The Ridgeline has a headlight that is burned out. In my usual fashion, I jumped on the internet to see what was available. Holy Smokes! There must be 100 different H4 bulbs on the market. From the cheap no-name brand for $4 to the super fantabulous for $30.
What works best? LEDs are out. I've never seen them work well in a halogen housing.
No, I'm not replacing the housings. No reputable company makes them for the Ridgeline and the Chinese crap is worse than a 1980s flashlight.
So, in the realm of halogens who makes the best bulb. Phillips makes several levels that all claim to be brighter. Their GT200 series claims 200% brighter. Hella even makes a bulb they claim is 100% brighter. Is there any truth to these claims or are they just charging you $30 for a $4 bulb?
Tell me who you like and why.
If there is something I'm missing or wrong about, tell me that too.
I run the sylvania silverstar in my JDM cars and always been very happy with them
I love the h4 hella higher wattage bulbs. Significant improvement in brightness, no nasty glare, and incredibly long lived.
Duster has also recommended Philips "Extreme Vision" in the past. I installed those in the Sonoma and was happy with the improvement over OE-replacement bulbs.
mr2s2000elise said:
I run the sylvania silverstar in my JDM cars and always been very happy with them
I would warn against the Silverstars as low beams in a daily driver, especially if you have a car that also uses those low beams as DRLs. They are only rated for 200-300 hours, and they perform true to that rating. It's easy to go through multiple sets a year if you drive a decent amount. As separate high beam bulbs they're fine, though.
I go with the Sylvania XtraVsions in my DDs, they seem to have light output comparable to the SilverStars, but with a longer lasting usage profile than the SilverStars and a less white light (which I prefer in the rainy weather).
obsolete said:
mr2s2000elise said:
I run the sylvania silverstar in my JDM cars and always been very happy with them
I would warn against the Silverstars as low beams in a daily driver, especially if you have a car that also uses those low beams as DRLs. They are only rated for 200-300 hours, and they perform true to that rating. It's easy to go through multiple sets a year if you drive a decent amount. As separate high beam bulbs they're fine, though.
All my DD have oem LED, so no issues for me there 
Honestly, the brightest bulbs are the regular Sylvania H4s. The Silverstars have a blueish coating on the bulb that seems brighter but it actually reduces the light output. The bulbs are then overdriven, making up for the lumen deficiency but leading to a short service life.
The Long Life series are a bit dimmer but offer almost twice the rated life.
The next time you are at the FLAPS, read the back of the cards for all of the bulb lines. Some manufactures list the lumen output and rated life. You'll be surprised.
I really liked the Hella lights I put in the G35. I ordered a set of Hella HP 2.0 100% bulbs this afternoon. I will report back and let you know if I like them.
Toyman01 + Sized and said:
What works best? LEDs are out. I've never seen them work well in a halogen housing.
No, I'm not replacing the housings. No reputable company makes them for the Ridgeline and the Chinese crap is worse than a 1980s flashlight.
Tell me who you like and why.
https://www.neow.net/topic/119859-2003-tacoma/
There is a thread on my Taco. It shows the conversion to China headlight globes and LED H4s. I like them but you'll see a post from me that voices the biggest complaint about swapping and that is no heat if you live in snowy/icy places. Your headlights will ice up and your visibility will got to E36 M3.
Ive been through a couple of storms since the swap and only had the one issue. I am normally in S. CA for most of the winter so I am sure it would be worse with more wet storms.
A generalization that is usually true: The brighter they are, the sooner they will fail. Bright means heat, heat kills. So, if you're looking at the range of bulbs for a certain application, you'll find something like this:
Notice you have "good, better, best" and then you have "style." Avoid the Style. Those are the annoying blue headlights you see people have. They suck, both because they're blue, and because the burn so hot that they don't last long.
I have always purchased the Silver Star Ultra (the orange package upper left) and have been very pleased. It's about as hot as you can go without becoming a yearly replacement. 4 years in the Branger and they're still working and give a good, bright light that is almost white.
led bulbs from Amazon.
Remember when Sylvania bulbs were like 1/4 of the price they are now? When every auto store stocks the same one brand, you can just raise the price to whatever you want! Screw that. Amazon has 2000 choices. The LED bulbs were cheaper, brighter, and will last longer than the replace every year crap Sylvania makes.
Dootz
Reader
9/8/21 12:37 a.m.
In reply to lnlogauge :
Except LED are an awful choice for reflector housings due to extreme glare towards oncoming traffic
LED replacements for Halogen bulbs are close to the ultimate in anti-social due to lousy beam control.
Having said that I put high lumen H7 replacements (complete with fins and cooling fans) in the fog lights of my Subaru Outback "because" ...
Ive been running them for about 6 months, with not a single person flashing their lights. Old LED headlights I would completely agree. new ones are not that noticeablely different.
lnlogauge said:
Ive been running them for about 6 months, with not a single person flashing their lights. Old LED headlights I would completely agree. new ones are not that noticeablely different.
The issue is that it's extremely inconsistent between bulb manufacturers, and from reflector to reflector. An example- We put a set of Phillips H4 LED bulbs in 3 different vehicles: 2003 Honda CRV, 2004 Honda Pilot, and 1999 4Runner.
The LED replacement worked quite a bit better than the halogen in the Pilot, but side by side in the other two cars they were giving abyssmal output and tons of glare way outside the beam pattern. It was bad enough that reflective road signs were blinding to drive towards. The final result was that all the cars ended up being to retrofit bi-xenon projectors in the H4 housings, but in the interim we installed Osram Nightbreaker Laser halogen bulbs for the best OE replacement.
For reflector housings, my favorite bulbs were GE Nighthawks. Better light output than Silverstars and they last longer. Not sure if they are still available these days, but back when I had my old 2002 WRX, they were magical.
Daniel Stern Lighting has always been a good resource for replacement bulbs. It appears they're selling Tungsram: https://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html
I tried some LEDs in the Branger.
Absolutely horrible. Light EVERYWHERE. Blinding, annoying light.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
How long ago was this?
I agree with LED, replace anything that I drive with them that doesn't already have them. Getting old so don't see as good as I used to at night
In reply to stuart in mn :
He has interesting content but seems like he only does old school halogen lights.
New LEDs can be rotated in the housing to get the best and most non-offensive light pattern.
Tacomas LEDs are approved by me and the wife as better than standard and, as noted by others, zero flashing of highs from oncoming traffic since I have had them in.
LEDs aren't happening for a couple of reasons. One, I haven't come across a situation where they provided better light. Most of them are 5000-6000k which is too blue for me. As the light thrown gets bluer, color contrast gets worse. The LEDs and HIDs in the G35 went in the trash to be replaced with halogens because of light quality. While they were bright, they were lousy at throwing light down the road where it is needed. I blame that on the bulbs and the cheap ass housings they were in. There wasn't any engineering involved in them, just bling and lumens.
And two, I'm not enough of a jerk that I don't care about the other drivers coming toward me. Halogen reflectors are engineered for halogen bulbs. Personally, I'd be fine with LED replacement bulbs being banned. The sheer number of idiot trucks and ricers driving around with them is bad enough without every other person thinking they are the be-all and end-all of bulb replacement. I gladly return the favor every time one of them is blinding me. If you are running LED bulbs in a set of reflectors designed for halogen bulbs, do everyone else on the road a favor and go back to the halogen bulbs. We would really appreciate it.
If I could find a set of housings engineered by a reputable company for LEDs that would be a different story. I run LEDs in my XJ. I spent about $300 on an engineered solution that works. They work reasonably well. The light is very controlled and cast down the road with abrupt cutoffs to keep from blinding approaching drivers. They still aren't as good as the Hella halogens I put in the G35. That's probably the difference between $300 in engineering and $450 in engineering.
I'm not too concerned about longevity. The bulbs take about 2 minutes to change and in the grand scheme of things they aren't exactly expensive. If I have to replace them every year, that's perfectly acceptable as long as the light provided is better or brighter than a basic bulb. I'll keep a spare set in the glove box.
The Hella HP 2.0 bulbs should be in this afternoon. I'll get them installed and let you know what I think.
sergio
HalfDork
9/8/21 4:15 p.m.
