GE Nighthawk Headlight Bulbs
 

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone has heard anything about GE's new Nighthawk
headlight bulb range. I saw them at the local Wal-mart and was
wondering about their performance. I looked at the bulb and verified
that there is no blue filter like on the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs.
However, the Nighthawk bulbs are priced at about the same level as the
Silverstars.

From this GE page, http://tinyurl.com/525uv , GE claims an additional
33% more output from their replaceable bulbs over a conventional one.
I don't have much faith in marketing claims, so if anyone has any
independent reviews of these bulbs, it would be greatly appreciated.
I am specifically interested in the luminous flux and longevity of
these bulbs at 12.8 volts.

--

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005, uniseriate wrote:

> I was wondering if anyone has heard anything about GE's new Nighthawk
> headlight bulb range. I saw them at the local Wal-mart and was
> wondering about their performance. I looked at the bulb and verified
> that there is no blue filter like on the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs.
> However, the Nighthawk bulbs are priced at about the same level as the
> Silverstars.

GE NightHawk is an excellent new product line -- Tied with Philips
VisionPlus as the best 9000-series bulbs (and least-worst sealed beams) on
the general retail market in the US. And yes, good eye, they don't have
light-stealing blue coloration to the glass like the Sylvania Silverstar
junk.

> GE claims an additional 33% more output from their replaceable bulbs
> over a conventional one.

That's a more-or-less valid claim; the actual degree of improvement
depends on the specific headlamp into which the bulb is installed and the
adequacy (or, more commonly, inadequacy) of the circuitry feeding the
headlamp.

> I am specifically interested in the luminous flux and longevity of these
> bulbs at 12.8 volts.

Higher and longer, respectively, than Sylvania Silverstar. Equal to
Philips VisionPlus.

Remember, the performance impact of the bulb upon a headlamp's
photometrics is *not* simply a function of the luminous flux of the bulb.
That's a critical factor, of course, since each bulb type is allowed a
flux tolerance of 20 to 30 percent (nominal plus-or-minus up to 15%), but
filament coil dimensions and placement precision, burner focusing,
filament surface luminance and envelope optical properties also factor in.

Things to keep in mind:

Good bulbs are better than bad ones.

A bulb with colorless glass is always better than a bulb with colored
glass (blue, purple, "silver", "white", etc.).

There is no magic bulb that turns bad headlamps into good ones. That said,
some headlamp designs respond surprisingly well to these bulbs.

DS

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005, uniseriate wrote:

> I was wondering if anyone has heard anything about GE's new Nighthawk
> headlight bulb range. I saw them at the local Wal-mart and was
> wondering about their performance. I looked at the bulb and verified
> that there is no blue filter like on the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs.
> However, the Nighthawk bulbs are priced at about the same level as the
> Silverstars.

GE NightHawk is an excellent new product line -- Tied with Philips
VisionPlus as the best 9000-series bulbs (and least-worst sealed beams) on
the general retail market in the US. And yes, good eye, they don't have
light-stealing blue coloration to the glass like the Sylvania Silverstar
junk.

> GE claims an additional 33% more output from their replaceable bulbs
> over a conventional one.

That's a more-or-less valid claim; the actual degree of improvement
depends on the specific headlamp into which the bulb is installed and the
adequacy (or, more commonly, inadequacy) of the circuitry feeding the
headlamp.

> I am specifically interested in the luminous flux and longevity of these
> bulbs at 12.8 volts.

Higher and longer, respectively, than Sylvania Silverstar. Equal to
Philips VisionPlus.

Remember, the performance impact of the bulb upon a headlamp's
photometrics is *not* simply a function of the luminous flux of the bulb.
That's a critical factor, of course, since each bulb type is allowed a
flux tolerance of 20 to 30 percent (nominal plus-or-minus up to 15%), but
filament coil dimensions and placement precision, burner focusing,
filament surface luminance and envelope optical properties also factor in.

Things to keep in mind:

Good bulbs are better than bad ones.

A bulb with colorless glass is always better than a bulb with colored
glass (blue, purple, "silver", "white", etc.).

There is no magic bulb that turns bad headlamps into good ones. That said,
some headlamp designs respond surprisingly well to these bulbs.

DS

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005 22:06:36 -0500, "Daniel J. Stern"
> wrote:

>GE NightHawk is an excellent new product line -- Tied with Philips
>VisionPlus as the best 9000-series bulbs (and least-worst sealed beams) on
>the general retail market in the US.

I don't mean to split hairs here, but do the Sylvania XtraVision line
of bulbs compare favorably with the NightHawk and VisionPlus lines?

>There is no magic bulb that turns bad headlamps into good ones. That said,
>some headlamp designs respond surprisingly well to these bulbs.

A very good point. Unfortunately the car I drive is only offered in
the US domestic market and thus no other headlamp optics are
available.

Thank you for your informative response.

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005 22:06:36 -0500, "Daniel J. Stern"
> wrote:

>GE NightHawk is an excellent new product line -- Tied with Philips
>VisionPlus as the best 9000-series bulbs (and least-worst sealed beams) on
>the general retail market in the US.

I don't mean to split hairs here, but do the Sylvania XtraVision line
of bulbs compare favorably with the NightHawk and VisionPlus lines?

>There is no magic bulb that turns bad headlamps into good ones. That said,
>some headlamp designs respond surprisingly well to these bulbs.

A very good point. Unfortunately the car I drive is only offered in
the US domestic market and thus no other headlamp optics are
available.

Thank you for your informative response.

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005, uniseriate wrote:

> >GE NightHawk is an excellent new product line -- Tied with Philips
> >VisionPlus as the best 9000-series bulbs (and least-worst sealed beams)
> >on the general retail market in the US.
>
> I don't mean to split hairs here, but do the Sylvania XtraVision line of
> bulbs compare favorably with the NightHawk and VisionPlus lines?

Sylvania XtraVision, GE HO, GE SUV, Philips High Visibility are
high-efficacy bulbs.

GE NightHawk, Philips VisionPlus, Narva Rangepower+50, Candlepower SBL are
ultra-high-efficacy bulbs.

> A very good point. Unfortunately the car I drive is only offered in the
> US domestic market and thus no other headlamp optics are available.

1) What kind of car is it?
2) Do you own a voltmeter?

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005, uniseriate wrote:

> >GE NightHawk is an excellent new product line -- Tied with Philips
> >VisionPlus as the best 9000-series bulbs (and least-worst sealed beams)
> >on the general retail market in the US.
>
> I don't mean to split hairs here, but do the Sylvania XtraVision line of
> bulbs compare favorably with the NightHawk and VisionPlus lines?

Sylvania XtraVision, GE HO, GE SUV, Philips High Visibility are
high-efficacy bulbs.

GE NightHawk, Philips VisionPlus, Narva Rangepower+50, Candlepower SBL are
ultra-high-efficacy bulbs.

> A very good point. Unfortunately the car I drive is only offered in the
> US domestic market and thus no other headlamp optics are available.

1) What kind of car is it?
2) Do you own a voltmeter?

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005, Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> Sylvania XtraVision, GE HO, GE SUV, Philips High Visibility are
> high-efficacy bulbs.

For completeness, this list should also include Wagner BriteLite,
Candlepower BL and Narva Rangepower.

> GE NightHawk, Philips VisionPlus, Narva Rangepower+50, Candlepower SBL are
> ultra-high-efficacy bulbs.

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005, Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> Sylvania XtraVision, GE HO, GE SUV, Philips High Visibility are
> high-efficacy bulbs.

For completeness, this list should also include Wagner BriteLite,
Candlepower BL and Narva Rangepower.

> GE NightHawk, Philips VisionPlus, Narva Rangepower+50, Candlepower SBL are
> ultra-high-efficacy bulbs.

Related to headlights, 1990 Honda CRX. All manner of water droplets on inside
of headlight lenses. Got to be rusting everything. What to do? Drill
ventilation holes someplace?

Quent