Sylvania SilverStar Replacement Headlights

[Ray]

Has any one tried the Sylvania SilverStar replacement headlight bulbs?

I own a '02 Forester and I am considering replacing both my headlight
and fog light bulbs. Each set has an MSRP of $44.98. If you buy direct
there are no shipping charges. There is also a $5.00 manufactures
rebate available.

The Sylvania website is at
http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProducts/AutomotiveLighting/

Ray
To reply by e-mail please remove @STOPSPAMMERS from my e-mail address. Please to not send me any attachments.

 

[LB]

What light from their web site one would need to get to get the HID light
effect (like on the high end cars)?
thanks

 

[y_p_w]

Has any one tried the Sylvania SilverStar replacement headlight bulbs?

I own a '02 Forester and I am considering replacing both my headlight
and fog light bulbs. Each set has an MSRP of $44.98. If you buy direct
there are no shipping charges. There is also a $5.00 manufactures
rebate available.

The Sylvania website is at
http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProducts/AutomotiveLighting/

Apparently junk. Not horrible per se, but awfully expensive with
a short average lifespan. There's a lighting expert who would
never recommend (under any circumstances) any bulb with a blue
filtering tint for the simple reason that they would produces more
light if there were no tint. I've seen one at an auto part store,
and there's definitely a blue tint. Up close the H1 version
looked somewhat like art deco "art glass". It had some sort of
oxidation on the surface of the glass to give it a shimmery
appearance. I've heard their claims about total light output
are marketing BS.

What I've used are Osram Silverstars in the H1 type for my 2004
WRX. Osram is Sylvania's German parent company. These are
designed for the European market, and are made of clear glass.
There are several importers for them, and overall they should
cost less than Syvania Silverstar. There should be a version
for you car.

 

[steam_mill]

Definitely do not go with sylvaning silverstars. Installed them on my
2K OBW.

Lasted 4 months.

Ordered Osram Silverstars from www.powerbulbs.uk delivered to Canada
for less than $40.00 candian ($30.00 U.S.).

My dad commented on how much better they worked.

Joe

 

[Daniel J. Stern]

Many people have -- some of them buy into the optical delusion (if you
will) that their headlamp performance is better with them. Most of them
get tired of replacing these expensive bulbs every few months.

Blue bulb glass does not improve bulb performance, it worsens it. Bluer
("whiter") light is not correlated with better seeing -- more light is
correlated with better seeing. And bluer light is absolutely the wrong
direction to go for fog lamps, which work better with yellow light.

Apparently junk.

See my other post in this thread -- short life, low output and high
cost...what's not to like?

I've heard their claims about total light output are marketing BS.

Conspicuously, they don't make claims for total light output. If they did,
nobody would buy blue bulbs. They claim Sylvania Silverstars are the
"Brightest and whitest", relying on most people's thinking that this means
something. It doesn't; "brightness" is just as subjective as "loudness"
(is Metallica "louder" than Mozart? Sure seems that way, even at the exact
same Sound Pressure Level. Same principle applies with "brightness" of
light). And "Whiteness" doesn't mean anything either, though there are
numerous companies working very hard to convince the public that bluer
light is "whiter".

What I've used are Osram Silverstars in the H1 type for my 2004 WRX.

There y'go -- those are the ones to get. Those or GE's new Night Hawks,
though NH's are only just hitting the market now.

Osram is Sylvania's German parent company.

Yeah, and they play confusing name games. North American "Sylvania
Silverstar" is "Osram Cool Blue" in the rest of the world. Rest-of-world
"Osram Silverstar" has no North American equivalent in the Sylvania line.

These are designed for the European market, and are made of clear glass.
There are several importers for them, and overall they should cost less
than Syvania Silverstar. There should be a version for you car.

Osram Silverstar costs less and does produce more light over a longer life
than Sylvania Silverstar, and is currently available in H1, H4 and H7.

DS
(e-mail address removed)

 

[CompUser]

@alumni.engin.umich.edu>, [email protected]
says...

Osram Silverstar costs less and does produce more light over a longer life
than Sylvania Silverstar, and is currently available in H1, H4 and H7.

I took a peek at your site...do you carry these?

 

[Daniel M. Dreifus]

any bulb with a blue
filtering tint for the simple reason that they would produces more
light if there were no tint.

My understanding is the the filament is "overdriven" to produce more
lumens to overcome the tint while altering the color of the light.
You wind up with a whiter light appearance with around the same output
as standard but shorter life and higher cost.
They do look nice in use though.

 

[Daniel J. Stern]

My understanding is the the filament is "overdriven" to produce more
lumens to overcome the tint while altering the color of the light.

That's more or less correct, though in practice this "overdriving" mostly
takes the form of higher-wattage filaments. Remember, though, the degree
to which such compensation works is limited by the legal regulations on
bulbs. For every bulb type, there's a maximum allowable power consumption
as well as a minimum and maximum allowable light output. So, the filament
wattage can be increased to produce extra light (which is then stolen by
the blue glass), but it's practically impossible to meet or exceed the
output of an colorless-glass bulb because either you run up against the
legal max wattage, or you reduce the lifespan to grossly unaceptable,
short values. So, virtually all of these blue bulbs produce less light
than their untinted counterparts, because the allowable range of light
output is typically 30% while the allowable max wattage is frequently as
tight as 7%.

You wind up with a whiter light appearance

No, it's not "whiter". It's bluer.

with around the same output

No, see above.

They do look nice in use though.

Some people seem to think so. I'm not too sure why; they don't fool anyone
into thinking your car has HID headlights.

DS

 

[Daniel J. Stern]

I took a peek at your site...do you carry these?

Yep, I do. Listed as "Osram ultra high efficiency plus 50" to sidestep the
Osram/Sylvania/blue/clear Silverstar name game.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

Data sheets here:

http://www.candlepowerinc.com/products.pib.html

"Ultra High Efficiency Plus 50" are Osram Silverstars
"Daylight White" are PhilipsNarva analogue of CoolBlue/US Silverstar (And
yes, those data comparisons to PIAA are accurate...)

-DS

 

[y_p_w]

What light from their web site one would need to get to get the HID light
effect (like on the high end cars)?
thanks

A real HID kit, including new wiring to handle the early power
surge when turned on, transformers to convert to the higher
voltage, and reflectors designed specifically for HID. This
should produce maybe 2 to 3 times the light output of any
incandescent bulb.

There really are no shortcuts. To get the light from an
incandescent to look similar to the bluish color of a real HID,
a filter has to be applied, which reduces the light output of
the bulb. The trick for the Sylvania Silverstar is apparently
that they start with a very high light output bulb with an
extremely short life. Then after the blue filter reduces the
light output by 20%, it still produces about as much light as
a standard bulb, but with a bluish tinge. Personally - I think
anyone who would pay this kind of money for Sylvania Silverstar
is wasting money. You're paying 2 to 3 times as much for
something that needs to be replaced at least twice as often with
about the same light output.

http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProducts/AutomotiveLighting/Products/ProductComparison/default.htm

For the 9003 version (for the Original poster's 2002 Forester)
the 9000 LL (long life) low-beam filiment produces 910 lumens
(+/- 10%) with a rated life of 800 hours. Compare that to the
Silverstar, where the low-beam filiment produces 910 lumens
(+/- 10%) with a rated life of 150 hours. I somehow think the
rated output is a little suspect, since all their 9003 bulbs
seem to have the same rated output on their website.

The question is whether you want the best performance or just
want to "look cool". The Osram Silverstar bulbs for sale in
Europe are generally considered to be the highest performance
bulbs available right now, but don't have the bluish tint that
is for appearance only. The ones I have in my WRX seem to
project more light at a distance - the manufacturer's claim is
up to 50% more light projected at about 150 ft (or something
to that effect).

 

[Ray]

WOW! What a great response to my original query.

Considering all of the information that I have received I'm going to
be a real careful shopper. The life of these bulbs seems to be a
concern to most respondents.

Has any one tried the Sylvania SilverStar replacement headlight bulbs?

I own a '02 Forester and I am considering replacing both my headlight
and fog light bulbs. Each set has an MSRP of $44.98. If you buy direct
there are no shipping charges. There is also a $5.00 manufactures
rebate available.

The Sylvania website is at
http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProducts/AutomotiveLighting/

Ray
To reply by e-mail please remove @STOPSPAMMERS from my e-mail address. Please to not send me any attachments.

To reply by e-mail please remove @STOPSPAMMERS from my e-mail address. Please to not send me any attachments.

 

[Cam Penner]

WOW! What a great response to my original query.

Considering all of the information that I have received I'm going to
be a real careful shopper. The life of these bulbs seems to be a
concern to most respondents.

If you're paying $50 for a bulb that puts out the same
quantity of light as a stock $20 one, it had better last at
least twice as long. Most don't.

If you're paying $50 for a bulb that puts out more light,
in a better pattern than a stock $20 one, then it's more of
a subjective decision.

 

[Tegger®]

On Thu, 21 Oct 2004, y_p_w wrote:


There y'go -- those are the ones to get. Those or GE's new Night
Hawks, though NH's are only just hitting the market now.

I've wondered how safe these things are in headlamps with plastic
reflectors. The reflectors in my '91 Integra are plastic. Do the Osrams or
Night Hawks generate extra heat that may distort the reflector?

 

[CompUser]

@alumni.engin.umich.edu>, [email protected]
says...

Yep, I do. Listed as "Osram ultra high efficiency plus 50" to sidestep the
Osram/Sylvania/blue/clear Silverstar name game.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

Data sheets here:

http://www.candlepowerinc.com/products.pib.html

"Ultra High Efficiency Plus 50" are Osram Silverstars
"Daylight White" are PhilipsNarva analogue of CoolBlue/US Silverstar (And
yes, those data comparisons to PIAA are accurate...)

Ah so! Well your sidestep completely threw me
off, looking for "Osram Silverstars", lol.

 

[y_p_w]

Osram Silverstar costs less and does produce more light over a longer life
than Sylvania Silverstar, and is currently available in H1, H4 and H7.

BTW - what might one recommend for a '96 Buick Regal in 9006/HB4?
My dad seems to be disappointed in their brightness. He saw a
Sylvania Silverstar commercial on TV, and was under the impression
that they could get him near HID performance. Yes - I set him
straight that they were overpriced, short-lived, underperforming
junk. I'm thinking maybe Sylvania XtraVision.

I looked at Sylvania's rated life for their 9006 bulbs. 150 hours
for the Silverstars, 200 for the Cool Blues, 850 for the XtraVisions,
1000 for standard, and 1500 for long-life. Makes me wonder why
anyone would buy the Silverstars.

 

[y_p_w]

Definitely do not go with sylvaning silverstars. Installed them on my
2K OBW.

Lasted 4 months.

Ordered Osram Silverstars from www.powerbulbs.uk delivered to Canada
for less than $40.00 candian ($30.00 U.S.).

My dad commented on how much better they worked.

However - my understanding is that Osram Silverstars don't last
terribly long either, at least compared to standard or long-life
bulbs. However - I bought my pair of Osram Silverstars from
Daniel Stern for about the price (w/ shipping) of a single Sylvania
Silverstar at a parts store.

 

[Daniel J. Stern]

BTW - what might one recommend for a '96 Buick Regal in 9006/HB4?

A new car. Sorry to be flippant...those headlamp optics are godawful. Not
quite as bad as the ones on the Century of the same year, but pretty damn
bad. There is no such thing as a magic bulb that turns bad headlamps into
good ones.

My dad seems to be disappointed in their brightness.

Intensity, but yeah, they're not good performers. GE Night Hawk or Philips
Vision Plus would be a tough-to-find first choice. Narva Rangepower, GE
SUV or HO, or Philips High Visibility would be a close second preference.

Actually, a set of 9012 bulbs would wipe up the floor with any 9006, but
he'd have to pay *very* careful attention to lamp aim. If he's not willing
or able to do that, he shouldn't pursue it. Someone put a good writeup on
those bulbs here:

http://bmwz.org/articles/lighting/0506trick/

He saw a Sylvania Silverstar commercial on TV, and was under the
impression that they could get him near HID performance.

Sylvania paid a lot of money to marketeering [sic] psychologists so that
people like your father would get that incorrect impression.

I looked at Sylvania's rated life for their 9006 bulbs. 150 hours for
the Silverstars, 200 for the Cool Blues, 850 for the XtraVisions, 1000
for standard, and 1500 for long-life. Makes me wonder why anyone would
buy the Silverstars.

Because they're the "whitest, brightest, oh-so-rightest. White hot, super
cool...the ghost in your machine!".

Pffft.

DS
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Daniel J. Stern]

However - my understanding is that Osram Silverstars don't last terribly
long either, at least compared to standard or long-life bulbs.

That is true. For any given bulb design parameters, you get to pick ONE
point along the bulb life/light output continuum. This is why people who
bought '80s and early '90s cars with 9004 bulbs (very low output, very
long life) say "Wow, I love the performance of the H7 headlights in my new
car, but GEEZE, I'm replacing bulbs every eight months! I never replaced a
bulb in my car with 9004s!". The appearance on the market of Daylight
Running Lamps has exacerbated the matter.

What I disapprove of is picking a bulb with shorter life *and* worse
performance (any of these colored ones).

DS

 

[LB]

They do look nice in use though.

Some people seem to think so. I'm not too sure why; they don't fool anyone
into thinking your car has HID headlights.

 

[y_p_w]

A new car. Sorry to be flippant...those headlamp optics are godawful. Not
quite as bad as the ones on the Century of the same year, but pretty damn
bad. There is no such thing as a magic bulb that turns bad headlamps into
good ones.

He's got no problem with my mom's 2001 Toyota Camry, which also
uses 9006 for the low beams.

My dad seems to be disappointed in their brightness.

Intensity, but yeah, they're not good performers. GE Night Hawk or Philips
Vision Plus would be a tough-to-find first choice. Narva Rangepower, GE
SUV or HO, or Philips High Visibility would be a close second preference.

Actually, a set of 9012 bulbs would wipe up the floor with any 9006, but
he'd have to pay *very* careful attention to lamp aim. If he's not willing
or able to do that, he shouldn't pursue it. Someone put a good writeup on
those bulbs here:

http://bmwz.org/articles/lighting/0506trick/

He saw a Sylvania Silverstar commercial on TV, and was under the
impression that they could get him near HID performance.

Sylvania paid a lot of money to marketeering [sic] psychologists so that
people like your father would get that incorrect impression.

I think that commercial was on Fox during the Major League playoffs.
I didn't think they'd sell enough to justify that kind of advertising
budget.

Because they're the "whitest, brightest, oh-so-rightest. White hot, super
cool...the ghost in your machine!".

Pffft.

Spoken like Bill the Cat. ;-)