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Philips Automotive Lighting H11 X-tremeVision Upgrade Headlight Bulb with up to 100% More Vision, White (12362XVB2) 2 Count?
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Thanks for the advice. I cancelled the order and went ahead and bought these. They have a little bit of a shorter life (3 hours a day for two years) but I don't drive all that much so I should be fine. Appreciate it!
Don’t bother with any of these “upgrades”, they’re junk. Just get a better set of halogen bulbs. These are hard to find now I think, but they are the shit. Much brighter than regular bulbs, without being some weird color trying to look like HIDs. There was a headlight engineer that did an AMA on here a while back, and these are what they recommended. I’ve bought like 4 sets.
https://www.amazon.com/Philips-X-tremeVision-Upgraded-Headlight-Vision/dp/B00U1OIESK/
I don't know your bulb type
But my 5th gen uses h11 for lows and h9 for highs
I bought these and love em
Philips Automotive Lighting H11 X-tremeVision Upgrade Headlight Bulb with up to 100% More Vision, white (12362XVB2) (Pack of 2) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U1OIESK/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_0J2HQNX8KMCV6KWKSQPN?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
VOCOPRO 600W VOCAL SPEAKER W/15"... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U1OIESK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
This is what is replaced my oem bulbs with and it was a huge difference. Driving at night is much easier. However in few years I do plan to do a full led swap including the proper housings
What’s crazy is that the LEDs I purchased had like 4000 positive reviews. Scary to think of so many people driving around with headlights that aren’t even as good as the OEM halogens just because they like the blue color.
These are the halogen bulbs that ended up working really well in my ST. Phillips has bulbs that are more blue/less yellow but the XtremeVision has the longest throw. I found the color to be exactly white, which looked great and matched the fog lights nicely. In my experience the Phillips have a better lifespan than the Sylvanias too.
My Fusion Sport came with full exterior LED lighting and having owned both now, I can confidently say that the OEM LED headlights are still much brighter than even those top of the line Phillips though, probably like 30-40% stronger beam. I’ve put the XtremeVisions in my Mustang and my Miata project cars because I think they’re about as good as it gets when it comes to Halogens but I’ll never buy another daily driver without LEDs for sure. The LED high beams are legit like lighthouse-level of throw lol.
It looks like your 2015 CR-V takes H11 for the low-beam, so you can upgrade to the Philips XtremeVision H11, which has been proven to help you see 60+ feet at night.
If that doesn't cut the mustard, ask yourself: do you use your high-beams at night? Living in Texas sounds like a great way to exercise your car's high-beams since it sounds like you do lot of driving at night alone on rural roads, where high beams won't bother anyone. If you do use your high-beams a lot, consider upgrading them to high-output 9005s or 9011s, either of which will be a massive upgrade again over stock.
I've tried these too. I really wanted these to be LEDs that didn't make me a jerk, but I went back to halogens.. LEDs are too bright and the light only comes out two sides of the stalk, unlike a halogen bulb where it emits 360º. The reflector housings don't correctly aim this light and you end up with bright spots. Its fine for you, but it sucks for other drivers on the road.
These are a much better choice: brighter but still halogens giving correct light dispersal.
I just put these lights on my wife's 2010 Forester. The difference is astounding compared to stock. Especially when she's been driving around with one burnt out OEM light because I've been lazy. It jives with what you said because they are 3400K.
How would a 9011 HIR bulb compare to these? https://www.amazon.com/Philips-X-tremeVision-Upgrade-Bulb-Pack/dp/B00U1OIESK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507551664&sr=8-1&keywords=philips+xtreme+vision+h11
These are 3400K while the HIR run at around 3000K I believe.
LED bulbs are a completely different technology when compared to halogen bulbs. They do both emit light, but the way that they do it are different.
An LED bulb produces light by passing the electric current through a semiconducting material—the diode—which then emits photons (light) through the principle of electroluminescence.
Halogen bulbs work just like with incandescent light bulbs, the electrical current enters the socket and travels up to the tungsten filament, heating up the filament to incandescence. The enhancement with halogen lamps is that the filament is enclosed in a quartz capsule filled with halogen gas.
If we compare the two bulbs above, we can notice how the LED tries to mimic the halogen as best as it can. However, there is one big flaw, the LEDs can only emit light in one direction, that is perpendicular to the surface that it is mounted on. There is also a large heatsink to draw away the heat that the LEDs emit. On the other hand, the halogen can emit light from all direction (omnidirectional) and does not require a heatsink.
How does this affect light output? Here is an LED bulb when it is turned on. The large heatsink and the way the LEDs work, create a massive dark area that light would never reach. This is critical in a headlight as they are designed to focus light in certain areas and at certain intensity. Just slightly altering the angle at which light comes out of the headlight can translate to a few feet of light being casted somewhere where it is useless to a driver.
Here is how an LED looks like in a reflector headlight.
Reference:
Evaluation of After-Market Light Emitting Diode Headlight Bulbs
Thinking of converting your halogen headlamps to HID or LED?
Bulbs that I recommend for the high beam
Philips 9005 X-tremeVision
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Platinum
Philips X-treme Vision
Osram Night Breaker Laser
Sylvania SilverStar
GE Nighthawk
Fun fact, the halogen bulbs that have a blue coating covering the entire glass to make them appear more "white," filter out the yellow light wavelengths making them perform less than bulbs with no coatings.
Manufactures have designed some bulbs that apply the blue coating on certain areas of the bulb where the "white" light will be thrown and seen on the surrounding area, but the hot spot or focus point of the headlight will have the full light output.
I would try Phillips Xtremevision H11 bulbs ("+100% brightness") https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U1OIESK/
Those are what I've been running (since November 2019). They burn brighter so the lifespan is technically shorter than OEM bulbs but I haven't noticed any difference in brightness during my use out of these lights. (I run my lowbeams every time I'm driving, even with the afternoon sun directly overhead. I hate how halogen DRLs look so I removed the fuse for them since I always run low beams.)
I even changed the original pair of Xtremevisions to compare with a brand new set and the brightness was identical to my eyes. Our eyes perceive brightness on a logarithmic scale so a slight decrease in brightness will not be apparent at all.
Before that, I ran Diode Dynamics SL1 LEDs directly in the OEM projector housings but the light distribution wasn't that great for downroad range compared to halogens. Sold them on eBay and haven't regretted it since. I'm actually partial to warmer light temperatures so the 6000K cool white looked like ass in hindsight.
Unless you get a proper retrofit, you'll get poor usable light out of your OEM projector housings if you're not using halogens.
After my current halogen bulbs dim to the point of needing replacement, I'd like to check out the Osram Night Breaker H11 bulbs. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FXRDJW2/
Any halogen bulbs that come in a cooler white color temperature just have a coating that filters out some portion of the light to give off an illusion of cooler white light. You're actually losing brightness if you use those bulbs.
Some people will run H9 bulbs (after the bulb has been modified to fit into the H11 housing) since they burn brighter but I don't want to risk running them too hot in case the wiring harnesses can't handle the amperage.
Halogens are the best choice for a halogen housing. If you want something brighter, Philips X-tremeVision:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U1OIESK
https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/c8ovcu/what_are_good_companies_that_make_halogens/
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 X-tremeVision
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Platinum
9006 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips 9006 X-tremeVision
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB4/9006
SYLVANIA 9006 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9006 Nighthawk Xenon
I would also check to make sure that your headlights are properly aimed. Over time the adjustment screws can vibrate loose. Whatever you do, do not install LED or HID bulbs into your headlight housing as they are not designed to have them in there.
Honestly just start with better halogen bulbs. It's what the headlamp assemblies were designed for, it won't cause glare for oncoming traffic, and it's 50-state legal. Headlight bulbs can lose almost half their brightness over time.
Start with cleaning your light fixtures. If light cannot escape, you can't use it.
Then see if you need new bulbs. There are a few options; stick with halogen bulbs and buy some Philips or go with some LEDs with Sealights.
I went full LEDs with Sealight after I restored the fixtures. They even have amber LEDs for the fog lights.
Replace the halogens that you currently have with some high quality halogen bulbs. Don't even use LED bulbs because they'll make things worse.
H11 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips H11 X-tremeVision
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H11
SYLVANIA H11 SilverStar
Tungsram H11 Nighthawk Xenon
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 X-tremeVision
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Platinum
That's the thing about these LED bulbs, there is a large variety with the same socket design. Some work in certain headlights, some don't. A driver will not know for certain if they are better than what they had originally without proper equipment to measure the light output.
If you want better quality halogen bulbs, here is a list:
9005 Bulbs (High Beam)
Philips 9005 X-tremeVision
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB3/9005
SYLVANIA 9005 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9005 Nighthawk Platinum
9006 Bulbs (Low Beam)
Philips 9006 X-tremeVision
OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER HB4/9006
SYLVANIA 9006 SilverStar Ultra
GE Lighting 9006 Nighthawk Xenon
>Since these are a safety item in my opinion, i wouldn't do the cheap amazon kits. Some places say LED's don't work well in projector housings, some say they work great (headlight revolution).
Yeah, Headlight Revolution also happens to sell plug-and-play LED kits, so of course they'll say it works great. They really have no idea what they're talking about, though.
>Some say HID is the way to go, but those can be complicated to install, and i've seen articles that say that you need a specific housing for those lights to work properly as well.
Yes, you need a HID projector headlamp assembly, not a halogen headlamp assembly as you have.
>Was the LED light good in terms of the beam distance? Any information helps, thanks!
None of the LED bulbs are going to give you good beam distance. If you want beam distance then this is what you want.
>I looked up the Vosla bulbs after clicking the link and am interested in them.
Yes, actually your best bet is this H11. It's way easier to get than the Vosla, which isn't on Amazon, and the Philips is slightly better.
>Would they be a significant upgrade over stock? I really just want brighter bulbs that last a long time and won’t burn a hole in my pocket.
This is a good idea of what to expect.
>I refuse to pay $60+ for “top of the line” sylvania bulbs that are only rated for 80 hours.
There's basically no Sylvania bulb worth getting. Their SilverStar bulbs are both overpriced and underperforming. The $30 Philips I linked will destroy anything Sylvania while costing less.
Best part is that even Sylvania shittalks its own Silverstar bulbs. They even graph how their existing SS bulb is barely better than their Basic bulb and worse than their unreleased prototype bulbs.
In other words, there's a lot of con artists in the headlamp industry, including Sylvania.
No, don't waste your money and endanger everyone on the road with an illegal HID conversion.
The best idea is to save all that money and invest in better H11 halogen bulbs. No, they're not going to be 6000k white. Yes, they will be brighter than stock.
Don't put LED replacement bulbs in the stock assemblies. They're too glare-y and don't really help (I did for a while, swapped them back out).
Try these bulbs, they're quite a bit brighter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U1OIESK/
Sure. Philips H11 X-tremeVision Upgraded Headlight Bulb with up to 100% More Vision, 2 Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U1OIESK/
HIR -3000K Philips XtremeVisions- 3400K https://www.amazon.com/Philips-X-tremeVision-Upgrade-Bulb-Pack/dp/B00U1OIESK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507551664&sr=8-1&keywords=philips+xtreme+vision+h11
Which would you go with?
HIR -3000K Philips XtremeVisions- 3400K https://www.amazon.com/Philips-X-tremeVision-Upgrade-Bulb-Pack/dp/B00U1OIESK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507551664&sr=8-1&keywords=philips+xtreme+vision+h11
Which would you go with?
For plug and play: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-X-tremeVision-Upgrade-Bulb-Pack/dp/B00U1OIESK/
I'm about to buy an HID kit for mine. I can't stand how dim it is on country roads at night.
Automotive lighting engineer here. You have two choices--sticking with H11s or getting H9 bulbs.
Best upgrade for your Tacoma is to run H9s instead of the H11s in your low beams. H9s are identical to H11s except H9s can run at a slightly higher wattage than H11s, and this allows H9s to produce a "whiter" light, as well as help you see better. The only thing with H9 is that you have to modify the bulb a little to fit your vehicle. How to modify:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mrbdQmck7E
You can also run performance H11 bulbs instead of the factory H11 bulbs, which are the "long life" type. Long life halogen bulbs are optimized for, well, longevity, rather than performance. Performance bulbs are naturally "whiter" than long life bulbs by nature of putting more light out.
Best H11:
Best H9 (yes, they are tinted blue, but the blue tinting is selective and shouldn't give your lights an obvious blue look):
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