Phillips Nighthawk vs Nighthawk Sport vs Nighthawk Platinum

[passive101]

g/f needs new headlights for her car. She takes 9004 bulbs and Daniel Stern recommends these as being 1 of the 2 best bulbs out there. However there are now 3 versions of it. The Platinum now say they are +90%! The Nighthawk sport appear to be blue and if so I'm ruling those out immediately. The platinum look like they have a small blue band on them. However with +90% compared to +30% does that matter?

Nighthawk



Nighthawk Sport


Nighthawk Platinum

[mboni]

The platinum look like they have a small blue band on them. However with +90% compared to +30% does that matter?

The small blue band is there to appease the 'bluer is better' crowd, but it really has a pretty marginal effect. It's at the tip, which won't affect the vast majority of the light coming from the bulb. I've got bulbs with a similar blue band, but the overall light output is fine. I'd say go for it.

[Scheinwerfermann]

The Platinum is the one to pick for max beam performance. The blue band, as mboni correctly says, does not affect the light within the beam pattern (it's not in the path between filament and reflector). Second choice would be the "plain" Night Hawk. The Night Hawk Sport is just another dumb blue bulb.

[270winchester]

how does the Nighthawk Platinum compare with Philips vision plus in 9004?

(the label says GE, it's a GE product right?)

edit: Looks like it's not out yet and Amazon shows price of around 60 a pair. I hope the prices will come down once it reaches the consumers.

[Scheinwerfermann]

how does the Nighthawk Platinum compare with Philips vision plus in 9004?

Tough call. In realistic terms, probably dead-nuts equal, but I haven't actually tested the NHP 9004. GE makes a good 9004 burner (as 9004 burners go, LOL)

(the label says GE, it's a GE product right?)

The burner is made by GE, then sent to an outfit in Korea where the blue ring and silver tip are applied, then comes final assembly (I think by GE).

Looks like it's not out yet

I saw them on the shelf with my own two eyes last week at a Canadian Tire in Vancouver BC. Took pictures, too:

[270winchester]

Tough call. In realistic terms, probably dead-nuts equal, but I haven't actually tested the NHP 9004. GE makes a good 9004 burner (as 9004 burners go, LOL)

I'll keep an eye out for it locally as I do not reside in Canada. A little spendy for bulbs, considering one can buy a set of Vision Plus for under 30 dollars shipped in the US.

[Scheinwerfermann]

Yeah, I would definitely have a hard time spending $60 for a pair of these (I didn't bother doing to conversion to see what that equates to in US$; it's about the same right now, I'm pretty sure...at least when I crossed the border and exchanged some USD for Canadian cash, I got back in C$ pretty close to the same amount I put in in US$). If there were such a bulb as a Philips Xtreme Power 9004, and I had no choice but to use 9004 bulbs, I might spend $60 on a pair of those. And I'd have no problem spending $30 for a pair of VisionPlus 9004s or NightHawk (non platinum) 9004s.

[270winchester]

Philips Xtreme Power in 9004 we can only dream..

I'm not holding my breath though, 9004 is obsolete and there is no obvious benefit to expand Xtreme Power line into 9004 platform when most people don't even know about the Vision Plus line.

If anything Philips , et al should learn Sylvania's marketing skills, since all I see when I go to auto stores are shelves and shelves of Silver Stars for 50 dollars a pair and people are buying enough of it to keep them on the shelves. Heck I was scammed by Sylvania's "Silver Star" crap for the longest time until I found the Automotive section here.

[TDKKP]

Is this GE Platinum better than HIR/Philips Xtreme Power?

[picard]

I want to know about Nighhawk bulbs too.

[Scheinwerfermann]

Is this GE Platinum better than HIR/Philips Xtreme Power?

No.

NightHawk is basically a +50 bulb lineup. NHPlatinum is claiming to be a +90; I'm taking a "wait and see" approach. Probably better than NH, but I'd be kind of surprised if it equals the Xtreme Power.

Nothing else can touch the HIRs.