Philips Motovision vs XP Moto Headlights

[Daboo]

I'm always looking to improve my lighting to see better at night. For many months of the year, my commute is in the dark and the pavement around here turns black and soaks up every bit of light that hits it when it gets wet. The Philips MotoVision bulb seemed to be the answer for the best H4 headlight.

I like one feature of the Philips MotoVision bulb. Besides being one of the brightest on the market, it also makes a unique orange tint in the reflector. The bulb itself is clear, so no light rays are being filtered like you get with some of the blue bulbs. What they did was to make the glass that is between the bulb and the plug orange. Enough light passes through the orange glass to hit the reflector to make that distinctive orange look. If you saw a pair of headlights like the ones below come at you, it might make you pause if you were a driver about to pull out in front of the approaching motorcycle.



I purchased some Philips XP Moto headlights for my wife's Camry but haven't put them in yet. The rating chart I saw somewhere had them at the top with the MotoVision in 3rd place. So when I needed a replacement headlight for the Burgman's right side that blew the low-beam filament, I pulled one of those out.

This isn't a scientific comparison at all. My night pictures of headlights with my camera don't seem to come out well...the camera adjusts for the light level and what you see captured in the image, isn't necessarily what you thought you saw. So I didn't bother with a nighttime comparison, but took some daytime pictures with the lights shining against the garage door. I'll put two pictures up of each. One as is, and the second with the brightest portion outlined as I see it. If you click on the pictures below, they'll blow up to 1024x768 and be more useful.

Left is MotoVision. Right is XP Moto.

Left is MotoVision. Right is XP Moto.

Left is MotoVision. Right is XP Moto.

Left is MotoVision. Right is XP Moto.

My understanding of how you get "brighter" bulbs, is on how tight the manufacturer produces the bulbs to the H4 spec. The headlight reflector is designed to take light from a specific place on the bulb. The more light output you can focus into that area on the bulb, the more is picked up by the reflector and thereby put on the road where you need it. When I looked at my OEM H4 headlight against the garage, it was a nice fuzzy light output. It still was a 55W H4 bulb, but the tolerances they used were not as exact...and neither was the beam output.

I was ready to buy another MotoVision bulb, but from what I see, the XP Moto is putting out more light (which is what the ratings say). Or am I missing something?

Chris

[Scootereno]

As I found out when trying to take pictures of my LED's...... camera's just don't do it justice. But I do see where the XP's looks like the light is not only brighter but dispersed a little wider too. That is my big desire to get more light out to the side as well.

[Daboo]

Here's the light pattern comparison with the LED lights.

I wish there was a way to get a sharp cutoff on the LED lights, like you do the normal headlights.

Chris

[QuantumRift]

Yellow does nothing for me but irritate me, as does GREEN, VIOLET, BLUE or whatever lights. My eyes, as I'm finding out, really like 5150K bulbs. Lights up things and doesn't look wonky. But that's me.