In article <402A9A50.4080106@aol.com>, SilverEightynine@aol.com (Terrible Tom)
writes:
> I'm not that impressed with the SilverStars - basically all they are is
> a lightly blue tinted bulb to diffuse the yellow in the visible light.
> They are whiter light - but not necessarily brighter. Not worth the cost
> if you ask me. If they were higher wattage - they would be worth it.
> Just a marketing gimick if you ask me.
The electrical power in watts a light bulb consumes is not the total answer to
how much light you get out of the bulb.
A 55 watt sealed beam does not produce any where near the amount of light as a
55w halogen sealed beam. An even more dramatic comparison is a 40watt
incandescent bulb and a 40watt fluorescent bulb. I do not see automotive
lighting being spec'd with candle power or lumen numbers but they do typically
advertise the temperature equivalent of the light being produced. If you look
at the numbers, halogens are hotter than standard sealed beams and the silver
stars are hotter than halogens and the true HID lights are even hotter. No one
has figured out how to convert energy from one form to another with 100%
efficiency and until they do there is no reason not to expect that continuous
improvements can't be made. So one 55w/65w bulb is not necessarily going to be
the same as another 55w/65w bulb
The color of the light has a lot to do with how the human eye perceives how it
sees things. I remember growing up as a we tike my mother used to put "bluing"
in the wash with my dad's white dress shirts. There was no question in my mind
that the bluing made the shirts look whiter and brighter than when she didn't
use it. Photographers use all sorts of colored filters to to the same effect.
The filters that increase the contrast always makes the image appear sharper.
Shooters achieve the same effect with amber shooting lens and that's why fog
lights are amber.
I have tried regular 9007 halogens, 80w/100w "Xenon" bulbs and the Silver
Stars. I can see details further down the road with the Silver Stars than
either of the other two.
BTW, for those asking about Silver Stars for their fog lights, yes they do have
them, the whole line of Silver Stars can be seen at the Sylvania web site. They
also have a line of bulbs for those with the clear corner lights that have the
silvery blue appearance when they are off and are yellow when lit.
FWIW, the Silver Stars are sold in Europe without the amethyst color. Sylvania
states they add the color for the US market because of the desire for a whiter
light here.
Dave Clement
99 SLT+ CC 4x4
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Mar 01 2004 - 00:34:03 EST