H7 Ge Nighthawk Platinum vs Philips H7 X-treme Power

[Alaric Darconville]

I agree with Lightdoctor- over the years,I have toyed with many h4 bulbs- all the marketing hype about "improved focus" bulbs is trumped by more lumens output of the osram 70/65, and more so by the osram 85/80.

Improved focus will often trump output lumens, as it's the focus that gives the beam the distance. As an extreme example, the distance a three-cell Mag light will shine compared to a 40W fluorescent tube shows that focus is quite important. Sure, that 40W tube is cranking out the lumens, but the Mag light will put a spot on a water tower 1/4 mile away. The smaller the light source, the better the light can be controlled.

[deeuubee]

I just bought a 2012 Hamster Car and ordered the Philips H7 X-treme Power for brighter low beams from Amazon.
Should be here next week. While there, I saw the H7 GE Nighthawk Platinums are buy 1 get 1 free until tomorrow night 3/9.
Four bulbs for $40... I had to get them too. With the lower lamp life of these high output bulbs, I'm good to go for a while.
Plus, I use H7's in my other car too.
I'll try both lamps and see if I can post some photos of the comparison.
I can't imagine there's that much difference between the two.
Too bad I didn't notice it before I ordered the X-treme Power H7's.

[Alaric Darconville]

The KIA Soul, I take it.

The Philips bulbs will be better, but the NHPs will still be better than the "long life" and "cool blue" and "sport" stuff out there.

[Lightdoctor]

GE Nighthawks in my opinion are rather wimpy. I've used them and was not impressed. The Philips lamp is an excellent choice...but there's one that is better...the Osram Rallye Hyper 65W H7 +50. I use this lamp in the H4 fitting (70/65W) and am quite impressed with it's performance...only drawback is it's short life, but it's worth it.

[Alaric Darconville]

GE Nighthawks in my opinion are rather wimpy.

Even the Platinum? I can see how the Sport would be wimpy, but not the Platinum.

[deeuubee]

Yes I mean the Kia Soul...(Hamster Car... I love that term. It reminds me of going around in circles like my thought process sometimes.)

Short lamp life... been down that road for what seems like an eternity. I guess it's the price of Bright!

I was using the H7 65W Rallyes for a while and the light was amazing, but 3 cars... 6 bulbs and $$$ later,

changing bulbs twice a year was becoming a hobby that I got tired of. After all, I could be buying more flashlights with that money.

We do alot of night time driving and I'm hoping to get better life out of these. I'm gonna keep track from now on how long they last.

My understanding was that the new Platinum Nighthawks were brighter than the previous model. We see Monday night.

Whichever one is brighter the X-treme Power or GE Platinum Nighthawks will go into my car and the other into the W & kids cars.

I was looking into using the H9B 65W bulbs for my Kia Soul high beams because the H11B 55W high beams aren't bright enough for me.

Why they picked that bulb H11B, I don't know. There is plenty of room in the housing for regular H11's, H9's or 9005 65W bulbs.

The problem is that there are no affordable sources for the H9B bulb in the USA.

Most online sources for them are around $65 a piece from Europe. As opposed to $17 for the H9 locally.

The only alternative is to convert an H9 by cutting off the plastic plug socket.

The tabs are spaced the same as the H11B and should twist right in. We see that Monday too.

Sorry that I strayed from my original thought...it's that going around in circles thing again...

[Marcturus]

changing bulbs twice a year was becoming a hobby that I got tired of.

Only twice a year? Tired of? Such careless talk might get you evicted from this forum.

[Lightdoctor]

Even the Platinum? I can see how the Sport would be wimpy, but not the Platinum.

I don't remember if it was the Platinum or not...I do remember the output was dimmer than a Philips XP, therefore they were returned. I've tryed vertually every H4/9003 on the market except the Philips XV, and my subjective opinion is the Osram Rallye wins hands down, even if the focus is not as tight when compared to the standard watt 9003.

[Qship1996]

I agree with Lightdoctor- over the years,I have toyed with many h4 bulbs- all the marketing hype about "improved focus" bulbs is trumped by more lumens output of the osram 70/65, and more so by the osram 85/80.

[Alaric Darconville]

I agree with Lightdoctor- over the years,I have toyed with many h4 bulbs- all the marketing hype about "improved focus" bulbs is trumped by more lumens output of the osram 70/65, and more so by the osram 85/80.

Beam focus is what gives the beam "punch". I'd rather have a well-controlled dimmer beam than an overly-bright, poorly-controlled beam.

[deeuubee]

OH, I am so sad... I ordered the bulbs for my Hamster Car based on the owners manual, and the manual is wrong!!! Go figure.
The H-7's were listed as low beam, but when I took the covers off, I found out that they are the high beams.
The low beams are H11B bulbs although listed in the owners manual as high beam.

I did put the GE H7 Nighthawk Platinums in the high beams to check them out. While a little brighter, they were nothing to write home to Mama about.
I wonder if the reflector type difference between low and high beams has any effect. Inquiring minds want to know?, but I guess I never will.
So, back they go. (I love "Shop Runner" two day shipping and free two day returns.) I'll put the Philips XP's that I ordered in my other car's low beams.
I guess I'll be putting the "Osram Rallye Hyper 65W H7 +50" in the High beams and track down some H9's to be fitted into the low beams.

Marcturus: flog me for such blastphemy

[Alaric Darconville]

The low beams are H11B bulbs although listed in the owners manual as high beam.
I guess I'll ... track down some H9's to be fitted into the low beams.

The H9B may be a better choice than the H9 as an upgrade to the H11B as far as ease of fit and such, but check with either Scheinwerfermann or Daniel Stern to see if that's advisable for your particular car.

[Qship1996]

Beam focus is what gives the beam "punch". I'd rather have a well-controlled dimmer beam than an overly-bright, poorly-controlled beam.

I agree with the above,however the osram beam is far,far from a "poorly controlled beam" Have you used them?

[deeuubee]

I called Osram USA for a local distributor of the H9B because it was the obvious upgrade at 65W, but they are not available in the US pipeline.
They even denied that such a bulb existed until I gave them the Osram part number.
They said, Oh!, that's a European market bulb...we don't carry those here.
The only place online that I could find them was at a place called SVETILA.com in Slovenia. They are $32 a piece plus shipping to NY.
I don't want them that bad... Anybody know of a local supplier.

I guess I could use a regular H9 bulb for low beam and just change the plug wiring.
I was thinking about going to a headlight relay setup eventually, but
it's a far cry from just swapping out bulbs and puts me in the same price range as ordering the H9B's from Slovenia.