Anybody switched to those 'white' Sylvania headlight bulbs?

I'm talking about the ones at Walmart that sell for about $40 a pair. The light is supposed to be bright white 'LED like' and claim to be much brighter than stock. I have a '19 Off Road with stock headlights. Trying to maybe find a happy medium price-wise than going to the full LEDs. Here are the lights I'm referring to...

 

@crashnburn80 probably has the info you seek

 

I don't have experience with those, but

Philips Automotive Lighting H11 X-tremeVision Upgrade Headlight Bulb with up to 100% More Vision, White (12362XVB2) 2 Count

these are pretty good.

 

+1 on @crashnburn80 .... he's the man

From EXPERIENCE I can tell you this: The higher the performance level of a halogen bulb, the more sensitive they are to spikes in current flow. A few years ago, I was driving the wife's CR-V North on I-57 in IL and decided to put both seat heaters on High at the same time. Instantly, both Silverstar Ultra bulbs failed. So OK, I pulled over and put in the OEM bulbs kept as spares.

Complained to Sylvania. They were nice enough to provide the explanation as well as send along replacement bulbs.

DO YOU THINK I LEARNED FROM THIS EXPERIENCE? No, I did not.

Thought to myself that no way in hell would it ever happen again. Armed with my new knowledge, I had to tempt fate.

Yeah, had to.

Fired up that Honda about 4 months ago in the garage, let it run a few minutes. Turned on those lights .... hit the heater switches .... and blackness.

Gonna try Hikari LEDs next before putting them in the Tacoma.

.... but to answer the OP's question: Yes, they are definitely an upgrade in brightness level.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

See you in a week.

 

We have the silverstars, they’re ok I understand they might only last 1-2 years.

I’d probably try the philips or whatever crash has recommended in that headlight thread.

 

Take a look at post #2 in the thread below, it has peak output intensity and color temp charts for 3rd Gen halogens:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...11-projector-headlights.589465/#post-19689309

Coatings to create whiter light reduce output. Regardless of what the marketing says, it won't look like LED. Halogens cannot operate at that high of a color temp and put out any reasonable amount of light, as blue coatings remove light to make the light appear whiter. The whiter you go, the more yellow light must be removed from the spectrum which reduces the light output. If you wanted 'whiter lights' without sacrificing performance with a fully coated bulb, I'd suggest the Osram NightBreaker Laser +150. You can see in the output charts they are a good improvement over stock while also being whiter. But compared to other performance bulb options, they are not the best as the blue filters to achieve that whiter color are reducing the output. The best H11 for output intensity is the GE Xenon +120, which uses almost no blue coating and instead relies on Xenon gas fill instead of halogen gas to achieve a whiter color. Using Xenon gas is more efficient at increasing the color temp as no light is removed, unlike blue coatings, to achieve the whiter color temp. However, it isn't as white as the blue coated options and Xenon gas is far more expensive making the bulbs more expensive than other options. While not as performant as the Xenons, the GE Megalight +130 are a very good balance of color vs output and cost. Bulb life for these performance options is short though, 150-200 hours, meaning based on my use I'd expect 9mos-1yr. YMMV depending on how often you run your headlights.

As to the Silverstars, they are known for producing whiter light with very short bulb life an minimal performance gain, if any. Some Silverstar models put out less light than stock bulbs, as they are prioritizing whiter color over product performance.

 

Thanks for all this info I was just at the parts store thinking on change to bright white bulbs.
I now think I’ll stay with the originals

 

I'm thinking the same thing. Thanks to all who commented for the info...!

 

I put these in my ‘15 not too long ago. They were not much brighter that I could notice, and they lasted about 4 months.

 

Halogen performance is a spectrum, the higher the performance the shorter the life. That doesn't mean you need to go to the extreme performance end of the spectrum and go for very short life to achieve performance gains. The Philips Xtreme +100s are a good middle ground option that will offer improved output over stock while still maintaining decent bulb life (400hrs) that should last 2 years based on my use. They won't be as high intensity as the highest performance bulbs, but they will also last significantly longer while being a decent bump up over stock. You can choose how to prioritize your performance vs bulb life and buy a bulb to match your needs. Personally for me, I don't mind changing bulbs annually, I see it as a small price to pay for the best output possible but not everyone shares that view and for those there are other more modest performance bulbs available to meet those needs.

 

I installed them last October to use around rural Ontario before returning to the States. Low beam OEM bulbs were not brite enough for the pitch black two-lane country roads between the small towns where there are hills, ditches, and animals popping out of the woods and fields. These are definitely better when you can’t use high beams. Understand they have a short life rating but they are still going strong here in South Florida.

 

Everyone's eyes are different... I've tried most of the lights crash has recommended, but I always have come back to these Philips bulbs. They are just the right temp for my eyes, plenty bright (I'm currently running them in fogs and lows).

For me I absolutely hated those Sylvania Ultras - filters out too much light in the spectrum and it was very noticeable and even dangerous to my eyes in rain.

But whatever you do, don't buy your bulbs at Walmart. Amazon or Powerbulbs is your friend

 

Good to know. Thanks!

 

Do these Philips bulbs fit and work ok in the OEM fogs? I normally keep my fogs on all the time (whenever the headlights are on) just to get the additional illumination. I installed my current Philips bulbs in the lows in September 2018. That said, I only put about 5k per year on the truck over the past three years, and my (almost) 67 y.o. eyes don't like to drive much at night.

 

I bought these and saved my OEM bulbs. These lasted about 8 months and went out. So I put my OEM bulbs back in. just my .02

 

They will fit for fogs in 3rd Gen TRD models equipped with the TRD H11 wide angle fogs. In non-TRD models such as the limited, the trucks have lower power H16 fogs, the Philips bulbs will not be plug and play. You may be able to make them fit with trimming the metal bulb collar, or alternatively you could swap the fogs to TRD fogs by picking up some second hand for cheap from the 3rd marketplace section. Many sell theirs when changing to LED fogs.

 

Do the H9 bulbs and be done with it. For like $10 you get around double the output.

 

I did silverstars and they looked the same as the stock lights... ended up getting HIDs and putting the silverstars into the fog lights.

 

This says everything you need to know: