Brightest 9003 H4 bulb for a Tacoma

I was going to go with Philips or Silverstar hallogen bulbs. But I saw too many HID options with built in ballasts. Would anyone tall something to really through light down the road or whould I just stick with Halogens>

 

I assume its a 2nd Gen. Don’t put HID bulbs in you will blind other drivers and it wont be a real improvement, besides you will lose high beam function.

Here is an informative thread on a halogen upgrade;

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

 

Funny you say that as I was going to buy some OSRAM Night Breaker 150% brightness for 20 bucks!
I dont think the LED put light out far enough although they aprear brighter short distance.
Philips also makes a halogen thats bright too. But no HID.

 

See the linked thread for output comparison charts. Best stock wattage low beam is Philips Racing Vision +200 (+150 is the same with shorter life). The Philips have reduced high beam though due to the blue coating over the filament. Best without a coating over the high beam is Tungsram Platinum or Xenon, but the low beam isn’t as good as Philips. Best overall is the Osram Superbrights 100/90w, but that requires the HD harness covered in the thread. All the details and data is in there, including the comparison to the Osram Nightbreakers.

 

A lot of good stuff is made in China. What you think our trucks being made in Mexico is better?
Some of the HID have a reflective coating on the bulb as not to blind other driver. But the Phillips Racing Vision sounds good, they have Crystal Vision and X treme Vision too.

 

D2R's have a light blocking coating but that isn't going to help with scattered light when the housing it sit's in isn't designed for the bulb.

 

Good HIDs are not made in China. HIDs are not compatible with halogen reflectors, doesn't matter what BS the brand is trying to sell you on about coatings or not blinding others. The HID light source is not compatible with the halogen optics, especially reflectors, it will scatter light and blind other drivers. Any brand trying to tell you otherwise should definitely be avoided, most everyone knew that those products don't work well over 10+ years ago.

Philips Racing Vision is Philip's highest performance halogen bulb line. Crystal Vision will be lower performing than stock, that is not a performance bulb line, it is a cosmetic one for people that want whiter light and don't mind lost output. Xtreme Visions are good too, but they are not as high in performance as the Racing Vision series.

 

I put in the Philips Racing Vision GT200 H4 and am pleased. Appreciate the recommendation from crashnburn80! These are not magic fairy lights but they are brighter than stock. No issues with oncoming drivers.

$29 Philips RacingVision GT200 H4 car headlight bulb +200%, set of 2 White

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Raci...t=&hvlocphy=1027744&hvtargid=pla-987112340540

Didn't buy from Amazon but there they are. My next step would be the ungraded harness and 100w Osram... once I understand all of the switched and unswitched ground talk.

 

The reliability of the Retrofitsource leaves a lot to be desired. I don't know of anyone without at least one component of theirs not having issues. Their only saving grace is their customer service.

 

I drive a lot at night and run the Phillips +130 x-tra visions. They're nice and bright but they never last more than 12 months. I tried the +150s and +200s but the extra cost wasn't worth the little bit of difference.

I do wish the high beams weren't coated. The low beams are so nice that it is kind of a letdown to hit the high beams and get such a faint blue beam. Heard to explain, but it feels like high beam should blast through the dark but it doesn't - just kinda meh compared to low beam performance.

 

Unless I’ve missed something, you don’t see Chinese manufactures advancing HID technology like the German ones. OEM grade brands like Osram and Philips are in a constant arms race to push the technology further, developing +150 and +200 HID capsules to significantly extend output distance projection while remaining at legal levels of output for the safest most advanced lighting possible. There isn’t a single legitimate +xx efficiency Chinese HID bulb I’m aware of. Patents can be all sorts of things, doesn’t necessarily mean it is a decent product. I’ve got a fun comparison pitching Morimoto HIDs against the Philips +150 and Osram +200 HIDs, just need to coordinate with the owner of the assemblies to finish the review.

Agreed with the earlier statement that the Retrofitsource customer service is top notch. I’ve experienced it personally myself and have been impressed. But I also wouldn’t call them extremely credible. Recall they tried to say their original v1 Morimoto LED assemblies were higher performing than the new (at the time) Tacoma OEM LED, but they weren’t.

Agreed on the high beam performance. Tungsram Platinums or Xenon +120 are the best without a high beam coating, but the low beam performance isn’t as strong.

 

I put cheep Chinese Ballasts and HID in my fog lights for my bmw, you could never tell the difference. They looked great.
And most Phillips bulbs are made in China. OEM costs 27 dollars a bulb. The Racing Vision GT200 is 34 bucks for a pair.
So Im off to buy some cheep Chinese bulbs then.

 

Are you some sort of troll or something?

 

I don't understand why this thread was started in the first place if less than $10 difference is a deciding factor in getting the "brightest H4 bulb".

Just be forewarned that those chinese bulbs will likely only last a year or so before failure.

The Racing Visions in my truck lasted 2yrs before I retrofitted my headlights. So they are not only brighter, but I would almost guarantee they will last longer too. Hell, if you just want a cheaper bulb you can usually get Wagner bulbs for like $10 ea from Wally World, but longevity is not great or consistent either.

Heck, you can still get the Gen 1 Osram Nightbreaker Laser +150 for pretty cheap. I tried those for a bit, but preferred the Philips Racing Visions.

$27 OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER LASER H4, next generation, 150% more brightness, halogen headlamp, 64193NL-HCB, 12V, passenger car, duo box (2 lamps)

https://www.amazon.com/generation-b...id=1640898407&sprefix=osram+h4,aps,316&sr=8-5

As others have said. HID's and LED's in 2nd gen Tacoma housings are a really bad idea! Useable output is decreased heavily and there is a lot of glare introduced that is horrible for oncoming drivers. Between the color temperature and the glare induced by plug n play HID's and LEDs makes for terrible vision in snow, rain and fog. Additionally, a PNP HID or LED will not create enough heat to keep snow or ice from covering the lens.

 

No Im being sarcastic because Im sick of everyone saying China produces crap when everything we own is made in South East Asia. Then equating price to a measure of quality when everyones been fool by marketing and name brand when everything is made in the same place anyway.
Thanks for the Osram link, I might get those, or the racing visions as other like their brightness too. Never put HID in non projector assemblies, nice to other drivers. HID's would melt the already melting headlights anyway right ha. After hitting a moose you don't think about cost.

 

Way to miss the 200+ page thread where these bulbs were actually tested and compared to each other, to give you the recommendation on what is "brightest."

 

There are no high performance bulbs made in China. Trust me, I’ve tried all the promising ones. What I did find was a lot of falsely advertised bulbs, claiming to be +xxx when they are not or claiming to be higher power when they are not. Some reputable manufactures, mainly Philips, make some of their standard bulbs in China, but not their performance lines, those are made in Germany. China makes plenty of good things, but high performance bulbs are not one of them. It has nothing to do with being made in China is somehow inferior, it has everything to do with no reputable bulb brands have put their most advanced manufacturing facilities there.