New headlights, now what bulbs?

So I just got some new clear lens headlight housings from eBay for like just under 70 bucks. Im stoked on them and think they look great. They came with bulbs too which is a plus. Although I am now wondering about the potential for more light output with a better bulb in there.

Here is what I know:
I like the idea of getting an LED setup to keep heat out of the inside of the headlight enclosure, but it seems some of them just dont throw light that far regardless of brightness intensity. I also could not seem to find a decent looking LED kit that would work with my housings. All I know is that whats in there now are H4 bulbs

HIDs from what I know about them, burn a lot hotter to produce more light which seemed like a negative thing to me.

So that leaves halogens. I could grab a pair of "high-performance" halogens that will be plug and play which is always nice, with a better light output than whatever bottom-tier bulb is installed in there now.

I was also thinking whatever route I went, I would try and get the color temp as close to my LED side markers as I could just to keep it kind of uniform. The super warm tone of the halogens next to the much whiter LED side markers is just too much of a contrast for me.

I would love any input from you guys on what I should do.

 

Projector retrofits. Hey have hid and led style projectors, perfect timing while the headlights are out.

 

OP, not sure if you have seen this but its well worth the read time -

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

I vote stick with the halogens.

@crashnburn80 for the thread.

 

See this thread for H4 headlights:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

High power or high efficiency with whiter light and greater distance projection, it is all there.

 

Thanks for the feedback Ill check out those treads!

 

You have the eBay link for those? They look amazing compared to my stock fogged up ones

 

Osram Night Breakers(halogen)

 

Phillips X-Treme Vision H4. Its halogen, but it is far better than stock. Blew my mind when I got them, as I wasnt expecting much. People flash their brights at me now, when I'm in low beams.

 

I've ran Sylvania ZXE's as well as SilverStar Ultras and both are really bright halogens and notably better than stock. I notice you live in Montana too so the problem with LED's is they won't create enough heat to keep snow and ice off the lens which is inconvenient in the wintertime. Bad thing about high performance halogens is they burn hotter so don't last as long. Although I got a year and 2 months out of my ZXE's but only used them when I needed them. A lot of people that use their lights constantly get much shorter life out of them obviously. The ZXE's look and behave a lot like HID's and much cheaper so there's that. They don't come cheap though, about $55 a set.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-1997-1...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

That's a very good point actually. I did not think about that aspect. After reading what everybody has to say, I think i'm going to stick with a halogen bulb. I value a more balanced and controlled light pattern rather than just raw brightness. And considering I don't do a whole lot of night time driving, I think I could get a decent life span from a high performance halogen.

 

@2004TacomaSR5 Took ya'll advice and picked up a set of the ZXE bulbs. Gonna wait until tonight to throw them in and see how much brighter they are over whats currently installed.

 

Great bulb, but shouldn’t blind anyone to cause you to get flashed as the beam pattern is identical to stock. Check your headlight aim.

Note that the coating on bulbs like the XZEs greatly reduce output. They are much whiter light, which many like but actually produce less output. They were measured against the Philips Xtreme +130s a while ago and IIRC the Philips were 3x brighter measured by a lux meter.

If you wanted maximum output out of your headlights, would you put window tint over them? Of course not, then why would you on a headlight bulb?

 

Hm another good point. They were almost double the cost than the next level down at my local Oreilly's. The next level down were the High performance Sylvania Silverstar ultra's. I might call around and see if any other stores have the Philips Xtreme +130s that you mentioned. I'd rather have a higher output than a different color temperature. I think ill also change out my LED sidemarkers at that point back to some halogens so that they match my headlights.

EDIT: Was looking around online and it seems that the Philips Xtreme +130's also have a color changing coating on them from what I can tell. Are these the ones you are talking about? https://www.amazon.com/Philips-X-treme-Vision-Headlight-Bulbs/dp/B00QJWUPC6

 

Ultra high performance bulbs like the +130s are sold under the H4 designation, which is interchangeable with 9003. US standards spec 9003, meaning you are not going to find an H4 only designated bulb at the auto parts store, they are all 9003 or 9003/H4. In short you’ll have to order them online. You might find the +100s which have a 9003/H4 designation in the store.

Philips X-treme Vision +130% Headlight Bulbs (Pack of 2) (H4 60/55W) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QJWUPC6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_pE5VBbWJEY4SG

Scroll down to the ‘Stock wattage performance bulbs’ for other performance recommendations with pros/cons.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

 

Gotcha. Do you think I will really notice a difference between the Philips +130's and the Sylvania zxe's? They both seem to be in the same high performance tier, but people online seem to claim that the Philips are better bulbs that last longer. I would be curious to see a side-by-side comparison between the two.

 

Yes. Here is the light spectrum a halogen produces, you can see there is far more yellow light in a halogen that white/blue.



A blue coating filters out the right side of that spectrum, which is the majority of a halogen light source output, so that the whiter blue light is more dominate, making the bulb appear whiter at the expense of a loss in light output.

I know @Unchained 5150 has run both and can give you his impressions.

 

In reading through the "Ultimate headlight upgrade" thread, it is mentioned that both the +150 and +130 bulbs have blue films on them that only affect the high beam performance. Why would Philips do that knowing that filtering out that yellower light is decreasing the light overall light output? Especially on the high beam side when you would want the maximum amount of light.

 

I ran the ZXE's for years and now run the +130's and they are better than the ZXE's hands down. I have the new Night Breakers +150's at gone and will be seeing those next

 

Awesome. Sounds like that's definitely the route to go.
Ordered on Amazon and will be here Tuesday!