Philips Blue Crystal Vision Globes

[MrChicken]

At Celticus’ request, I thought I’d share my experience with the Philips Blue (Crystal) Vision H11 globes. These are replacement 55w globes for high and low beam, and plug straight into the existing BMW fittings. I bought mine from Nippy Normans in the UK.

The purchase was prompted by a fellow R1200R owner here in Sydney who had bought the Philips globes. We did a side-by-side comparison, stock vs. Philips and the most noticeable difference on the stand was that the stock light looked a dull yellow against the bright white of the Philips globe.

The beam produced by the Philips globe is very defined with a clear cutoff at 90 degrees to the bike directly in front, and angling away from the bike on the left hand side, kinda’ like:

\___

High beam fills in the gap between the left and the front so the beam is pushed further out.

The beam is significantly brighter than stock. Nippy’s quote 30% brighter, and for me, the colour and intensity makes low beam feel better than the stock high beam.

I have heard the globes are less effective in the rain, but it hasn’t rained since I bought them! They are superb in normal conditions. I haven't yet used them on a trip, and I'm curious to see if the distinct cut-off is a disadvantage at night on the open road. In any event, my motivation for buying them was daylight visibility, and I’m more than happy with the result.

Geoff

UPDATE: It rained on the way to work this morning, a little before dawn. Low beam was less effective in the wet and at that hour (not quite dark, not quite light). However, from where I was sitting, it was no worse than the stock light.

[TracyPrier]

I've always found the Narva 55/60w +50 bulbs to be good

cheers
Tracy

[Caroanbill]

duplicate post

[Caroanbill]

Not to be a party pooper, but ... http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... white.html

I haven't used the R12R much at night - but when I have I've found the beam adequate if I set it quite high - in fact just where the low beam stops me getting annoyed flashes from oncoming drivers. This leaves a "hole" between the bike and where the low beam (and high beam) light the road well enough to see the difference between the brown sealed road and the brown gravel shoulder (for non-Aussies, our rural roads often use local gravel in the sealing mix, so it's not surprising the seal is the same colour as the local stones on the shoulder).

I find the super-white lights (eg in my old 528) tend to wash out the colour difference and actually make me feel less safe. Daniel Stern's comments really resonate with me.

My solution is the Wunderlich microflooter (arrived at last and Motohanasa will fit next week) - precisely to fill in the close-to-bike space (Motolights etc are just asking for to be taken out by the loose gravel on Aussie backroads). Othewise, I'm rarely fast enough after dark (hello, skippy ... and wombats and wallabies) to need to extend or brighten the stock high beam.

But then, you probably ride faster than me in daylight too ...