Comments about Sylvania SilverStar headlights?

[BuddTX]

So, has anyone used them yet? A couple of people posted positive comments, but I have not heard of many people actually useing them.

Just curious, as I want to buy them soon, before the 10.00/pair rebate expires
Click on the "SAVE TEN DOLLARS" button

Interesting, this thread goes from 2003 and then jumps to 2009!

[Alaric Darconville]

I saw them at Wal-Mart the other night, $47.99/pr. I got that "rice boy" feeling just looking at them, the glass envelope is tinted blue, and the packaging just screams "I'm the coolest dude in my high school." I'd pass on them, myself.

[Orion]

I have some. They aren't extraordinarily bright, but they do have a more white beam as compared to normal headlights. But when someone comes along with HID headlights, it makes the Silverstars look more yellowish. They definitely don't have that blue look to them.

[BuddTX]

[ QUOTE ]
Alaric Darconville said:
I saw them at Wal-Mart the other night, $47.99/pr. I got that "rice boy" feeling just looking at them, the glass envelope is tinted blue, and the packaging just screams "I'm the coolest dude in my high school." I'd pass on them, myself.

[/ QUOTE ]


I am pretty sure the SilverStar is NOT like those cheap blue lights that you see 18 year olds put into their car.

Read this Review.

[larry]

Budd:

I have them in my 2003 Jeep Liberty. Not only are they brighter, the pure whiteness of their beam makes them more effective for night driving vision. They are worth the additional money.

Larry

[Zephyr]

I totally love mines! I have them in my 98 Honda Civic (no, I'm not one of them racer people [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]) and I noticed a significant increase in output. I actually noticed an improvemnt in visibility, espcially driving in rainy and foggy conditions. Although the SilverStars are coated blue, they actually don't have that HID tint that many cheap HID immitation bulb has. Instead, it just gives it a bit of whitesh tint compared to some ordinary Halogen. In fact, I have an 80 watts PIAA fog lamps on my Civic and they're much yellower in compaison to my SilverStars. I would recommend them to anyone who would want to upgrade their stock Halogen bulbs.


ZEPH

[freeze12]

I have them in my 2001 Old's Alero & they are definitally brighter & whiter than anything else I have used & they have NO cheap blue tint to them.Well worth the $$

[highlandsun]

You guys are deluding yourselves. If you see blue tint on the glass capsule, then it may not be a CHEAP tint, but it's still a tint. Halogen bulbs just don't have that much blue/white output in their spectrum; the tint is filtering out useful yellow light to give you that blue/white effect.

And remember, human eyesight is more sensitive to yellow light than blue. Putting a blue filter on the bulb is giving your eyes less to work with, and what it gives you is in the glare-inducing end of the spectrum. Two strikes, totally counterproductive.

[highlandsun]

Oh, another story in the line of "bluer is not better" - I have HIDs on my car; I ordered 4100K bulbs but they were out of stock so they originally shipped me a pair of 5000K bulbs. If you've been following all the hype, you know that these are supposed to be even closer to daylight color, and even better for visibility.

Well, oddly enough, they were true to their word, and it sucked. During twilight hours, around sunset and during sunrise, the headlight color matched the daylight color perfectly, and so you got no visual feedback that the lights were on. No visible beam pattern on the pavement or road signs. If you were unfortunate enough to be driving at these times, you couldn't see any better than if your lights were off. With a yellower headlight, (I now have 4100K bulbs, as I originally wanted) even if the light intensity is the same as before, you can see more because there's *contrast* - you can see shadows and details and you can read road signs.

Here's another fact about human eyesight - it works on edge detection. When you have sunlight and headlights both the same color, even if the sunlight is relatively dim and the headlights are relatively bright, your eyes are going to act like there's no information coming in, because there's no contrast, no edge information. When you have headlights of a contrasting color, your depth perception improves dramatically, because your brain can cross-correlate overhead shadows from the sunlight against the beam shadows of your headlights.

Granted, these periods of time are relatively short, maybe an hour or so at most, but they also tend to be intervals that you most need to be on the road, if you're commuting. It's just another factor to add to eyestrain and stress. Not good.

[larry]

Higlandsun,

Before you condemn the SilverStar bulb, experience one and then give us your opinion.

Larry

[JollyRoger]

I agree. Highland Sun, you just need to try them.

I have them in my car as well. I've tried lots of different lights...and these are pretty darn good. No, they're not blue. No, they're not yellow.

The beam is a nice color...almost slightly greenish sometimes, very very slightly bluish sometimes....it's just a nice color temperature for an incandescent bulb. Coming form a major manufacturer, you know they're going to ge better quality than those cheap (but expensive) aftermarket lights sold at local carboy shops, etc.

I can see the road just fine with them....I DO recommend them at the $10 off price!

[NightShift]

Did anyone find the SilverStars online for cheaper?

[MacGyver]

Check out this page of Daniel Stern Lighting, click on the two linked pages 'unacceptable blue bulbs' and 'acceptable blue bulbs'. Excellent reading.
The silverstars are listed at the bottom of the 'acceptable' page along with a few others as the ones he would recommend.

[highlandsun]

I should note that I used to use Sylvania XTraVisions before I upgraded from sealed beams to H4 lamps. They were certainly worthwhile as far as sealed beams go, but still not as good as E-spec lamps, and definitely no comparison to real HIDs for total brightness. If you want more light without changing anything else, stick with the XTraVisions.

[Bushman]

I likie my silverstars for what its worth...

[Azreal911]

if you guys buy the american version the sylvania silverstars. you WILL have that blue tint, but if you order the european version called Osram Silverstars, they will have NO tint which is actually brighter. Exactly same bulb specs, but without the tint. this is if you guys are choosy about tints saying they are brighter. my friend ordered the osram versions and took a pic for both lights with a set camera setting and did notice a improvement, but he had the ricey lights before so the improvement was significant. i use some canadian tire high output halogens with no tint and when i changed only one headlight, had my other head light with a very LIGHT blue tint that's has some dot approved sticker on it (eurolite plasma). the yellow canadian tire light was very noticably brighter than the "whiter coloured" light. I never went back to any tinted bulbs after. so if you guys order any of these, get the Osram version. If tints = brighter, we would have seen surefires and maglite bulbs setting tint versions on their lamps! hahahahahh! but they don't have it for a reason. somehow i don't know why they tinted the bulbs sold to north america, do they think we are a ricey nation or something?

[soloco]

I totally agree with the above posts about the crappiness of the NA SilverStar. I have them in my Camry. My stock bulbs are much brighter. My bulbs are much whiter now, but it's much less noticable in the city if I forget to turn on my headlights. I'm looking for some nice quality bulbs WITHOUT resorting to TINTS! I'm thinking of checking out the Polarg Halogen Max Clear or the Raybrig Racing Hyper Halogen. They both seem to be pretty high quality with a minimal amount of tint. I'm actually leaning toward the Raybrig. Anyone have an experience with them?

[GJW]

Polarg and Raybrig both appear to be using the same hyped nonsense as all the other "blue" bulb companies.
What led you to believe they were "nice quality"?

The Raybrig bulb you mentioned promises 130/125W using your stock wiring.
Common sense immediately tells you its bullsh*t.
One site does state "For exclusive competiton car use only, prohibted for use on a (sic) public roads."
Nowhere I found mentions DOT or "street legal"...
Translation: the bulbs are actually dimmer than required.

The fact that all of their bulbs use the Hx designation instead of the 9xxx tells you that they were not made with American drivers in mind.
Those designations are not only sizes -- they refer to ANSI and ASTM standards. A bulb with only the Hx designation means it was never tested to American standards.

Save your money (and possible your life).

[Velcro]

This can go on and on. We need beamshots and lux measurements!

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif[/img]

[DeltaPositive]

Installed a set of them on our 2002 Subaru WRX, wife and i both love them. Left the stock bulbs in the factory fog(white)lights and can tell a drastic difference in color temp. between them. Thought about changing the fog bulbs to a ionic crystal(yellow) type for more versitility.

Delta

[LaVaDog]

I have a 2000 Ford Eddie Bauer Expedition and I put silverstars in my headlights and fogs and love them! A lot better performance then factory!

[dano]

I didnt know this thread was here...Anyways, I stuck a pair of Silverstars in my WRX, and I don't have any blue tinted beam. They are a bit whiter than stock, and I disconnected the DRL's (daytime running lights)...

--dan

[Orion]

Dang, dano. You are one lucky individual. I've been lusting over the WRX for quite some time, but can't flip the bill for one at this time [plus my current car works just fine]. I would love to have something that has over 200 horsepower, with all wheel drive, and have the reliability that Subaru has.

Lucky guy. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[FalconFX]

...Maybe it's time to save up for the WRX STi... Or the Evo-VII...

Anywho, I took out my SilverStars, stuck in some PIAA Plasmas, took them out and stuck in some Rallye bulbs, and all I can say is, even though it's less white, the Rallyes put out more light (no lickity), and are there to stay... And more light's always good, even if it's 100W/130W...

[Chevy]

I have Sylvania Silverstars on my 2005 Chevy Silverado (Headlights and Foglights), and they work great, and are very white and have a long viewing distance.

Although, the foglights suck, I have had to replace 3 in the past 3 months, but the headlights have been working great ever since I've had them.

[CYBER4WOLF]

I have used Sylvania SilverStar & Sylvania SilverStar Ultra & PIAA Extreme White Plus & OEM stock all with the lowbeam 9006 socket.

I also have KC HiLiTES 6"slimlines with a 130 watt blue-ice bulb (white lite) & 3x5 Wide Beam LX2 Driving Lights with a standard KC halogen 55 watt bulb on the front of my 07 chevy trailblazer.
The KC HiLiTES 130 watt blueice bulbs which originally sold for $37.89 each, Now sell for just ten dollars, all their WHITE lite bulbs are dirt cheap now. My 3x5 lights with standard halogen bulbs add the extra contrast needed to see in bad weather, back roads & off road.

All the 9006 bulbs I mentioned above are WHITE lite AND without the 3x5 lights I would not be able to see in bad weather very well, I tried. Thats why I had the 3x5's installed.

Now to which 9006 is the brightest and whitest, that goes hands down to the PIAA. DO NOT BUY Sylvania SilverStar Ultra - I STRESS - ULTRA, the Sylvania SilverStar regular are GREAT. The Sylvania Ultra bulb loses the gas inside over a short time and then the bulbs are much dimmer
than stock bulbs. The ultra's have a short life and then they are horrible. You will not have this issue with PIAA Extreme Plus ($85.00 set) or Sylvania SilverStar ($37.00 set) "regular".

Honestly I am planning on taking out my PIAA's and installing regular stock bulbs ($14.00 set). Whiter and brighter does not mean you will be able see any better, it just means that you will blind oncoming traffic much easier. Whiter and brighter are simply horrible bulbs in any environment that is not open, clear & dry. That means they are bad in the rain, snow, back roads & off road, but they are truely absolutely GREAT for DRY night highway driving. They are acceptable in the rain ONLY on roads with reflectors embedded in the roadway signifying the lanes which alot of highways now have.

I owned 4 Dodge Neons, 3 with factory driving lights and Sylvania SilverStar "regular" headlight bulbs and never ever had difficulty seeing in bad weather at night when combined with driving lights. I felt silverstars were better than stock in that vehicle, but only when used with driving lights. I owned 1 Neon without driving lights.

Yes the vehicle makes a difference, I feel the stock bulbs are better in my trailblazer due to its light housing & assembly\reflective properties. All I can say is make sure your stock headlights are properly adjusted and if you still cant see in the rain consider having driving lights installed because most new vehicles have the abilaty to come with driving lights installed now.

For clarification: In the rain, white lite will allow you to see the deer/HUMAN infront of your vehicle that you are going to hit in 2 seconds but, you will not see it standing on the side of the road, you will only see it when it is in front of you and then it is too late.

I have been driving with PIAA's for over a year on back roads with lots of deer in the rain. Thankfully my KC slimlines produce 600,000 candle power so I can see if I need to in the rain.

PIAA Extreme White Plus is Horrible, Horrible, Horrible in the rain, Silverstar regular are only OK, but the best bulbs for rainy bad weather is OEM STOCK bulbs or a bulb that emits all the colors of
the spectrum. NOT just WHITE !

I hope this helps to save somebody some time and money.

[CYBER4WOLF]

The only bulbs LEGAL for use on USA highways & roads have a MAXIMUM of 55 watt lowbeam and 60 watt highbeam & 55 watt driving\fog, the bulb MUST be US-DOT approved. My KC slimline's are installed as auxillairy lights to my highbeams, this means they are wired in and only will work with the highbeams and will not work any other way, they also must have a kill switch to make them stay off & does nothing else but stop the lights from coming on with the highbeams. They are legally installed auxillairy lights, their usage is questionable, but in the rain on a desolate road with no other vehicles or people around who is going to be there to complain. You just have to use common sense or you will have to deal with a $125.00 fine and a really mad police officer. I flick them on and off for visabilaty of the road ahead and only in the rain, I NEVER EVER leave them on & I only turn the master switch on when it is raining and I am on a desolate road. I have flashed people with excessively bright lowbeams (not US-DOT aproved or altered highbeam bulb) or highbeams, they turn them down or OFF Real Fast. How well could you see with OVER 1,000,000 candle power blasting you in the face. So I STRONGLY recomend if you are in the USA that you only use all US-DOT approved legal wattage except possibly your Auxillairy lights to your highbeams and you should have them legally wired in, so you will not flash somebody by accident\mistake.

[Scheinwerfermann]

The only bulbs LEGAL for use on USA highways & roads have a MAXIMUM of 55 watt lowbeam and 60 watt highbeam & 55 watt driving\fog, the bulb MUST be US-DOT approved.

None of that is correct. There is no all-encompassing wattage restriction on bulbs producing any particular forward illumination function (low beam, high beam, fog, etc.). And even if there were, it wouldn't be 55w on low and 60w on high. Each and every type of bulb used in forward illumination lamps is regulated as to its maximum allowable power consumption, and there is no restriction in terms of particular bulbs being usable only in low beams, only in high beams, only in fog lamps, etc. You can find the actual wattage limits for each bulb type in easily-readable format here. Wattage is specified at 12.8v, which is the specified test voltage in the US regulations. Note that the actual wattage differs in some cases from the nominal wattage commonly stated at 12v (such as the "60/55w" HB2, for example).

Also, fog lamps and "driving lights" (auxiliary high beam lamps is the correct term) are not regulated at the Federal level, but rather by each individual state.

Also, there is no such thing as "DOT approved". The US DOT does not type-approve regulated vehicle components including lights and bulbs, as is done in Europe and Japan and many other countries. Instead, the US regulations work on a self-certification system: the manufacturer of the bulb (or headlight or seatbelt or whatever), by applying the "DOT" mark to the bulb or lamp, certifies (i.e., states and promises) that it meets all the regulated specifications. The DOT has the authority to force recalls and issue fines and other penalties if they decide to check a component offered on the market and find it's not compliant, but there is no "DOT approval" required (or possible) before selling regulated components in America.

My KC slimline's are installed as auxillairy lights to my highbeams (...) in the rain on a desolate road with no other vehicles or people around who is going to be there to complain (...) I flick them on and off for visabilaty of the road ahead and only in the rain (...) I only turn the master switch on when it is raining

High beams and "driving" (auxiliary high beam) lights are never appropriate for use in the rain.

I have flashed people with excessively bright lowbeams (not US-DOT aproved or altered highbeam bulb) or highbeams, they turn them down or OFF Real Fast. How well could you see with OVER 1,000,000 candle power blasting you in the face.

Your KC Slimlites do not produce anywhere near 1,000,000 "candle power" (or candela), no matter what the box might've said — and not just because they're KCs. There aren't any automotive auxiliary lamps that come close to that figure. Not even a little bit close. With your particular lamps, if you've got the fog version, your peak beam intensity is around 10,000cd with a DOT-certified bulb. If you've got the "driving" (aux high beam) version, peak intensity is around 45,000cd with a DOT-certified bulb. Put in a 100w bulb instead, and add about 60% to the peak intensities. Still several orders of magnitude below the "million" claim.

Now to which 9006 is the brightest and whitest, that goes hands down to the PIAA.

Nope. Blue-glass bulbs are never, ever the right choice for optimal safety performance (seeing) from vehicle lamps -- period. It does not matter whether they're branded PIAA and cost $40/bulb or branded Sylvania and cost $40/pair or branded anything else and cost anything else. Blue-tinted glass does not make the light "whiter" or "brighter" in any way, shape, or form. It does not improve anything about the light. All it does is change the appearance of the operating lamp and reduce the beam performance. It's just simple physics, really.

Presently the best 9006 bulb is the Philips Xtreme Power. It runs right up against the upper limit of allowable flux for the 9006 (HB4) bulb type, has a very high luminance, compactly-wound filament very precisely focused within the bulb glass, and does not filter the light through blue or other-color glass. That is the recipe for optimal performance out of a bulb.

[Scheinwerfermann]

Polarg and Raybrig both appear to be using the same hyped nonsense as all the other "blue" bulb companies.
What led you to believe they were "nice quality"?

The hype and nonsense, obviously! Most people claim not to be influenced by advertising, merchandising, and marketing, but that is the ugly beauty of marketing psychology: it works, it works very well, and it leaves people truly believing they're acting of their own free will with no outside influence. Advertising and marketing just plain work! If it didn't, if everyone who believe themselves to be immune to its effects were actually immune, advertising would stop happening. But it's a multibillion dollar industry showing no signs of slowing down because it works. Even when presented with rock-solid facts and data, people will dig in their heels and swear that their Nokya, Polarg, Raybrig, Sylvania Silverstar, PIAA, etc. blue-glass "white light" bulbs are better. Oh yeah, they're totally immune to advertising...not!

The fact that all of their bulbs use the Hx designation instead of the 9xxx tells you that they were not made with American drivers in mind. Those designations are not only sizes -- they refer to ANSI and ASTM standards. A bulb with only the Hx designation means it was never tested to American standards.

That's not correct at all. There are at least nine types of bulb that are allowed and common in the US market that have only Hx designations.

[Scheinwerfermann]

Higlandsun,
Before you condemn the SilverStar bulb, experience one and then give us your opinion.

There is no more need to try out a blue-glass "whiter light" bulb than there is to try out a square wheel. Tinted glass = less light. Always, every time, no matter the brand name or price or advertising claims.