PIAA equipment. My experience is with their conventional bulbs. Yes, they are expensive but you get what you pay for.
Well, that depends on what we define as the product. If the product is a genuine, objective improvement (relative to an ordinary bulb) in your ability to see while driving, then no, we definitely don't get that with PIAA's bulbs, as has been demonstrated repeatedly in objective tests such as those carried out by AutoExpress. But if the product is the warm, fuzzy feeling that comes from believing we've made a clever purchase -- a clever
investment -- then yes, we definitely get that when we buy PIAA's bulbs. That is their product. They're very good at marketing it.
I have used their low and high beam bulbs for 7 years or so in multiple vehicles and have been very pleased with their output
Probably so, but that doesn't mean their output is better, or even that it's good. All it means is that you're pleased with it. Which is nice, but that's all it is. We (humans) make subjective judgments of our headlamps' performance -- more generally, of how well we can see -- that are usually very far out of alignment with how well our headlamps are actually, objectively, measurably working for us and how well we can actually, objectively, measurably see. Companies like PIAA take advantage of the difference between what helps us see and what makes us feel like we can see.
the daytime white (Around 4,000K give or take)
4,000K is not "daytime white" in any real sense, and a bulb (PIAA or any other brand) with blue glass to tint the light is necessarily, automatically a poor choice if the goal is to maximize ability to see.
That is funny, because PIAA bulbs don't have a reputation for long life -- which makes sense, because blue "whiter light" bulbs necessarily have a relatively short lifespan. As Scottie used to say on Star Trek, "You cannae brrrrreak the laws of physics!".
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Lighting is important to me for a number of reasons
It's life-safety equipment on a car, for sure.
and if installing PIAA bulbs has helped me to avoid one accident it is money well spent.
But it hasn't. You can do a whole lot better for a whole lot less money.
Yes. Read the links in post #2 and #3 and the refs and citations they contain if you want to understand why that's the case.
I also am currently using PIAA Plasma Yellow bulbs in the fog lamps of my vehicle.
That's unfortunate.
The wide beam pattern of correctly designed, installed, and aimed fog lamps provides additional up close and mid range illumination.
Foreground light, it's called, and above a (low) amount, it's useless to counterproductive.
Properly installed and aimed and using street legal bulbs they also do NOT bother oncoming drivers because the beam cut off point is well below their line of vision and their is far LESS glare (Almost non existent) than that created from most reflector based OE HID headlamps.
It is definitely not the case that there's no glare because the cutoff is below eye height. Fog lamps tend to be small, with resultant very high luminance, which makes them more glaring than a larger lamp (such as a low beam headlamp) with the same bulb.
Your vehicle may not pass some State required inspections if aftermarket lighting is installed that is not SAE approved...Quality SAE approved lamp assemblies properly installed, properly wired, and properly aimed (All criteria to meet your State and local requirements)
There is (still) no such thing as "SAE approval".
Do be aware that like quality headlamp bulbs quality fog lamp bulbs may burn hotter and have a shorter life expectancy
...weren't you just talking about how long of a lifespan you (and apparently only you) get out of PIAA bulbs? (Also, no, they don't burn hotter unless they are of higher wattage)
I do use LED tail and brake light bulbs because they do provide increased output
There are a (very) few of them that do, in some lamps. Most of them severely degrade the safety performance of the lamp they're installed in.
