Headlight Bulb replacement for more light

I’ve moved from a car with HID type lights to a stock standard Mazda CX-5 2016 with the yellow Halogen lights. I find the lights poor vs HID and was looking at getting them upgraded to the 150 plus lights you see at SCA or Repco. I know typically they last for a lesser amount of time but are they worth it. Reviews are very mixed. Headlight casing is nice and clear

Will your plastic headlight shell, stand any extra heat, is my first thought, or are they same wattage and just more light?
Quick search seems ok - Despite the notable performance benefits, there is no increase in power consumption or heat displacement with Narvas Plus 150 globes, meaning they can safely be used in polycarbonate headlamp assemblies. - available in 12V H4 (60/55W) and 12V H7 (55W)
https://motorequipmentnews.co.nz/article/narva-plus150-beats-nzta%E2%80%99s-latest-lights-ban

Think i will give them a try too.

I use the 150% brighter H4 bulbs and they are great, just dont last as long so dont use them during the day!

In general, the +xxx% bulbs do throw a bit more light, and sometimes whiter light than stock halogens. This comes as the expense of high bulb cost, and bulb life.

Many brands make many models of high brightness bulbs, all approaching the cost vs brightness vs color temp vs lifespan balance in different ways. Here is a detailed comparison table of different brands a models:

https://www.bulbfacts.com/halogen-bulbs/chart/ Sadly it doesn't have the harva linked above. Note the table has some high wattage bulbs which are not road legal, and generally require a ceramic bulb holder & wiring harness to avoid overloading the stock wireing.

Also note that the plus 150% brightness claim's are typically well overblown. As an example the Philips Xtreme Vision 130% H7's, claim "up to +130% more brightness). Testing (on the gen1 rig, not the gen 2 used in the above table) found they were actually 16% brighter vs basic or stock bulbs, 18% Whiter, and had 80% of basic bulb's life. A reasonable result, but far from the plus 130% it says on the package.

https://www.bulbfacts.com/halogen-bulbs/reviews/philips-xtre
mevision-130-vs-oem.html

Recommendation table:

https://www.bulbfacts.com/halogen-bulbs/recommended/

Note that high brightness bulbs seem crazy expensive in NZ. Might be worth pricing out having some shipped from an offshore retailer.

An alternate (or complementary) option for brighter headlights, is to install a low resistance wiring harness to feed the headlights. In short, stock wiring is often has a long run and is fairly thin, and 0.5 - 1v can be be lost in it. using this to feed a relay, on a fat wire running a short distance from the battery can result in more light output from any bulb. Kits can be purchased online.

Lastly, as with any headlight bulb, use gloves for the install, oil from your fingers on the bulb surface will cut down the life a lot.

The % brightness increase is at a specific point in the beam pattern not overall.

+ 150s are a big improvement to what was in my hyundai ix35.

"Narva is an acknowledged leader in the development of performance headlight globes" Who writes this stuff, they don't even make bulbs. Philips and Osram are the best proven time after time.

yes, they test the worst bulb that is complaint, and then test their own one in different lamps, until they get the best result. It may be 75m down the road and only one point , but that's marketing. Actual lumen output is governed at 1500Lumen +/- 15% for a H7 so they cannot be 20% brighter.

What gets me about this press release is their claim it was the latest ban was BS, bulbs, since the 1990 regulations, had to met an approval, but they did not know this when they tried to sell their non-approved LED bulbs. Then cried foul when they were pinged.