# Best driving lamps



## PhillyRube (Jun 14, 2006)

I picked up a new motorcycle (Honda ST1300) and will be adding some sort of driving lamps to it. Other mods so far have been a Whelen TIR3 LED as an aux brake light, replacement 3157 LED brake/tail lamps, Stebel Nautilus air horn, Whelen TIR3s in red/blue in the back, sides, and red/red in the front, for use in parades and such as a Blue Knight, aux fusebox to power air horns, driving lights, and heated seat and grips.

Trying to figure out the best driving light out there, for the price. I have Hella 550s on my 2 cages, and they are just great, although too large for the bike. PIAA makes nice lights, but I'm just not impressed by their claims of "85watts = 100 watts", etc, and the price is 3 times more than others. I had a Sebring convertible with feeble 27 watt driving lights, that I replaced with 55 watt H-3s made in China, which did a fantastic job. 

Thanks so much to the Candlepower Forum for clearing up that fact of confusion.


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## Nell (Jun 14, 2006)

I have used PIAA of various models and simply not been impressed with the output claim. The beam has been ok, but with the cost factored in, I normally go back to the Hella units with upgraded bulbs with relays. However, I do like the shape and smallness of many of PIAAs products. Some of the newer Hella are pretty nice too.


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## blahblahblah (Jun 14, 2006)

Have you considered HID lights? I know more light is usually better, esp on a motorcycle. They will go easy on your alternator as a bonus.


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## lebox97 (Jun 14, 2006)

my last 6-8 sets of lights have been Hella's with bulbs swapped out to silverstars - though next time I would look at a good quality HID too ...

europeans (hella, etc) seem to have the lens & reflector technology figured out and are light (no pun intended) years ahead of most others :goodjob:


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## Diesel_Bomber (Jun 14, 2006)

I'd stay away from Silverstars, and any other bulb with any kind of colored coating on them. Unless you're going for the "look" instead of to actually see, in which case use whatever floats your boat. Hella lights are the Surefire of the auto lighting world.


Cheers, and good luck. :buddies:


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## Orbit (Jun 14, 2006)

I'd recomend either Hella Micro DE"s in HID form or depending how much room you have some lightforce 140's.There are a few people on the "net" who have written up good tutorials about what they have done and how the think the lightforce lights perform.
If you can't come at the cost of HID's then lightforce 140's are the best alternative.
The thing i've found on bikes is that the heavier, PIAA, NARVA, night stakler lights tend to be that bit harder to install, and the beam patern isn't near as good.

ORB.


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## Diesel_Bomber (Jun 14, 2006)

Ooh, I'd forgotten about Hella Micro DE HIDs! Just may have to get a set of those for my new STi!


Thanks Orbit! Cheers! :buddies:


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## Orbit (Jun 14, 2006)

DB - remember to get the "driving light" version not the "fog" version too, the fog lense is not up to scratch for driving light purposes the beam is too colomated from it. But they ar ea nice small light with great beam shape for size.

For a bike i''ve fitted 4 micro de HID's and found it to be awesome, 2 for distance 2 for close/spread. all taped into the highbeam and parkers circuit.


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## lebox97 (Jun 15, 2006)

as you say "whatever floats your boat"

have you used them?
I have since they first came out years ago - and they are on all of my vehicles (and that includes all of my auxillary lights too) except the one I changed out to sylvania HID's. 

these are not the "look" teenager wanna be HID bulbs, these brighter and higher natural color temp 4000K bulbs made a big difference in visible area and distance - and I prefer nightime long distance driving. 

here is a visual 

cheers



Diesel_Bomber said:


> I'd stay away from Silverstars, and any other bulb with any kind of colored coating on them. Unless you're going for the "look" instead of to actually see, in which case use whatever floats your boat. Hella lights are the Surefire of the auto lighting world.
> 
> 
> Cheers, and good luck. :buddies:


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## Diesel_Bomber (Jun 15, 2006)

Orbit- Don't worry bud, I've got it covered. :thumbsup:

Lebox- I've not tried Silverstars, nor will I. If you want real lights and, more importantly, *information*, go here.

Cheers. :buddies:


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## Orbit (Jun 15, 2006)

Here you are saved you the trouble of visiting the site....

That photo you posted a link to isn't right ....the exposures are different, so it's not a fair comparison to start with.

I will agree that a HIR with a QI envolope and Xenon filling is ALOT better then standard halogen bulbs.

The question is about bulbs fitted with a blue absorption filter use to make the light look whiter. Legal, pretty, safe etc but not advantageous.
Some companies (PIAA...) even capitalize on this by claiming that their 55W bulbs are as bright as 85W bulbs, among other pseudoscientific claims. Here's how this claim works: Higher-wattage bulbs of a given type generally appear whiter than lower-wattage bulbs. Think of the last time you replaced a 60W bulb in your home with a 100W bulb. So the idea with these "blue" filtered bulbs is to have a lower wattage bulb that mimics the color of a higher wattage bulb, but not its performance. However, there's no getting something for nothing. The altered light color does not mean you're getting more light, or better quality light, just that the light is of a different color. 

In fact, you get less usable light from such a bulb than from a regular clear bulb, and here's why: A blue filter removes nonblue components of the light passing through it. Halogen bulbs produce very little light in the blue frequency range. When you put a blue filter on the bulb or lamp, you are reducing the amount of usable light that gets from the glowing filament to the reflector, to the lens and from there to the road. Prove it to yourself using nothing more than the windshield in your car...drive towards a yellow-orange Sodium vapor street light and watch the light as it shines first through the clear portion of the windshield, then through the blue strip at the top. Up there through the blue, it certainly looks "whiter"...but it's also dimmer. If a bulb's sales material focuses on the color of the light rather than the amount of light, you should ask critical questions about the amount of light the bulb produces before choosing to use it.

Some of the bulbs come with specification sheets giving a wattage and lumen rating, but these don't list actual output, they simply list the nominal specification contained in the Federal standard. The assumption they want you to make is that the bulb you're holding in your hand actually produces the nominal amount of light. In most cases, with blue glass, they don't. About all that can truthfully be said is that they're safe, they're legal, they're not dangerously poor performers like illegal blue bulbs are, but they do not give an actual performance improvement. 

The manufacturer optimizes the bulb's efficacy through filament and gas-fill technology, so that the uncoated bulb performs up near the top end of the allowable output range, or even slightly above the maximum allowable output. But the bulb is blue, which "steals" some of the light. If the bulb is designed to produce within the legal light level without the blue, the presence of the blue bulb will reduce the output so it's closer to the bottom end of the allowable output range. If the bulb is designed to produce slightly over the legal light level without the blue, then the bulb will perform nearer the middleof the legal range. Here again, though, we can't have something for nothing.It took reputable bulb makers quite a bit of research and development to produce blue filters that would not drop the bulb output below the legal minimum while still altering the appearance of the operating headlamp enough to appeal to consumers after a "whiter" appearance to their headlamps. The cost? Bulb lifetime. The filament changes made to produce enough extra light that the bulb will still be legal despite the blue-filtration losses mean the filament's lifespan is shortened considerably.

Here's actual data for for output and lifespan at 13.2v for H1 bulbs. The numbers here are a composite of values applicable to the products of the three major manufacturers' bulbs. Each maker's product in each category is slightly different but not significantly so, and while the absolute numbers differ with different bulb types, the relative comparison patterns hold good for whatever bulb type you consider.

Part of the impetus for the development of these bulbs was for the makers of good-quality bulbs to take away a portion of the dangerous "crystal blue" (spark blue, 8500K blue, etc.) type bulb sales and satisfy consumers desiring a different headlamp appearance with a legal and safe product. The retail-level marketers have an easy sell here; Pep Boys offers a "Silverstar Upgrade" service for fifty bucks, for instance. And there are always going to be people lining up to offer glowing testimonials about how much better they think they can see with these bulbs. But can they really?

There's no good evidence that the type of light produced by this sort of bulb actually allows drivers to see better than the type of light produced by a regular, clear bulb. And there've been no studies on the effect of this type of light upon seeing and glare in bad weather, for instance. It has, on the other hand, been shown that these bulbs cause more glare than clear bulbs. Can you see better with this sort of bulb? No, probably not. Some people vigourously defend blue-glass bulbs, insisting they can see better. But that's another problem: they think they can see better than they actually can. There've been no studies to determine exactly how dangerous it is to think you can see better than you really can, but it probably doesn't help safety.

It should be mentioned that while these are critical questions that ought to be asked, they are academic to some degree if what you're deciding is whether to use a no-name bulb or the product of a reputable manufacturer, such as Narva, Candlepower, Osram, Philips, or GE.

OK, So These Extra-White Bulbs Aren't The Best Choice For Maximizing My Headlamps' Performance. What Should I Get Instead? 

For those who want the best possible performance from their headlamps and are more concerned with their ability to see rather than the appearance of their headlamps, the major bulb companies offer optimized bulbs without the light-stealing blue glass. Narva RangePower+50 and RangePower+30, GE Night Hawk, and Philips Vision Plus, and Osram Silver Star are the ones to get.

Wait a Minute, Earlier You Said Silver Star Bulbs Have Blue Glass!

It's a name game: Osram, the well-established German lampmaker, sells a line of automotive bulbs they call "Silver Star". These are Osram's top-of-the-range headlamp bulbs, equivalent to Narva RangePower+50, GE Night Hawk, Philips VisionPlus, and Tungsram Megalight Premium. They produce the maximum legal amount of light while staying within legal power consumption limits. They have colorless clear glass.

Osram bought the well-established American lampmaker Sylvania in the early 1990s, so Osram is now Sylvania's parent company. Sylvania also sells a line of automotive bulbs they call "Silver Star", but it's not the same product. The Sylvania Silver Stars have blue glass. Light output is of legal levels, but as with all blue-filtered bulbs, you do not get more light from them. The Sylvania SilverStar bulbs have a very short lifetime, because the filament is overdriven to get a legal amount of light despite the blue glass. 

To get the best possible seeing performance at night, don't choose extra-white bulbs.


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## Diesel_Bomber (Jun 15, 2006)

There ya go, now you don't have to click the link I posted.

Cheers! :buddies:


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## WNG (Jun 15, 2006)

I like Hella. Always reliable and great beam.
Look into their Micro DE and Free-Form series. These are smaller and would fit your bike's style better.
The only other brands (but costly) are Catz and PIAA that have the build quality and size. But their popularity means a premium price.


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