Old Sylv. Xtravision > New S. XV?

[Buck91]

Well I thought this was interesting.

When I finally got the Firebird back on the road about a month ago (maybe two),the high beam was dead in one side, so I replaced it with a new Sylvania Xtravision as I've had great experience with their 9006 bulbs. I also noticed at that time the other side was a XV as well. Cool.

So I get everything installed well. A little Sil-Glyde (silicone grease) on the headlamp plugs. Test and aim. Great!

Buttttt for some reason the old lamp is brighter. Its yellower for sure (which IMHO is good), but its also much brighter with a better beam pattern; more light where its needed. THe new one seems to have more spill/scatter.

Why would they actually REDUCE the effectiveness of their lamp assembly? I forget exactly which lamp it takes off the top of my head, but its the sealed beam from a 1989 Firebird.

 

[Diesel_Bomber]

Could very well be just the normal manufacturing variation. Sealed beams are made as cheaply as possible because they'll just be thrown away. They're pretty much total crap. I've seen them with chunks of glue sealed inside the lamp, stuck to the back of the lens. You could have wiring problems, but the old light being both brighter and more yellow points away from this.

If you want to see better, go to http://www.danielsternlighting.com. Great tech section, as well as fantastic lights that allow you to see much better without blinding others. Daniel really knows his stuff and is interested in making you see better(safely) first, instead of just taking your money.

:buddies:

 

[-Virgil-]

Xtravision sealed beams (in fact, all of Sylvania's sealed beams) are lousy. Really sloppy optics, filament focusing that might as well be "plus or minus half an inch", and poor overall performance. The only sealed beams on the market worth buying at all are the GE Night Hawk units, but you may want to look at good quality H4s instead. See what Stern says.