Review: Philips X-Treme Power Halogen Bulbs

[NightKids]

Hey guys! This is my 1st Review so I hope you enjoy it. Well lately with Melbourne's shi**y weather it's been getting dark real early & it's just been pouring nearly every day. My stock headlights just didn't cut it no more as I couldn't see crap at night, so I decided to get some brighter bulbs.

The 1st thing that crossed my mind was HID's and I was gonna order a kit straight away but then after some thought I decided against it. Main reasons for my decision was:-
* Legal issues
* Price
* I was told by a friend with a 6000K kit that vision through rain wasn't very good

So I went to look for the next best thing. After doing some research, a lot of people swore by the quality of Philips bulbs, so I went through their range to see what would be suitable for me. The Philips X-Treme caught my eye because it's apparently the brightest halogens you can get. Here are some of it's features:-

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/7329/1099philips20xtreme20powf0.jpg

* 80% brighter than a standard halogen lamp
* 100% Interchangeable with a standard halogen lamp.
* H7,H4 Quartz Glass construction for ultimate performance.
* German made OE quality
* UV Blocked to protect plastic headlamp components.
* Standard wattage (60W/55W) so it doesn't melt your wires

So I'd thought I'll give this bulb a go since it looks real good on paper. A fellow ozhonda member gave some positive feedback as well so I couldn't go wrong. This bulb is not sold in Australia and a auto lamp site didn't have any in stock so I jumped on eBay to look for it. A guy in the UK was selling them so I picked it up for about $65 inc postage. It was easily the most expensive out of the whole Philips range by far! It arrived in a few days (real quick delivery) so I went over to my friend's place & he chucked them in for me.

First Impressions
We put them in & turned it on. My friend just looked at me & goes "What?!? Is that it?" I felt like I've just wasted money on these stupid bulbs. When it hit the garage it just looked like my normal bulbs. It still had the tinge of yellow in it and didn't seem much brighter at all. So then I thanked him for putting it in & drove out..

On the road
I tell ya these babies are bright as! I could see everything much clearer & brighter. In the dark streets they really excel. Pretty much smiles all round for the trip home. Here are some pictures to show the difference. Sorry about the bad image quality, it was taken with my phone. They don't really do it much justice as it's much brighter in real life, but you can see in the after pic that it really shoots a few metres further & much brighter indeed.

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/8969/withoutoi2.jpg

http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/5608/withow3.jpg

Conclusion
I reckon these bulbs are great! I mean they aren't the brightest you can get but for the price & the performance I reckon it's quite good. The Philips X-Treme bulbs are a great alternative to HIDs, but don't expect HID performance or you'll be greatly dissapointed. I'll definately buy them again if needed and I give them a rating of 4/5. Hope you all enjoyed this review, look forward to doing another one in the future!

[SiReal]

Nice review. What rating temp did you use? It seems more yellow than white.

White bulbs suck compared to OEM yellow ones. Even with HID, unless u have the correct surroundings, I think certain Halogens are better than HID. I am using Polarg B1s which I picked up from Japan recently, 4300K. On wet night, not so good. On every other night fantastic. Compared against my mates blue HIDS, and my ones were almost as good as his (distance wise).

[aaronng]

These ones are probably 3200 or 3700K. They are regular halogen bulbs without blue filters for maximum light. It gets 80% brighter through the reflector and filament design as well as a different inert gas so that it can burn brighter without burning out the filament.

Because these bulbs get most of the gain through reflector design, it won't come out in H1 size. :(

[dsp26]

daaaamn huge difference!!!

[dsp26]

considering these as i will be doing a long trip soon...

got any better pics of beam ahead from outside?

[NightKids]

I've actually chucked on some MTEC ice bulbs to try it out, but I like the Philips X-Tremes better. Thinking of going HIDs too so if your interested in buying them then I'll go HIDs, but yeah sorry no pics of what they are outside, forgot to take them.

[Mugen Civic]

I have experimented with MTEC bulbs with the standard 60/55W (Cosmos blue white & Colorful white) and they are not that much brighter but do give a nice colour.
I'm using MTEC with 100/90W (Colorful white) and it is impressively bright and a very nice white. So if your wanting to go brighter without modification to HID, going to a higher wattage to 100/90W is fine, it didn't melt my wires and i'm using it daily for about a year now. Of course it is not as bright as HID thou.
I have not experimented with wattages any higher than that.

Hope its been much help, the picture has been taken by my mobile phone was trying to justify the brightness.

[rfah]

im thinking of getting the phillips crystal visiion 4300..can anyoen comment on this? is it good better than these extremem ones?

[NightKids]

The X-Tremes are better because they are brighter. They are whitter than the normal bulbs but not as white as crystal vision.

[philmak]

Looks nice as mate...how much were they?

[edit] just realised

[Fizz]

Do you mind telling us where you got it from? any particular website? :)

[NightKids]

Hmmm not sure if i can advertise here... PM me & i'll tell you :)

[markoJEK1]

I have used the phillips diamond vision h4's in my oem head lights and i think they were pretty good had a rating of 4300K ? not 100% sure, but now I have projectors and Im wondering if anyone has tried high voltage bulbs in projector light set ups and how'd it work out?

[Fizz]

Hmmm not sure if i can advertise here... PM me & i'll tell you :)

PM sent ;)

[Fizz]

I have used the phillips diamond vision h4's in my oem head lights and i think they were pretty good had a rating of 4300K ? not 100% sure, but now I have projectors and Im wondering if anyone has tried high voltage bulbs in projector light set ups and how'd it work out?

crystal visions are 4300K. diamond visions are 5000K :)

[dsp26]

mmk.. bought these... his pics weren't exagerrated...

The spill + spot on the light is lot brighter and further than any globes i've had... their A TAD less yellow than standard bulbs but who cares... visibility with these is great!!

[NightKids]

haha good to see that you've finally got a set dsp! I've got them on now & don't wanna take them off LOL. That's why i didn't wanna sell em'..... yeah they make visibility so much better!

[omgzilla]

So the X-Treme Power bulbs are better than the Diamond-Vision bulbs?

Could you PM me price and place of purchase NightKids?

Thanks in advance!

[NightKids]

Yes of course, the Philips XTreme give you up to 80% more light than normal halogens so they are the brightest you can get before HIDs.

I've PM'd you the place of purchase.

[dsp26]

So the X-Treme Power bulbs are better than the Diamond-Vision bulbs?

Could you PM me price and place of purchase NightKids?

Thanks in advance!

this is the cheapest place i could find and free delivery :D excuse the fish talk in the thread hehehe

http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80068&highlight=lighting

[SaBReT00tH]

do the Philips XTreme come in HB4 9006? For 8th gen civic. I couldnt see them on the website you bought them from.

Also, are these much different to the Sylvannia Cool Blue bulbs? I have Sylvanias installed already.

[dsp26]

do the Philips XTreme come in HB4 9006? For 8th gen civic. I couldnt see them on the website you bought them from.

Also, are these much different to the Sylvannia Cool Blue bulbs? I have Sylvanias installed already.

sorry bud, don't see them listed anywhere for your fitment.. checked eBay for you too... i don't see why they wouldn't make them eventually, but then again apparently these are more efficient depending on housing design and maybe HB4/3s are made to a different spec?

[omgzilla]

Thanks guys!

[dsp26]

Thanks guys!

If you want a whiter light then get the OSRAM +90%

[NightKids]

So the OSRAM's are the brightest halogens on the market?

[dsp26]

So the OSRAM's are the brightest halogens on the market?

depends... i watched a video of lighting intensity and range graphs between Phillips/OSRAM.

Osram is whiter especially up close coz of where they did the blue filtering... range was just as long as the Phillips but not as intense at the furthest distance.

Phillips on the other had good intensity all round especially at the longer ranges... not as bright/white as the OSRAMS at close range/low beam... it's also yellow but less yellow than the Narva +50% which i had previously.


Also what i liked about the Phillips was the strength... they turned it on for 5mins and poured water on it and it survived... the OSRAM exploded... this is insignificant to most.. but for those with aftermarket housings that fog up and take in moisture are better to use the Extremes.

The only people i'd reccomend the OSRAMS to are those who absolutely have to have their White lights... their better than any blue coated light on the market including the Phillips Diamonds... however this is absed on my hours of research on pictures, reviews and videos on the net.


I will be ordering a set to see for myself.... i just don't want the hassle from the cops regarding ADR this and that... obviously there are significantly less chances of getting dogged around with the yellower Phillips... just my 2c

[NightKids]

Yeah with my Philips X-Tremes i don't have to worry about being pulled over, etc. because of the little yellow tinge. If it's too white & bluish, attracts a bit more attention

[slidetaker]

Personally, upgrading from Philips Vision Plus, you can obviously tell the improvement in the X-treme power, in intensity and range.

However, I think X-treme power is a very slightly whiter than VisionPlus...

[dsp26]

Personally, upgrading from Philips Vision Plus, you can obviously tell the improvement in the X-treme power, in intensity and range.

However, I think X-treme power is a very slightly whiter than VisionPlus...

the actual light on the road? coz my gfs bro has em and they look whiter in the housing...

but either way getting any of them from powerbulbs.com is cheaper than anywhere in Aus + you get the free Blue Vision Parkers

[slidetaker]

the actual light on the road? coz my gfs bro has em and they look whiter in the housing...

but either way getting any of them from powerbulbs.com is cheaper than anywhere in Aus + you get the free Blue Vision Parkers

Yes. The actual light projected on road is very slightly whiter.

[neo_phase]

For those of you that are wondering about the xtreme power, I just received mine and put it on the driver's side before deciding if it's better than my blue vision.

Check it out..

This is my headlights with BlueVision
http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv308/neo_phase/P1010886.jpg

And this one with Xtreme Power on the driver's side
http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv308/neo_phase/P1010889.jpg

It's clear to me that the Xtreme Power has got a higher intensity, but I'd still prefer to have the whiter BlueVision so I'll be giving this a pass. :p

[geeang]

I've been using the Phillips +80% bulbs, and I've got to say, they're the brightest halogen bulbs I have EVER used (and I've tried about 10+ different sets).

[DvS-]

I've been using the Phillips +80% bulbs, and I've got to say, they're the brightest halogen bulbs I have EVER used (and I've tried about 10+ different sets).

whered you get your bulbs from geeang? lol

[geeang]

whered you get your bulbs from geeang? lol

Autobarn, out of someone else's pockets :wave:

[NightKids]

Yeah you can get the xtremes for a good price in Australia now, no need to get it from the UK

[neo_phase]

Really? When I went to the Autobarn here the guy told me they're selling it for $80.

[NightKids]

Max-Hondapower has them for $55 delivered.

Even though he tried to rip me off with sending 2nd hand goods you can't argue that it's a good price.

[dtrang]

for those of you guys that live in adelaide theres a place on the parade, norwood parade auto parts that are selling them for 49.95

http://www.derek.com.au/philips.html

checked them out cause my bro is using power2night philips for his cbr. was going to get the x-treme but i got a HID kit in my room... tossing up between the two

[JSpec89]

BUMP. looking at getting a set instead of hids. where can i buy them from, autobahn, sca, peps? dont wana buy online.

[NightKids]

Here you go buddy....

http://www.powerbulbs.com/