Today Amazon seemed to be pushing GE's "Nighthawk" headlight bulbs. <--- Link to GE

They claim they are 30% brighter than stock, but still DOT legal, and only using the stock 55 watts.

Further muddying the claims is the fact that there appear to be two different kinds of NightHawk bulbs, regular and "Sport."

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has tried these? Are they hype, or are they truly, noticably brighter than stock/OEM/typical bulbs? If real, they might be a good upgrade without having to resort to the modules needed for HID's.

GE H7 Nighthawk Headlight Bulbs <---- Link to Amazon


UPDATE: I just noticed that while Amazon lists the correct application (H7 headlight bulbs), the GE product finder incorrectly lists the bulb type required as 9006's, so be careful. Crossfires need H7 headlight lamps, NOT 9006's.

 

I did a little more digging and this seems even more dodgy than I first suspected.

GE's own literature lists their regular halogen bulbs as having the same lumens output as the Nighthawk bulbs!

Also, the "Sport" bulb appears to have less than one third the expected lifetime as the regular bulbs!

What is sporting about having bulbs burn out quickly?

Click on image below for larger version in my Gallery.

 

nice job on that research im proud of you!

 

The presentation is greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks.

Even more annoying stuff I just noticed. GE sells a "LL" version, supposedly a "Long Life" version of the bulb, but it also has the same rated life of 500 hours as all versions but the "Sport".

What is going on here?

 

Sounds like a conspiracy to me.

 

I think it's just marketing.

It's amazing how little accountability is required to sell aftermarket parts. People believe everything a company says as gospel, whether it's a brighter, whiter bulb, a 10HP increase from a plastic tube, or better gas mileage from some snake oil. My favorite is the companies that quasi-scientifical high-tech-sounding explanations for their product's purpose, assuming that 90% of their potential customers will enter DUMMY MODE upon hearing it and immediately buy their product because the explanation goes over their head. I applaud companies that can deal with cold, hard numbers and dole out thorough explanations of how their product works and how they performed their design in layman's terms.

As for headlight bulbs, what I've seen is that pretty much every OE replacement aftermarket bulb that promises more light or "better" "white" light (the ones aimed at tuners, etc.) actually cuts down on real brightness out of the bulb. Not to mention that yellowish bulbs are better at not blinding other drivers.

 

I don't know. But I've been using Sylvania SilverStars in my Tahoe for 3 years and I know they're brighter than OEM. I installed SilverStar Ultras in the xFire and they are brighter. Not by a whole lot, but brighter.

 

I had Silverstars before, as well. To me, they seemed to be the least based on marketing hype. I will say that they're whiter, and they make me squint a little more when I look at them, but I think testing for actual light output will show it's not as bright (most aftermarket bulbs use a film on the bulb to change the color, so it will always be <100% output). You've gotta move up above the 55w to get more light, then you hear horror stories about people melting their sockets...

Just the hearsay I've heard.