Philips Crystalvision H11 Xenon Look Bulbs

[cjackgo]

Greetings All, I am frustrated with the light output of my stock EXT headlights so I have been researching options. The LED's were my first choice then I discovered the fan/nofan controversy and the fan noise/failure that can happen. Then I saw these. Anyone have experience with them or have feedback? Thanks.

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[brienp]

light bulb manufacturers have come up with lots of gimmicks to peddle their wares. They use super cool words like "HD vision" and "crystal vision" and "ultra bright" then tint their products to tint the light emitted from the bulb. But. At the end of the day, what is the voltage, what is the wattage, what is the lumen output of the bulb and what Kelvin does the light simulate? In this particular case, the bulb in question is 12volts, 55 watts. Thats really no different than any other halogen bulb. I can't find the lumen output (the amount of light, example in your home a 50 watt light bulb in your bathroom vs a 100 watt lightbulb), but, its probably fairly close to any other standard bulb. The difference with this particular bulb is that its Kelvin rating is getting close to the color of daylight, which is usually around 6000-6500 kelvin. These bulbs are 4000 kelvin so the light will appear whiter than the "yellowish" light emitted from old incandescent lightbulbs. Something to think about though, as the kelvin rating increases the life of the bulb decreases. My guess is, if you amazon these things and read any reviews you'll hear people talking about how they dont last very long. So the question is, do you want to spend the money on super cool white light that doesnt last as long as the not-so super cool 3600 kelvin light?

 

[xRiCeBoYx]

Not to mention, the blue tint on bulbs like that has a tendency to kill light output a bit.

 

[cjackgo]

light bulb manufacturers have come up with lots of gimmicks to peddle their wares. They use super cool words like "HD vision" and "crystal vision" and "ultra bright" then tint their products to tint the light emitted from the bulb. But. At the end of the day, what is the voltage, what is the wattage, what is the lumen output of the bulb and what Kelvin does the light simulate? In this particular case, the bulb in question is 12volts, 55 watts. Thats really no different than any other halogen bulb. I can't find the lumen output (the amount of light, example in your home a 50 watt light bulb in your bathroom vs a 100 watt lightbulb), but, its probably fairly close to any other standard bulb. The difference with this particular bulb is that its Kelvin rating is getting close to the color of daylight, which is usually around 6000-6500 kelvin. These bulbs are 4000 kelvin so the light will appear whiter than the "yellowish" light emitted from old incandescent lightbulbs. Something to think about though, as the kelvin rating increases the life of the bulb decreases. My guess is, if you amazon these things and read any reviews you'll hear people talking about how they dont last very long. So the question is, do you want to spend the money on super cool white light that doesnt last as long as the not-so super cool 3600 kelvin light?

Thank you (!), finally someone who knows and [obviously] understands the quantification of light bulbs. I have been dissatisfied with the headlights I have, do you have any suggestions for upgrading to LED (with or without fans) to increase night vision? I certainly don't want to blind oncoming drivers but the stock headlights don't get the job done. I learned that the height of the low beams is adjustable but again want to stay legally correct.
I think I may raise my stock low beams a bit to 'see' if that cures the problem but ultimately I am willing to change to LED but want to only do it once. Thanks for any info/experience/resources you can share.

 

[batman900]

Find something with the newer Philips chips such as BPS, Genssi or Hikari. And I don't know about other chips but I've been using 2 fanless philips pairs for a year and a half in Texoma heat without issue.

 

[cjackgo]

Find something with the newer Philips chips such as BPS, Genssi or Hikari. And I don't know about other chips but I've been using 2 fanless philips pairs for a year and a half in Texoma heat without issue.

I read somewhere about ajdusting the low beam angle on our X Gen Civics but I cannot see how to, it that possible and if so, how is that done? Thx.

 

[cjackgo]

I read somewhere about ajdusting the low beam angle on our X Gen Civics but I cannot see how to, it that possible and if so, how is that done? Thx.

NEVERMIND... (Said as Emily LaTella- only old folks will get that!), I found it. Now just have to wait till dark to really tell how far to move it. But I am still going to buy some Genssi LED bulbs to replace. Want to get this and several other things accomplished before June as I am driving from PHX to Denver and on to Omaha and back.
Thanks all for your help, very nice to have this forum.

 

[cubsws2016]

this is one reason i want the touring with the factory leds. i cant stand the factory bulbs.

 

[brienp]

Thank you (!), finally someone who knows and [obviously] understands the quantification of light bulbs. I have been dissatisfied with the headlights I have, do you have any suggestions for upgrading to LED (with or without fans) to increase night vision? I certainly don't want to blind oncoming drivers but the stock headlights don't get the job done. I learned that the height of the low beams is adjustable but again want to stay legally correct.
I think I may raise my stock low beams a bit to 'see' if that cures the problem but ultimately I am willing to change to LED but want to only do it once. Thanks for any info/experience/resources you can share.

I wish I had advice! I have a coupe touring and am also disappointed in the brightness of the lights, they appear too dim to me. The problem I've run into though is that LED lights are relatively new to mass market cars. Sure, they've been around for a few years now in the upper tiers of luxury models; Audi, BMW and Mercedes have had them as fairly expensive upgrades on higher models. But, for cars open to the masses its still a new thing and as such the aftermarket options are terrible. My guess is though, Honda has ushered in a new standard by placing LEDs on Civics, granted its on the higher models so you pay for it, but we're still talking a sub$30K car, anyway, my guess is, the aftermarket will be flooded soon with options as more of these cars get into the hands of the public. At least thats what Im hoping.

Setting all that aside, although I understand lightbulbs--lumens, watts, voltage, kelvin; LEDs are a little more complicated because the energy they draw is substantially less, like orders of magnitude less, than their inefficient incandescent cousins...but headlight manufactures for some reason do not advertise the light output of their headlights like home lightbulbs do. For example, I was in home depot the other day buying lights for my bathroom. I switched over to LEDs and found some 4 watt LEDs that are equal to 100 watt incandescents. That i can understand, when they give the equlivant. Not sure why headlight manufacturers dont do this.

 

[cjackgo]

I wish I had advice! I have a coupe touring and am also disappointed in the brightness of the lights, they appear too dim to me. The problem I've run into though is that LED lights are relatively new to mass market cars. Sure, they've been around for a few years now in the upper tiers of luxury models; Audi, BMW and Mercedes have had them as fairly expensive upgrades on higher models. But, for cars open to the masses its still a new thing and as such the aftermarket options are terrible. My guess is though, Honda has ushered in a new standard by placing LEDs on Civics, granted its on the higher models so you pay for it, but we're still talking a sub$30K car, anyway, my guess is, the aftermarket will be flooded soon with options as more of these cars get into the hands of the public. At least thats what Im hoping.

Setting all that aside, although I understand lightbulbs--lumens, watts, voltage, kelvin; LEDs are a little more complicated because the energy they draw is substantially less, like orders of magnitude less, than their inefficient incandescent cousins...but headlight manufactures for some reason do not advertise the light output of their headlights like home lightbulbs do. For example, I was in home depot the other day buying lights for my bathroom. I switched over to LEDs and found some 4 watt LEDs that are equal to 100 watt incandescents. That i can understand, when they give the equlivant. Not sure why headlight manufacturers dont do this.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GU8CMII/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This is what I ordered. I feel pretty safe with these and it's not a lot of money to put at risk, and I'm pretty sure they will be way better than the stock. Read the entire listing and all of the packaging images listed at the far left.
Let me know what you think.

 

[batman900]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GU8CMII/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This is what I ordered. I feel pretty safe with these and it's not a lot of money to put at risk, and I'm pretty sure they will be way better than the stock. Read the entire listing and all of the packaging images listed at the far left.
Let me know what you think.

These are what I have in both our 16 RAV4 and my Si. Both sets have been great so far. I recently purchased a set of morimoto leds to try them out and the genssi are twice as bright at half the price thanks to the better chips. Now compared to stock, these leds are for sure better but not “WAY” better. The morimotos were worse. These are simply better with a nice color. Just don’t expect HID levels of brightness.

 

[Snoopyslr]

I'm assuming you're not open to spending money on HID? Everything that you stick in the OEM lamp is going to be a marginal improvement. If you want some real light, get yourself a retrofit HID kit. TheRetrofitSource.com sells a direct swap lamp for our cars. They named them RetroQuik. They cost about $300 and require you to open up your headlight. It's involved, but it's not hard and it's definitely worth it.

 

[Swordfish]

Halogens are a thing of the past. If you want better light output you should consider LEDs or HIDs. These upgraded versions of halogens will burn out in one year or less. My experience and many others have been they don't last as long. If you are adamant about halogens, just use stock ones. They are cheaper and last longer. If not, then look at something else.

 

[RallyeeRedAZ]

I've had HID's in all my cars and i love them! the best kit i've bought is the kit i currently own its the Morimoto HID kit
http://www.morimotohid.com/hid-systems/h11-morimoto-elite.html

 

[brienp]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GU8CMII/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This is what I ordered. I feel pretty safe with these and it's not a lot of money to put at risk, and I'm pretty sure they will be way better than the stock. Read the entire listing and all of the packaging images listed at the far left.
Let me know what you think.

now see, THATS what Im talking about. They're posting numbers that actually mean something, not gimmick words like "HD vision" or "ultra-clear". They've given the equilivant lumen output, approximately 4,000 lumens on the low beams and 4,000 lumens on the high beam for 8,000 total. They'ev also stated the kelvin color, 6500, which is essentially the color of daylight. They're also LEDs so they should avoid that scenario I was describing earlier where the higher the kelvin the shorter the lifespan because its not an incandescent filament burning but an LED chip.

Do you have an touring model where you're replacing honda stock LEDs for these LEDs? Because if so, I would be highly interested in your opinion in a few weeks after you've replaced them. Ive got a coupe touring. I wish Honda provided the specs for the lumen output of their LED headlights so we could compare apples to apples.

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