I think I may have made a mistake.

[Erik1213]

I had Osram All Season selective yellow bulbs in my low beams. They were in there for two years, which is amazing because I drive a LOT.

I had a set of Philips Xtreme Power +80s sitting on the shelf for almost a year. I decided to swap them in thinking that they must be better, why else would so many people recommend them?

But, my lights seem harsh and unpleasant now. Yeah, they're brighter and definitely not yellow any more but the selective yellows were actually really easy on the eyes and very nice to drive with.

Is the Philips Xtreme Power really so bright that it is offensive? Or was I just used to a dim bulb?

 

[TedTheLed]

you're used to warmer, more natural light that depicts objects in their more familiar colors; ie. the ones you usually see them in... in other words you prefer a slightly yellow-red hue to a cool bluish hue...a sign of good taste. :thumbsup:

 

[SemiMan]

Actually the Philips are more natural. There is nothing natural about seeing by candlelight.

That said depending on your lights the high amount of foreground light of a bluer spectrum may give the perception of more glare and may kill your night vision a bit. Lots of trade offs in headlights.

Your foreground viewing is likely better .... Not sure about at distance though.


Semi man

 

[-Virgil-]

Distance visual acuity and everything else about your (objective) seeing will definitely be better with the new bulbs than with the ones you had before. Give it a couple weeks to get accustomed to the different color and distribution of light.

 

[Erik1213]

Why would all of those things be better? Driving home tonight and they're not bad but I do miss the light yellow hue everything had before.

 

[-Virgil-]

Why would all of those things be better?

With the new light you have more light and better beam focus with longer seeing distance. If you really miss yellow light, you can get snap-on yellow balloons like the ones that used to be permanently attached to French-spec H4 bulbs.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

With the new light you have more light and better beam focus with longer seeing distance. If you really miss yellow light, you can get snap-on yellow balloons like the ones that used to be permanently attached to French-spec H4 bulbs.

Or you could wear very lightly tinted selective yellow glasses (but the tinting is a matter of precision-- you don't want to cut out too many wavelengths or even too much of the proper wavelengths). Then purt'near EVERY headlamp will be selective yellow! Yay! (YMMV, some assembly required, etc)

As a guideline, you want something like the K2 filter, such as depicted here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/23835-REG/Hoya_A52K2_52mm_Yellow_K2_HMC.html
A competent optical shop may be able to get the tinting done for you-- key word is "competent", so Lens Crafters is almost certainly out.

 

[Lightdoctor]

I had Osram All Season selective yellow bulbs in my low beams. They were in there for two years, which is amazing because I drive a LOT.

I had a set of Philips Xtreme Power +80s sitting on the shelf for almost a year. I decided to swap them in thinking that they must be better, why else would so many people recommend them?

But, my lights seem harsh and unpleasant now. Yeah, they're brighter and definitely not yellow any more but the selective yellows were actually really easy on the eyes and very nice to drive with.

Is the Philips Xtreme Power really so bright that it is offensive? Or was I just used to a dim bulb?

I used to use these (Osram Allseason Super H4's)in my truck and really liked the golden hue, but found that using Osram's Rallye 70/65 H4 was a great improvement in focus and output...I actually could see better with these.