Stock vs. Philips XP vs. HID vs. retrofit

[garyq]

The objective of this comparison study is present to our tsikot community a guideline (one of the many out there) on how to properly upgrade the lighting syst of there own cars. Yes I make retrofits but as I've always stated, even if you don't go for my retrofit I hope you will be a responsible motorists especially if you are planning to upgrade your lighting syst.

The test vehicle is a Honda Jazz GE, 2008-10 model with stock bulbs.
Vehicle has 30k km on the odometer.

This is the stock output * LO



stock output * HI



you can see here that most of the output is concentrated further away and the cutoff is higher

First upgrade you can consider is installing a Philips XP bulb or Osram Nightbreaker. I am not selling either nor getting any commission from the dealers.

Philips XP, LO



You can see here that the output is more intense especially in the middle.

[garyq]

side by side output of the stock bulb and Philips XP



HI output, Philips XP



I do not suggest upgrading to 90/100w bulbs. Some headlamps get easily affected by the higher heat produced by these bulbs and some HL take some time. And some tsikoteers say that some HL dont even get affected at all. I've seen many HL's na damaged na yung chrome after a few years and I cannot suggest this option. Aside from buying a hi watt harness, you need to buy the 90/100w bulbs also. I'd rather go with a Philips XP or Osram NB, stock wattage, stock harness. I would also like to note that having a dark tint is the main culprit in reducing the output of your headlights.

[watusi]

nice write up Gary! ill subscribe to this thread!

[garyq]

Now let's go to the plug and play HID. For newbies, these are the bulbs that you buy in your suking accessory shop na salpak lang sa halogen headlights, tapos meron ballasts to fire it up.

4300k HID bulb, pnp with lower shield



hid bulbs will produce at least 2.5 times more light than the stock halogen bulbs so yes it is more intense, BUT it causes so much glare to other motorists.

Looking at this same vehicle 20-22 meters away on the opposite lane and you can see the glare coming straight at your eyes. The cam was set at approx the same height as your eyes when you seated on your car. This is simulating na kasalubong mo eto sa traffic.



Just compare the glare with the stock bulb



And this is the reason why I dont suggest this. It is always nice to upgrade your vehicle especially sa atin Pinoy na 2nd biggest purchase ang oto BUT I am sad na people continue to go this route without considering how they are glaring other motorists. We have to stop this.

[garyq]

Just noticed that the output of the pnp hid bulb is not longer compared to the stock bulbs. It is just more intense sa middle.

I took some pictures at the back of the car and the headlights of this car produces so much upward light that it is really amusing.

you can see the leaves of the trees immediately in front of the car. I was covering the top part of the headlight with my hand and light was bouncing off, 70-80 deg going up. This is the reason why some headlights are really much worst in performance when it comes to pnp hid bulbs


Now we go to HID Projector retrofits.

Stock vs. a projector retrofit

This is also a GE

[garyq]

The height of the cutoff for the projector retrofit is quite LO and was adjusted afterwards.

This is a gif file of a HID retrofit using a bixenon projector just to give you an idea how long the throw is.





So with my experience in upgrading my own lighting syst I'd suggest the following:

a. NEVER go for whiter bulbs. The whiter the bulb, the less light on the road.
b. My first upgrade was a PIAA bulb on my GE. Nice output but still lacking for me. Very pricey also, a friend from Japan gave it to me.
c. Also used Philips Vision plus and Osram Silverstar. Back then the Osrams were among the best performing stock watt bulbs.
d. From this level, I went directly to retrofits as I dont want to glare other motorists.
e. Go first for the Philips/Osram upgrade and use lighter tint.
f. Stock fogs are almost useless piece of aux lighting especially for the amount of money you put in. around 14k for a stock oem fogs, nah!
g. A properly designed and installed HID Projector Retrofit is on top of the performance bar

[renzo_d10]

Nice write up bro. I agree, HID's tend to produce much more glare than bulbs like Philips XP and the like. PLUS, they're more expensive. ~7k for a kit.

And having HID's on your car will make the oncoming motorists suffer during nighttime especially if it's paired pa with a heavy downpour of rain.

Isama mo na yung Superwhite bulbs.

[<smash>]

I see an advocacy movement starting here. I agree with garyq and as a testament to that, I'm getting my hid retrofit next week. It is a lot more expensive than the pnp's but in my opinion, worth it.

Aside from the disadvantages pointed out in this thread, there is also light pollution, which is, eluminating areas outside your task area. Light pollution is and will affect our environment.

Responsible use of HID's will give us less road hazzards, less accidents and will help the environment. San ka pa?

[igiwtf]

nice info! i'll copy the link to my club

[providence]

Is it true that you cant flash others if you're using HID?
Flash in the sense of turning on high beam and low beam again in order to signal other cars?

[airolynx]

I have a similar question. Is it true you cannot use your HID lights as 'Pass Beam' meaning even during daytime when you need to signal someone instead of the horn.

[renzo_d10]

Meaning you cannot flash them? Yes. You cannot. It will shorten its life span.

[F-14]

I have a similar question. Is it true you cannot use your HID lights as 'Pass Beam' meaning even during daytime when you need to signal someone instead of the horn.

For me its No, I'm using my HID HL on that occasion. It is almost a year now & still fine.

[garyq]

when you flick your Hi column switch during the morning, you want to pass or alert some motorists of your presence. HID bulbs need a little more time than vs. halogen bulbs to reach the max lumens output so in this case, pde ba gamitin? pde naman but halogen bulbs will do a better job at it.

Another thing, turning ON and then OFF your hid bulbs frequently will shorten its service lifetime.

[airolynx]

when you flick your Hi column switch during the morning, you want to pass or alert some motorists of your presence. HID bulbs need a little more time than vs. halogen bulbs to reach the max lumens output so in this case, pde ba gamitin? pde naman but halogen bulbs will do a better job at it.

Another thing, turning ON and then OFF your hid bulbs frequently will shorten its service lifetime.

hi Sir Gary, if that's the case, let's take my ride for example, i own a 2009 Honda City, if I were to go ahead and get a projector retrofit (that includes hi-lo), so I am better off not using it as pass-beam and rely on the horn instead? Or does the projector retrofit come with a non-HID hi beam?

[garyq]

I have a 2009 Jazz (GE body) and we basically have the same stock lighting system.

When I say it will shorten the lifespan of the bulbs, what I mean is if flash your Hi beam like crazy. If you do it 2-3x/day then it is not a problem. The OEM bulbs are even more sturdy and will not be affected by this so much. Have my Philips for more than 2 years already and I am using it like a standard halogen lighting system but of course the output is miles apart. I rarely flash though or use my horn, I use my brakes instead

For single bulb setup like the City or Jazz, we don't have a halogen bulb for passing. Sa Civic pwede yan or Altis na meron separate LO and Hi bulb.

If the retrofit is properly made, it's just like using a stock lighting syst with 3x more intensity

[xwind_mariner]

when you flick your Hi column switch during the morning, you want to pass or alert some motorists of your presence. HID bulbs need a little more time than vs. halogen bulbs to reach the max lumens output so in this case, pde ba gamitin? pde naman but halogen bulbs will do a better job at it.

Another thing, turning ON and then OFF your hid bulbs frequently will shorten its service lifetime.

what about kung single bulb yon headlight...i mean LO and HI in one bulb, both HID(of course), if using HI beam,flick for passing...so shorten its service time for HI beam only or both HI and LO will affected...is it advisible to go retrofit if you have single bulb only.

[xwind_mariner]

what about for XUV crosswind running on single bulb,both HI and LO in one bulb(stock halogen)..is it possible to retrofit only the LO beam for HID and retain HI beam for halogen?

[mjdg]

hello po sa lahat! bago ko lang nalaman na mali pala yung pag ugrade ko to hid kit since i need a projector headlight pala. I have a hilux 2009. Magagamit ko pa ba yung hid kit ko na nabili if projector headlight nalng ang bilihin ko? or mas better if pa retrofit nalang? thanks po sa inyong tulong.

[yourman_2nd]

sir mjdg, iba ang HID bulbs ng projectors (bolt on) sa HID kits pang halogen housing so hindi mo magagamit yan HID mo nabili sa projectors. And ang projectors normally comes complete with bulbs na pagbili mo. As to retrofit, the best pa din ang retro fit pero pricey talaga. No less than 20k for a good pair vs 6k-8k na bolt on projectors.

dapat palitan mo na yang HID on halogen reflectors mo dahil nakaka silaw sa kasalubong mo yang ganyan set up. if you can afford the retrofit, i suggest you go for it. if bihira ka lang naman mag drive sa gabi, then go for the bolt on projectors (55 watts) which is affordable and yet a vast improvement from halogens/hid.

yung xtrail ko, i installed bolt on projectors with 55 watts and happy ako sa buga. although i can still tinker with the cutoff to increase the hot spot. sa santa fe ko naman, since naka oem projectors na low beam, nagpalit na lang ako ng HID bulbs and happy din ako sa buga. both are hindi nakakasilaw sa kasalubong pero malakas ang buga sa kalye.