Philips H7 NightGuide Headlight Bulb, Pack of 2

1st review, July 2014 (see bottom for update):After reviewing all 1s and 2s customer reviews on Philips and Sylvania's light bulbs I decided to give this one a try: 1- I travel a lot at night with wife and kid, 2- I want better performance than regular lights 3- I do not want to pay top $ for a bulb that yes, it is brighter but burns faster (take this into consideration!!!!) and 3- I do not want to blind others by selfishly burning up the road ahead of me.SOOOO, here we go:1- Right from the package it looks carefully designed to protect the lights: I red some other brands came cracked or the package flattened upon delivery, this one is a hard plastic case with hard plastic windows that you remove and the case cracks up in the middle and securely holds each light until you are ready to install them. Also the case can click back together if you want to store your old lights or something. ***Handling> do NOT touch the bulb glass, grab them from the plastic because people leave fingerprints on the glass all the time...common mistake with any car bulb.2- the glass bulb itself is clear, but it has a clever yellow filter on the side almost invisible that produces the yellow light, when looked against the sky you see a bluish reflection on the opposite side of the glass, and the light is white in the middle so hence the three colors, very clever.3- These are NOT Xenon, you will not get a blinding white or blue light from them (you want that then stop being cheapo and get the converter kit) Instead, they are a bit brighter than standard bulbs and you can see the three colors dimly if you stand in front of the car. It actually looks cool.4- on the road: WOW. the signs light up muuuch further up as you approach, they really look lit as if you were pointing a reflector against them from the distance...you can really tell the difference if you are a good observer, other people might tell you the signs look the same, yes they might, but you can see them waaaaay much further ahead than before...and this without showing a bright blue glare or anything as you approach. You sure man? Yes: I constantly drive by the same exact spots and I noticed the difference in viewing distance from the car to the place where the sign is. I even saw a shadow of a car ahead of me projected on the approaching sign as I was on the left lane and the other car was on the right lane. Again, they do not look intensively lit, they just look crispier clear from further ahead on the road. I am impressed and for just that I feel I spent well.4- I cannot attest of the incoming cars' yellow light effect, would have to drive my bike and pass by with the car lights on to make some sort of test, but I can see the yellow reflected on the left side of cars ahead of me on a stop or when parking against a wall, so I guess it works, and specially for the next description below:5- I figured how they work: Philips tells you they increase the viewing distance almost 50%, but not because they are brighter but they are rather pointed further up ahead on the road...the low light actually works as a high beam but because of the yellow on the left side you are not blinding incoming cars...Genious! What about the high beams, then? When I noticed this I switched the high beams on, and they flood the closer road in front of me in a wider light, so they do work in reverse! >>> since I already see further down the road, now they give me extra light closer to the vehicle so the whole road is lit nicely without a blinding light. Do not get me wrong, you see very good all around right in front of you with these new low beams, but the high beams intensify the road all around your front as if you had LEDs all over your front grill. Proof: I actually drove with the high beams on for a while and no one flashed me in the incoming cars, and I did not see the blinding effect of flooding the interior of the front car with the high beams, so the driver has to tilt or tint the rearview mirror. These Philips guys are very clever!!!!Remember, you will not see whiter or brighter, you will see BETTER and crispier the road ahead and stop signs. Philips designed these lights to give you less eye fatigue because you see further down the road right in front and much more clear all around your closer road. If your sense of security comes from flooding the road with light then get Philips X-treme Power lights or equal from Sylvania. I can attest that these Night Guide do what they tell: guide you much more safely on the night road than regular lights. On the other hand I will review again to see how long they last...if you do not see an update is because they keep working just fine.

Having been unimpressed with Silverstars and some of the "blue lights" on the market, I decided to give these a try.I have been very pleased with the performance of these units. Unlike lesser products, they do not color coat the bulbs in a way that diminishes lighting just to achieve a color shift. Instead, they have what look like little reflectors inside to send blue / yellow to the sides.Where I really noticed the difference was in how they really make the side of the road look much crisper. The other big plus, especially versus the silverstars, is in rain or fog where they really do excel.While these will not turn your old headlights into HID's, they are a good upgrade and probably the best replacement option out there. Sure, you could go with something higher wattage but that risks melting components or wires, or even creating an electrical fire.

The bulbs came in quickly and I had no problem installing them. The quality of the light was great! However, I had them powered on for a whole 15 mins and the left one burned out. I took my truck in today for another issue and I asked the mechanic to check the connection to see if it needed replaced. They did not find anything wrong with the connection. What they did find was the bulb had oil inside it's plug. Now, I learned when these bulbs came out that I need to wear rubber gloves when handling them. So, I know that I did not put oil inside it. I also found out, after further research, that most of these bulbs are made in China and most of these bulbs made in China have some kind of terminal defect. So, I think I will not be using Phillips brand anymore. I have not had a set yet that have worked out for me.

The light is OK bright, good enough.The description on the case could be more elaborate. The tri-color seems to be a good idea, but it may not work for all. My car's low beam has a thick convex lens in front of the bulb. As a result, yellow goes to the right instead of the intended left, and blue hue is barely noticeable. The description should have noted this. The center of the light is somewhat whiter than standard though.By the way, there are two light yellow strips dyed on the bulb glass likely how the yellow light is produced. I couldn't observe any blue dye on the glass, but it seems the entire bulb glass is very slightly blueish.Despite the instructions on the case mentioned don't touch the glass part to keep it clean, the bulb glass is pretty dirty right out of the box, especially comparing to my original bulbs even the burnt OEM bulb. Given all the dusty, seeming oily stuff on the glass, I wonder how long it will last.There's text reading "1H04" on the bulbs. Highly likely they are manufactured the first half of 2004. It's been 9 years in storage! I wonder if it's the cause it's dirty. It's indeed made in Germany though.And the last.. a few days after I bought it from Amazon, a market place vendor is selling it for 60% the price shipping included....

These are good replacement bulbs. They are bright and not too difficult to replace. Just be careful not to touch the bulb itself as the oil from your fingers can reduce the life span of the headlight bulb with the high heat that they generate. Access behind the headlight on my Mazda MPV is a bit tight, making it a challenge to get the clip off and back on again. I don't do it often enough to remember how the clip comes off, but I managed to get it changed, and I'm happy with the replacement value. I'm not a mechanic by any means, but I like doing my own maintenance where I can, and these are good headlight bulbs to keep on hand. You never know when you might need one.