Did these to my daughters 1.1 Panda, as we now live in the dark sticks. The difference is amazing. Whiter, brighter, and good penetration. It is remarkable how much light technology has advanced for just £20. (Bit pricier now) , and Philips are still world leaders in light technology.They took 4 minutes to fix, not the 2 hours on a Prius.
Best £20 you can spend.


Philips 12342XV+S2 Philips X-tremeVision halogen headlamp H4 12342 XV+ 12V 60/55W P43T S2 +130% more light 45m longer beam, Set of 2


[ame]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-12342XV-S2-X-tremeVision-headlamp/dp/B00NMEEOV2/ref=au_as_r?ie=UTF8&n=248877031&newVehicle=1&s=automotive&submodelId=17627[/ame]

Ditto

Just fitted mine £22.50 (off fleabay) - what a difference

I got a set for mine but wasn't able to get them fit. I couldn't get the clips off. They look different to any others I've seen on Panda's.

Did you buy H4's? All H4's are built to standard. H7's, H1's, H3's etc are for different fittings/cars.

gr J

This sounds like a great idea, my Panda 4x4 has a set of extra headlights but I have found the normal ones a bit lacking now during winter (the sun sets at about 15:30 here right now).

I'm used to buying electronics from China when there's no rush. Looking at aliexpress.com there's plenty of H4 LED lights for this purpose. Any experiences with such things? Or is halogen still the best for retrofitting?

Get the Philips ones, they came out best in the Auto Express headlight bulb test.

Be very carefull with H4 LED. Bought and installed some to find out that they were only putting out 650 Lumen (Lm) And that's just total and utter crap.
You need at least 3000 Lm to have the amount of lighy you need.

gr J

I am watching some on ebay about £32 cree led around 3/4000 lumen

MLW said:

Get the Philips ones, they came out best in the Auto Express headlight bulb test.

Click to expand...

Noted! Good, tried and tested is not to be underestimated. Found them at Swedol in Sweden for 239 SEK ( ~20 GBP, ~30 USD). I am mearly curious as to what other options might exist.

A3jeroen said:

Be very carefull with H4 LED. Bought and installed some to find out that they were only putting out 650 Lumen (Lm) And that's just total and utter crap.
You need at least 3000 Lm to have the amount of lighy you need.

Click to expand...

Good to have a figure to aim for. I know you can buy plenty of crappy electronics via ebay or alibaba and it's sometimes hard to seperate the good ones from the bad. But when you find the good ones, they're in my experience very good deals. I've replaced all the bulbs in my home with LEDs from Alibaba with good results (found a good seller with the third batch, the first ones were garbage).

In my experience when it comes to light bulbs, Philips is a very good brand!
Yes you have to look at lumens but your car battery will thank you for going LED...

Avaxbox said:

I am watching some on ebay about £32 cree led around 3/4000 lumen

Click to expand...

I think there's some marketing trick that makes it look like a bigger number - there certainly is for torches, so be a bit careful.

I'm very happy with my Philips X-Treme Vision 100% More Light H4's (also Philips Silvervison for indicator bulbs) - they really do give out a lot more light, especially on main beam!

Bought purely on your recommendation. 15 euros for 2 and free delivery (France). Can't grumble.

Done Hid upgrade, day and night difference paid R400.00 South Africa about $35.00

There seems to be a difference between different methods of measuring light output; one of Hope's cycle lights is rated at 620 Lumens (550 generated). It might be a little like the difference between the old SAE and DIN methods of measuring BHP and torque. One was measured at the flywheel, the other, also at the flywheel but with various components such as alternator and water pump attached.

Power output of stereos was also measured in different ways, the reputable makes such as Technics, NAD, Pioneer Cambridge and Luxman would always give their outputs as being measured at RMS per channel. The dodgy supermarket own brands and the like would use a different method of measurement (sometimes known as making it up) and then add the outputs of both channels together.

So perhaps if looking at the output of various bulbs it might be worthwhile looking for the generated lumen figure. Bulb design will also be worth considering as I remember reports at one time of different bulbs getting very hot, but maybe they were HID bulbs.

Avaxbox said:

I am watching some on ebay about £32 cree led around 3/4000 lumen

Click to expand...

I don't know about car lights, but in the cycling world most of the mountain bike lights worth having almost all seem to have Cree units. That also seems to include most of the Police issue LED torches as well.

Richardu said:

Done Hid upgrade, day and night difference paid R400.00 South Africa about $35.00

Click to expand...

Yep, one dazzles all other road users and one doesn't

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Yep, one dazzles all other road users and one doesn't

Click to expand...

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

Exactly.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Yep, one dazzles all other road users and one doesn't

Click to expand...

He's in South Africa though where they're not illegal (unfortunately).

Wee Smurf said:

He's in South Africa though where they're not illegal (unfortunately).

Click to expand...

Doesn't make it any more considerate though

Fitted today the phillips bulbs. Wow what a difference. One bulb was a pain to fit due to the a/c pipes.