealie) looks weird to me. I mean, it makes sense to take light away from oncoming traffic, but to place it all the way off to the side like that also seems sketchy...
I may have to try them if/when i see them on sale at kmart.
I'm actually curious, so i seriously may try them..

[vrg3]

Well, pretty much all good headlights work that way. They shine light away from oncoming traffic and up the off-side shoulder. It's compromise that yields low glare and also good seeing.

These bulbs can't change the beam pattern much while still fitting the specifications for H4 or H7 bulbs.

But these "Zone" terms and the different colors seem to me like more of a marketing gimmick than actual useful improvement.

[Legacy777]

Yeah a buddy in denmark told me about them. He said he'd go through the osram silverstars quite a bit, and recently decided to give these a try. He said they're pretty decent, but are expensive.

[vrg3]

Hmm... if these last much longer than Osram Silverstars, then I would guess they probably have less overall output. Output and lifespan tend to be negatively correlated.

[tris91ricer]

Output and lifespan tend to be negatively correlated.

You and your science terms!
Interpolate this!

uuuhhh.. I have nothing.

high output=small lifespan?

[vrg3]

Yes. All else being equal, high output usually means short lifespan, and vice versa.