To see and to be seen are some of the key components of road safety,
and automotive technology is evolving at a fast pace in that direction. Today, more and more vehicles have factory-fitted HID headlamp ands some are moving towards LED technology, but there is still a very large number of them using standard halogen bulbs.
Over the last couple of years, we have seen upgraded bulbs appearing on the shelves. It started with +20% and slowly raised to +70% and +80%. Ring Automotive have pushed the technology even higher by offering a +100% on some of their bulbs called the XenonMax.
The +100% measure is taken looking at the key points according to ECE Regulation 20 and calculating the percentage difference against standard bulbs. Typical measures are around the lighting at 50m and 75m distance. We could argue that standard bulbs could be very poor, hence obtaining such a high result not surprising...
So nothing like a real test.
We got a pair of H7 bulbs in a Volvo XC90 as a test. This SUV is already pretty good in term of lighting, but we wanted to see how good this new product really is.
The first impression when you fit them and look at the finished products, usually with the bonnet still open and looking straight at the headlamp in daylight (always easier to change bulbs during the day than at night...), is that the light beam is bright, very bright.
We have had them for a couple of weeks and have driven the vehicle at night, in town, on motorway, in good and bad weather. Overall, it is true that they provide a much better lighting. It is difficult to assess the trueness of the +100% claim without proper test equipment, but one thing for sure; they perform better than some award winning +50% H7 that we had on another vehicle.
In clear weather they are great, not as "white" as HID headlamps but not so far behind. It makes night driving, a more relax experience and add the safety aspects to it as well. The only drawback is in thick fog condition where I found the light bightness reflecting a bit too much, but the inconvenience is negligible compared to the benefits of fitting these bulbs.
The only remaining question is the life time. it always depends on the use
and vehicle. If the car runs at a high voltage (ie close to 13v), the life time will obviously shorten slightly, but any bulb would in those conditions.
We spoke to Henry Bisson, Marketing Communications Executive at Ring Automotive, and asked him about his views regarding the future of car lighting.
He says "Halogen bulb technology is moving rapidly to offer motorists a
wide range of choices. Developments going forward will see the move towards ever increasing light output.
However, now that the XenonMax from Ring Automotive has broken the +100% ceiling, any further increases would have to be seen as an ultimate premium performance bulb.
Other developments are to increase life time use. Longer life bulbs already exist such as a our Vision24 bulb, but now there is demand for heavy duty bulbs that cope better with vibration and off road use. The benefit to motorists is a reduction in maintenance costs.
With daytime running lamps being fitted as standard from 2011, many motorists will be using their lights more. As they see more vehicles driving with lights on, motorists will follow and switch their lights on in daytime. Thus longer life bulbs will be more in demand.
The other development is styling. More and more want to be seen to have a modern looking car. Changing bulbs that emit a blue/white light is a simple upgrade to create the effect of a modern car. "
With a retail price (for a pair) starting at £24.99 for the H4 bulbs going up to £36.99 for H11 bulbs, this is not the cheapest purchase you could do.
However for the comfort of seeing better when driving, I put that in the worthwhile investment tray, like a good set of tyres.
