Eco headlight bulbs

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JHZR2

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I had an H7 burn out in my saab on a road trip. Decided to give the underpowered/overdriven "Eco" bulbs a try. This one is a sylvania, though Philips makes them too... My understanding is that the Eco bulbs are a lower current rated filament, but a hotter burning one.

I've used +30 and +50 H4 bulbs for years. My saab is my interstate car and I was willing to possibly give up a few lumens in the interest of a test. No bulb lasts forever, and if it were so bad, it could have always gone in the spare bulb pile.

But it looks like their claim of up to 25% more output than used standard bulbs is right.

Left is the Eco bulb with about 20 hours on it. Right is an OE Philips long-life that I installed around four years ago, and has maybe 20k miles of use. This car runs the headlights full power at all times, as DRLs.

54793155-98AA-48FF-BFC1-CE25D8161C28-838-000000C8DD9D0B6F_zps2f06f330.jpg


CD3F73F0-5F56-476C-A9F3-9D739FD6E072-838-000000C8E28EDDF4_zps295de3cc.jpg


I'm happy. They seem marginally brighter, draw around 1A less current (and should be cooler in the housing, preventing it from getting hazed from the inside), and notionally will last longer. Who knows though.
 
I got some phillips like that. Tiny bit better than what was in before (no idea since carbought used). I later saw some phillips ones that were a whiter brighter light and bought those. Its a more noticeably better than the eco ones but still not a huge difference. Next time i get a set im going to try the nighthawk or strongest sylvanias.
 
Yes! Replacing the high performance bulbs every six to nine months where the original bulbs were still running at the end of the decade gets extremely annoying!

Do Eco bulbs costs same as standard OEM?
 
They should last quite a bit longer, since bulb life is inversely proportional to burner power. The way I understand it, an underdriven burner should last much longer than even a standard burner.

Where did you find these? I've never actually seen one of these ECO bulbs out in the wild.

Thanks for posting the pictures.
 
I bought these at AAP, same price as the other bulbs. Ive seen the Philips for cheaper at Amazon.

All are made in Germany, as I recall. I know my osram sylvania ones are.
 
Please note that all filament bulbs get significantly less bright over time. It is a real good idea to change out all your signal and headlight bulbs that have been in use over 5 years or so if you want to retain design output levels. Halogen technology slows down this process a bit. A dark deposit on the globe is a giveaway to this process. Even HID bulbs lose significant output over time; yes they do.
 
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" their claim of up to 25% more output than used standard bulbs is right. "

I never understood that claim, nearly all manufactures use it. Can't this be said for nearly any new bulb compared to a used one? Wouldn't it be more helpful to say 10% brighter than a new OEM long life bulb....or it is the same brightness as a brand new OEM bulb but uses 10% less energy?
 
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The packaging says that bulbs will dim up to 20% over their life. They are saying that the EcoBright is up to 25% brighter at 100% brightness than an aged bulb at 80% brightness. So I suppose that it could be loosely said that these are 5% +/- brighter than a new standard bulb.

Note that OEM bulbs are often LL versions (or Long Life) versions of standard bulbs, and these are generally slightly dimmer. If you are comparing what is truly an OEM bulb (dimmed), I would imagine the EcoBright to be slightly greater than 25% brighter...using their marketing math.
 
Originally Posted By: rfeir
Please note that all filament bulbs get significantly less bright over time. It is a real good idea to change out all your signal and headlight bulbs that have been in use over 5 years or so if you want to retain design output levels. Halogen technology slows down this process a bit. A dark deposit on the globe is a giveaway to this process. Even HID bulbs lose significant output over time; yes they do.


Good words here in my opinion. I replaced the D2S bulbs in my Mazda6 last fall and what a difference it made; the factory [Philips 85122+] bulbs were only from '09 but I could tell a difference in output. To me, $85/pair [Amazon] for new Philips D2S xenon/HID bulbs every 18 months is cheap enough for the increase in light output I get. I realize that is probably only about 1000/hours for 18 months when most HID bulbs are rated for 2500+ hours, but by the half-way mark, there is a significant decrease in output.
 
Now, LED headlights are another story, but look at their current replacement costs.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
The packaging says that bulbs will dim up to 20% over their life. They are saying that the EcoBright is up to 25% brighter at 100% brightness than an aged bulb at 80% brightness. So I suppose that it could be loosely said that these are 5% +/- brighter than a new standard bulb.

Note that OEM bulbs are often LL versions (or Long Life) versions of standard bulbs, and these are generally slightly dimmer. If you are comparing what is truly an OEM bulb (dimmed), I would imagine the EcoBright to be slightly greater than 25% brighter...using their marketing math.


Unfortunately the real valuable number - lumens, was not given. That would be most telling.

If it is as good as OE LL bulbs (the car has full power DRLs, and came OE with LL bulbs), im happy. Ive always been impressed with the lighting on these Saab headlamps.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Unfortunately the real valuable number - lumens, was not given. That would be most telling.


As I understand it, the Eco bulbs are somewhat similar in nature to the high performance bulbs. The high performance bulbs use material and filament technology to maximuze the lumen output while maintaining the required nominal wattage. The Eco bulbs, on the other hand, use material and filament technology to minimize the nominal wattage while maintaining the required lumen output.
 
80% + ( 25% of 80% ) = 100%

If I'm not mistaken, all they are claiming is that these reduced wattage bulbs (when new) are as bright as a new standard bulb.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Unfortunately the real valuable number - lumens, was not given. That would be most telling.


As I understand it, the Eco bulbs are somewhat similar in nature to the high performance bulbs. The high performance bulbs use material and filament technology to maximuze the lumen output while maintaining the required nominal wattage. The Eco bulbs, on the other hand, use material and filament technology to minimize the nominal wattage while maintaining the required lumen output.


Correct
 
Originally Posted By: Thermo1223
I looked in a variety of auto places in PA and can't seem to find them. I guess I must venture in to NJ.



Actually got mine in FL!
 
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