Osram H7 Night Breaker...My Impressions

[bj240z]

SHIT! Not worth the money. I have just had my 2nd bulb fail on me, after only a few months in the car. So not happy at all! They'll be going back to Power Bulbs for replacement, but I'm not too keen on getting them again.

What is everyone else running? My lower fog lights are Phillips, so I'm thinking of heading down this path?

We've all got assholes, but i'm looking for some opinions!

BJ

 

[ApexTwin]

They're crap because they didn't offer any improvement in light output... or because they blew so quickly... or both?

 

[Steve_GTI]

I have had them for 12 months and not blown any. They are a huge improvement on the standard globes.

 

[Maverick]

They're crap because they didn't offer any improvement in light output... or because they blew so quickly... or both?

I got 12 months out of mine and they do offer a decent increase in lumens.

 

[bj240z]

They're crap because they didn't offer any improvement in light output... or because they blew so quickly... or both?

Firstly I thought they were rubbish, due to them blowing so quickly, but then i actually put my old bulb back into the slot, and I couldn't tell the difference! The differences for the park lights and the fogs is apparent, but the Osrams offered no real improvement over my stock bulbs. Maybe the Pirelli has something different from normal GTI's??? :iono:

I only offer my own personal experiences, and I'm sure there are people out there who have great experiences, I'm just not one of them!

 

[Robby_jai]

BJ i dunno if you are aware... but when you installed them were you careful NOT to touch the bulbs with your fingers.. if you do they tend to shorten their life quite considerably... not sure why ... but the natural oils on your fingers seems to have some sort of reactions which causes it to blow.... maybe other ppl on the forums know why.

most install instruction clearly says do not touch the bulbs...

 

[bj240z]

BJ i dunno if you are aware... but when you installed them were you careful NOT to touch the bulbs with your fingers.. if you do they tend to shorten their life quite considerably... not sure why ... but the natural oils on your fingers seems to have some sort of reactions which causes it to blow.... maybe other ppl on the forums know why.

most install instruction clearly says do not touch the bulbs...

No Shit!

 

[G-rig]

No Shit!

That's what i assumed you did too.

What about warranty, or not covered?

 

[Maverick]

BJ i dunno if you are aware... but when you installed them were you careful NOT to touch the bulbs with your fingers.. if you do they tend to shorten their life quite considerably... not sure why ... but the natural oils on your fingers seems to have some sort of reactions which causes it to blow.... maybe other ppl on the forums know why.

most install instruction clearly says do not touch the bulbs...

Basically you leave behind oils that burn off but a residual is left on the bulb which creates hotspots and the bulb is no longer able to distribute heat evenly and thus reduces bulb life.

The issue is to do with the type of glass used which is quartz.

 

[yarngti]

bj

I know it is off topic, but just wondering how you went with the anti lift kit you got installed. I am seriously considering this and any feedback would be great.

One thing I was wondering is if it adversley effects braking effectiveness or anything else. I mean if it doesn't have any downsides, why don't they install something like this from the factory.

thanks in advance.

 

[Robby_jai]

bj i sense you got the shits with your light bulbs ;-) chill mate... just a light bulb... buy another one try another brand

they're not exactly that costly

 

[ApexTwin]

bj i sense you got the shits with your light bulbs ;-) chill mate... just a light bulb... buy another one try another brand

they're not exactly that costly

Why don't you buy them for him :wink:

 

[G-rig]

Why don't you? Haha

How much are they anyway?

 

[bj240z]

I've been in contact with Power Bulbs, and they are truly awesome. They offered me a 50% discount on a new set of bulbs, but at the time, only one of them had blown and I was a little reluctant to shell out more cash, but I'm now think about the phillips, which could be a better bet.

I've installed numerous sets of bulbs before, and never had a problem like this, I know that touching the bulb is a big NO NO, that's really fucken 101 in replacing a bulb.

With respect to the ALK I put in, i'm very happy, but will talk about that a little more in a new thread, as I want to bring you up to speed with what else has been done, as things are starting to work well together.

 

[gregozedobe]

I've heard about a few people getting shorter life from some Osram Nightbreaker globes. My understanding is all the +50 and +80 and +90 globes do produce extra light from the same watts, but they do it by running the filament at a higher temperature, which results in a shorter life. I suspect that the QA on the Nightbrakers is not quite as good as and the Philips X-treme globes.

I've been running X-treme H4s in my Transporter for over 18 months now, I do a bit of night driving and they are still going strong.

I've tried several different brands of "improved illumination" globes in both my vehicles (H4s, H1s and H7s), and find the X-tremes consistently the best (more light, better focus).