Narva plus 100 headlight globes

The beast is actually my wife's little rocket and unfortunately my truck stays in the shed most of the time. The Narva plus 100's are the same wattage as conventional globes but use different gas/technology to achieve a higher level of brightness. Her car is a Ford Focus which gets used on country roads at night a fair bit. The low beam is marginally more useful than an ashtray on a motorbike. I realise it is not possible to go to a higher wattage globe as the wiring is not adequate, hence the research on globes that produce more light from the same power. Cheers Ferris

Ferris - Ahh, O.K. - that clears it right up. Yes, I've done the same to the missus' Camry and my Holden 1-tonner - upgraded to 60W/55W H4 Osram Silverstars that were supposed to give out 50% more light than standard H4's.
They were O.K, but nothing startling - however, you could see a definite improvement. The Osrams were well made and performed and lasted with no problems.
Then I found some 60W/55W Jap-made Xenon H4's in the workshop that I'd picked up in a tyre shop closedown auction. These are excellent, you can really see the difference in lighting ability and the brightness. These have the blue colour appearance in the globe, but the light is really white.

So then, I thought I'd get cheap and try some Chinese Xenon ones off fleaBay. They were $6 each delivered.
I got 2 sets. I got what I paid for. [:-(

One crapped itself within a week, when the body of the globe fell apart (glass fell out of the metal section).
I complained to the seller, and he sent a replacement. 6 weeks later, a second Chinese globe crapped itself, with the high beam element blowing.
Since then, about 6 mths down the track, another one of the Chinese Xenon globes has crapped itself.
None of these globes were ever used on anything but sealed roads.

This has made me very keen about making sure that I know where the globes are made, before I buy any. Haven't tried any Narva Xenon globes yet, but I use a lot of Narva products in other lighting applications, and haven't had any problems with Narva quality.

Fleabay is full of hundreds of Xenon, HID, and exotic globe floggers - but I reckon you have to ask a lot of pertinent questions of these sellers, about where their globes are made, and what kind of warranty they offer.

I'm also of the opinion that a lot of Chinese globes suffer from poor focussing, as the Chinese Xenons in my 1-tonner, don't appear to be focussing as well as the Osrams were.

Cheers - Ron.

Thanks Ron,

I bought some Narva plus 100's today, as they claim to be twice as bright as a conventional globe without any additional heat out put, so it will be interesting to see how they go. Once I got them home, I read the fine print that said they have a shorter life than conventional globes and Narva recommend their Plus 50 for extended use. Oh well, I'll install them on the weekend and see how they go. I'll provide some feedback after a couple of weeks of trying them out.

Cheers Ferris.