H7 bulbs - what to buy?

Voodoomelon

I'm in the market for a new set of H7s.

What do you's recommend as the pick of the bunch? Osram Nightbreakers seem to be the most popular, however I remember recently reading an informed article on spurious claims by all manufacturers, and that there is in fact virtually no difference between any brands.

What i'd love is something that runs slighty higher than the 55w standard, say 60w-65w to keep the temps down, and that is as white and bright as possible. Any thoughts? (I'm not going down the HID upgrade route for now).

Eric Cartman

to be fair i have nightbreaker plus's in the d-max and I can see a difference, the light is definitley whiter , wont know if it was worth the extra cash until they blow though, claim to last longer

Chuck_Norris

Used to use NightBreakers, and found they were definitely whiter than OE H7's. Having said that, I was on the road for a living, and drove with dip's on all the time, and found they didn't last lissing time, roughly 3 months or so.

Apparently, the new NightBreaker Plus jobbies last longer, but I've never used them so can't say anything good or bad.

Ardennes1944

Had night breakers on my last 3 cars...the same pair. They are slightly whiter than stock and a little brighter. Not worth the money you'd pay in a motor factors for them but definitely worth the €17 euros for them on eBay.

Voodoomelon

Hmm, might take a look on eBay so for the best value.

Chuck_Norris

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

Had night breakers on my last 3 cars...the same pair. They are slightly whiter than stock and a little brighter. Not worth the money you'd pay in a motor factors for them but definitely worth the €17 euros for them on eBay.

I used to deal with quite a few factors around the country, and used get them for €15, but that was cos I was special!!!

And from my experience, you were lucky to get that length of time from a set. I've been told from quite a few people that they didn't last long in their cars either.

IIRC Voodoo, John Laverty charges between €18 and €20 for H7 NightBreakers.

Voodoomelon

Cheers for that, will drop into him so.

Chuck_Norris

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Cheers for that, will drop into him so.

I could be wrong. But I do remember John Delaney in Drogheda charged €22 for them. He used to have them sitting on a wee rack on the windowsill of his shop.

bazz26

I had Nightbreakers, they are definately brighter than a standard bulb, ideal if you live in the stix but their lifespan is also shorter than normal bulbs. The first set I had lasted about 6 months, the second set about 9 or 10 months.

I've currently fitted Osram's long life H7s which are guaranteed to last 3 years, good thing too as changing a dipped bulb in my car is a right PITA. They are cheaper than the Nightbreakers too.

Voodoomelon

Did you notice much difference between the long lifes and the Nightbreakers?

Ardennes1944

Tbh voovoo I'd just leapfrog this messing and get a 4300k or 6000k hid kit depending on the look you want. I got a set on eBay for the gf for 53€ from engerland and it is of perfectly good quality

Mc Love

bazz26 wrote: »

I had Nightbreakers, they are definately brighter than a standard bulb, ideal if you live in the stix but their lifespan is also shorter than normal bulbs. The first set I had lasted about 6 months, the second set about 9 or 10 months.

I've currently fitted Osram's long life H7s which are guaranteed to last 3 years, good thing too as changing a dipped bulb in my car is a right PITA. They are cheaper than the Nightbreakers too.

I had the philips xtreme bulbs and found they werent giving out as much light as I had with the bulbs that were previously in the car. Dont know what they were, but I wish I kept them so I could get others like them.

On bazz26's advice - i have tried out the long life one's, slightly better light than the xtreme's but still not as good as the ones that were in the car.

Voodoomelon

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

Tbh voovoo I'd just leapfrog this messing and get a 4300k or 6000k hid kit depending on the look you want. I got a set on eBay for the gf for 53€ from engerland and it is of perfectly good quality

But you can't put HIDs in standard H7 lamps, I don't want to be one of these arses scattering light all over the place.

The only aftermarket kit i'd consider is Umnitza's E38 headlamps as seen here: http://www.umnitza.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=73_1137_141_530_529&products_id=1107

Just can't justify the price at this time of year with shipping, VAT & duty tacked on.

Mc Love wrote: »

I had the philips xtreme bulbs and found they werent giving out as much light as I had with the bulbs that were previously in the car. Dont know what they were, but I wish I kept them so I could get others like them.

I found the exact same thing, no difference with the Philips at all.

Ardennes1944

Sorry I forgot you have reflectors. Well I was never flashed in my old astra with perfectly aligned lights and h7r bulbs. My dad hates those lights and I got him to drive against me a few times and he said they were perfectly acceptable.

Voodoomelon

That's completely fair enough. But there's no way of knowing until you install them, could be a fair bit of time and money wasted.

Also, I'm never putting Chinese eBay shíte in my car again, there nothing but crap on eBay. Had two sets of CCFL angel eyes in and one failed, the other interfered with my PDC. Dumped the lot and paid for the Umnitza kit, so much more professional and fantastic quality.

pheelay

I've read good things about PIAA xtreme white bulbs. Not tried them yet myself tho

Voodoomelon

Chuck_Norris was good enough to point me towards these lads: http://www.hids4u.co.uk/H7-55w-Ultimate-Xenon-HID-Conversion-Kit-H7ULT3.html

They make conversion kits allowing the use of HID systems in a standard H7 housing, very impressive. I may well splurge on one of these.

Chuck_Norris

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Chuck_Norris was good enough to point me towards these lads: http://www.hids4u.co.uk/H7-55w-Ultimate-Xenon-HID-Conversion-Kit-H7ULT3.html

They make conversion kits allowing the use of HID systems in a standard H7 housing, very impressive. I may well splurge on one of these.

Glad I could be of help. As I said in the pm, serious quality kits. And they've a two year warranty. Granted, they're not the cheapest. But, ya gets what ya pays for!!!

ongarite

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Chuck_Norris was good enough to point me towards these lads: http://www.hids4u.co.uk/H7-55w-Ultimate-Xenon-HID-Conversion-Kit-H7ULT3.html

They make conversion kits allowing the use of HID systems in a standard H7 housing, very impressive. I may well splurge on one of these.

Have a look around as there are usually 20-25% discount codes for this website.

Yup, enter discount code STRATHY for 20% off at Checkout.

I'd go for the 35W, 5000K set as its the closest to OEM Xenon light output. Any higher and the light output turns blue which "may" look cool but gives reduction in light output visible by the eye.

EPM

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Chuck_Norris was good enough to point me towards these lads: http://www.hids4u.co.uk/H7-55w-Ultimate-Xenon-HID-Conversion-Kit-H7ULT3.html

They make conversion kits allowing the use of HID systems in a standard H7 housing, very impressive. I may well splurge on one of these.

Do it. There's no going back, the quality of light is fantastic compared to halogens.

Voodoomelon

ongarite wrote: »

Have a look around as there are usually 20-25% discount codes for this website.

Yup, enter discount code STRATHY for 20% off at Checkout.

I'd go for the 35W, 5000K set as its the closest to OEM Xenon light output. Any higher and the light output turns blue which "may" look cool but gives reduction in light output visible by the eye.

Really, I was going to go for the 5000k 55w?

Thanks for the code btw.

Voodoomelon

I ordered the 55w kit, got £35 off with that code, many thanks! It's shipped already, can't wait to see what its like. Will take a before picture tonight and compare.

Chuck_Norris

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I ordered the 55w kit, got £35 off with that code, many thanks! It's shipped already, can't wait to see what its like. Will take a before picture tonight and compare.

Sweet deal. I'll look forward to seeing what you think of the difference. Guarantee you won't be disappointed.

-Corkie-

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Chuck_Norris was good enough to point me towards these lads: http://www.hids4u.co.uk/H7-55w-Ultimate-Xenon-HID-Conversion-Kit-H7ULT3.html

They make conversion kits allowing the use of HID systems in a standard H7 housing, very impressive. I may well splurge on one of these.

Thanks for that lads. As voodoo said the chinese kits on ebay are pure junk....

ongarite

Found another discount code, this time with 25% off, enter "disco3hid" at checkout.

Voodoomelon

HIDs arrived today, great service.



Look forward to getting them installed at the weekend, seems to be very high quality stuff, the inverters weigh about half a kilo each and the manual is well written. They also cover alignment several times which is reassuring.

I have some before pictures, so hopefully the afters are decent.

ongarite

Ordered a set of the 35W 5K H7 ones last week too after finding the 25% off code.
Hope to get mine installed this weekend too.

whowantstwoknow

Just noticed a dip beam (H7) on my ford focus has gone. Seeing that winter is upon us, would these kits be a suitable replacement?

Would the 35W 5K H7 kit suffice? (dont want to blind people). I have read space for fitting can be an issue, any idea how the focus engine bay matches up??

Its obvious I dont have a clue!!

Thanks in advance

W.

ongarite

Installed them today in my BMW E60 with the help of a friend (who did most of the work it must be said).
Straight forward and fairly painless install and they seem fantastic so far.
Will give a full report after my drive home in the dark this evening..

Voodoomelon

Happy days, won't get round to mine until at least Saturday. What made you go for the 35w ones?

Kabutofro

also try Osram cool blue intense H7's, they look pretty cool and claim to give off 20% more light, not as much as Nightbreakers but are cheaper than them and look sweeet, check them out on ebay from 15-18euro

if you have one of them mad complicated cars where you gotta take off the rad to install a bulb, good luck! :P

ongarite

35w seems to be standard so I went for them. The only difference is only in the ballasts?

Voodoomelon

I see. I went for the 55w as thats what the H7 standard is, I hope they don't get too hot.

whowantstwoknow

are these kits for just one side of the car (ie you need 2)? & do they just replace the dip beam?

W.

Ardennes1944

no one kit does both sides. a kit can do dipped or fulls depending on which type you get or your can get a bi-xenon kit which does both

ongarite

Drive home this evening was a pleasure. Crisp white light with great range.


After some more searching I found out that AutoBulbsDirect and HIDS4U are the same company and the first company sells the H7 HID kit for cheaper.

It can be purchased for £92 here

Tropheus

Nightbreaker Plus in my wife's A2 and they are pretty good. We had an aftermarket Xenon kit in the car previously. Ok, the Nightbreakers are not Xenons, but they're not a million miles away. A good upgrade IMO, if a little pricey.