Sylvania Silverstar headlight bulbs..great or gimmick??? anyonetried em?

[Stephen Santoliquido]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: JordanVw at aol.com
> Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2004 1:32 PM
>
> has anyone tried the Sylvania Silverstar headlight bulbs?
> they sell for
> $38.00 a pair at wal-mart.. do they
> really put out more
> light?   says they are supposed to be "brilliant white"..
> true or false?
If you want to understand bulbs, go to
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/tech.html and read, read, read.
Excerpt from
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/good/good.html:

Osram, the well-established German lampmaker, sells a line of automotive
bulbs they call "SilverStar". These are Osram's top-of-the-range headlamp
bulbs, equivalent to Philips VisionPlus and Tungsram Megalight Premium. They
produce the maximum legal amount of light while staying within legal power
consumption limits. They have clear glass.

Osram bought the well-established American lampmaker Sylvania in the early
1990s, so Osram is now Sylvania's parent company. Sylvania also sells a line
of automotive bulbs they call "SilverStar", but it's not the same product at
all. These bulbs have a blue coating on them. Light output is of legal
levels, but as with all blue-filtered bulbs, you do not get more light from
them. The Sylvania SilverStar bulbs have a very short lifetime, because the
filament is selected so as to be overdriven. This is necessary because the
blue filtration coating "steals" so much light that only an overdriven
filament can push enough light through the filter to be legal. The Sylvania
SilverStar bulbs are also priced quite high. This is not because they cost a
lot to make, and not because they're based on some exotic new technology.
It's because the goal with this product is to take market share away from
other overpriced bulbs like the PIAA line.
For best headlamp performance and best value, choose only bulbs with clear
glass.

HTH
Steve