Ok, so for those that feel like PIAA is better, I offer proof that it's not. I offer proof in terms of pictures taken in the same location on the same night 5 minutes apart using the same car, same headlight housing.

Blue Vision with the fog lights on:
http://users.ev1.net/~shinglin/cars/...v_with_fog.jpg

Piaa with the fog lights on:
http://users.ev1.net/~shinglin/cars/...a_with_fog.jpg

PIAA vs Blue Vision.. head on:
http://users.ev1.net/~shinglin/cars/...bv/piaa_bv.jpg

No I am not making this up... it really is the truth. $60+ vs $20. You pick.

Now having offered you pictures are proof... I offer you personal exprience on the PIAA vs BV.

BVs are better.. why? because the beam is not ultered to make a brighter hot spot. The lights are more evenly spread across and the outter area gets more lighthing with the BV. I spend about 10 hours each weekend driving at night... I have extensive time behind the two headlights. I often drive in very dark roads during these 10 hours and I drive teh same roads. that means I know what's supposed to be there and what isn't...

so if you care about being seeing... go buy some piaas or whatever... if you like to see, save money and buy BV.

-Shing

 

Ok "Shing" that's a good comparison of PIAA's and BV's. However, in a previous post I have stated that the PIAA superwhites are not worth the money and hardly differ from stock. I initially purchased the PIAA SW's b/c of the name. Go figure. I have the Naxos blue bulbs now and they are amazing. I constantly get comments from complete strangers asking what setup I'm running for both the headlights and the fogs. I have PIAA Plasma's in the factory fogs. Suggestions to all, don't waste time and money going with an inferior bulb, run the Naxos and "see happy!"

 

and to those who want to see what a stock headlight looks like head on..look at my attachment.

 

hmm... interesting shingles... now i doubt i'm gonna get piaa's... i wanted piaa's because i wanted the the white look not a bluisish look but since phillips seem to be the same i'll probably go w/ BV

hmm... phillips blue vision sell at pep boys, rite?

also does ne1 know how polarg's match up with the blue visions? thanks

 

I got Philips BV's... and they're not inferior bulbs. They were a much better improvement over stock lights at a very good price. $13 a bulb... so $26 together.

And some people might have gotten some bad bulbs... there are bound to be defects once in a while. Nothing's perfect. I've had mine for over a month now, close to two months with no problems.

I've had bulb bulbs before (80w/100w), and I couldn't see well at all when the weather got bad. Heck, sometimes, even when the weather was good, I couldn't see all that well! And I have to travel a bit of a distance to get to school.

Think of it this way then. Buy the "cheap" bulbs first. Go get the BVs... if you think they are not better or if you don't like them, return them and then get the more expensive bulbs.

I personally would like to see the road and could care less if someone comments on my headlights or not.

 

I compared piaa sw's to the phillips bv's and returned the piaa's.....
FYI...I got the phillips bulbs from walmart in Canada for $9.00 each (about $6.00 U.S.) Try your local walmart and see if they carry them.

 

Philips BlueVisions can be had for $7.00 a piece.

Shing: Looks like we're finally getting through to some...hehehe

 

hehe, I guess so.

Ok... to CustomMax... I still maintain that the BV is better to look from than to look AT. I'll give you that the Naxos is good to look at. But if you will take the time to read the other post I made about blue tint bulbs, you will understand why Naxos is going to be "inferior" as you like to say.

-Shing

 

I have the Piaa superwhites and I only got them because of a carparts.com coupon. Plus that was before this board even existed. If I know what I know now, I would definately save my money and buy the BV bulbs. The Piaa's are good, but not worth the money.

 

I am defiantly going with the blue visions. My question is does Phillips Blue Vision make bulbs for the Maxima Fog lights? Or do I have to go with a another brand to get the fog lights?

 

Yes they have them... won't find them at walmart but www.autooptiks.com has them.

-Shing

 

How do you know until you've tried something else?
That's about the same as saying the stock suspension is ok, or the stock wheels are ok. If we wanted ok, then we would keep everything stock.

 

it's ok, that's why some people never get ahead in life because they settle for "ok". And the worse part about it is that they put down other people's efforts to get ahead say things like "give it a rest".

what can you do?

-Shing

 

Sheer brilliance! My seniments (sp?) exactly! Now if you would just give my parents a call and explain that to them...

-Custom-

 

However, I still would go with the Naxos!

 

I think that I might have to try those Phillips Lights the next time I need to get some new ones. I just don't see a $40 difference between the two!! Whoa. I do like the PIAA's though. Thank's for all the tips on lighting!!

 

shingles,

what is your take on the 14.4v boosting done by the catz zeta? i know it decreases bulb life, and they're kinda expensive, but... i saw them on a friend's car, and they noticably increase the brightness.

i'm thinking they can't be any worse than putting 85w bulbs in the front.

as far as the color, if i remember correctly from physics, if you increase the voltage (and current) across a resistive wire (filament), the color will shift, glows red, then yellow, then white-yellow, etc. across the spectrum, well at least until the filament burns out. so using the catz zeta on 45w/65w bulbs would probably give whiter light than normal on a 85w bulb.

thanks for any comments.

tommy

 

You are correct about the color change in a burning filament. But in this case, the colors put out by the bulb are a by-product of not the filament (for it still produces all the colors of the visible spectrum), but rather of the bulb glass. Even the Philips BVs have the light tint on the glass. The tint, whether it be blueish or yellowish, only serves to filter out the other colors present in the white light. THe small change in the filament would not have a effect on the final color projected into the night by the headlamp.

Using the Catz system will definitely increase the amperage draw from the headlamps...but I doubt that they would become brighter, or more intense than the light put forth by a greater amount of draw that 85 W bulbs are capable of. This can be proven with the equation P = IV. THe current draw is equal to the power divided by the voltage. 45 divided by 14.4 yields a nominal value of 3.125 amps, while 85 divided by 12 give us 7.083 amps.

 

Albertt:

i agree with you. i wouldnt expect the catz setup to make a 55w brighter than a 85 w. but i think (i havent installed a catz system on my car) that the light from the catz system would look "whiter" than the light from the standard system (both using same 55w bulbs) because of the color shift caused by the increase in the voltage. do you agree?

what i meant to describe with the 85w is that the 85w bulb would put out the same color (spectrum?) light as a normal 55w, just higher in intensity, but that both of them woul dgive you that "yellow-ish" look.

i think we are talking two differences -- one about intensity, and the other about the color spectrum. i'm hoping that the catz system improves on the spectrum (making it look whiter) and also increasing the intensity (i.e. brightness) (though not increasing the intensity as much as a 85w bulb).

i'm one of those people that would like whiter light, not necessarily brighter light. so i buy the bulbs that make the color of the light whiter, but i dont want to change the wattage to make it brighter.

 

THe human eye works funny like that...it perceives whiter as being brighter. The filament has negligible effect on the color of the light put out in front of the car. The slight difference in amperage draw will not affect the color the filament gives off. The only ways to effectively alter the color are to either tint the bulb glass, tint the lens glass or to tint the reflector.

Anywhoo, it sounds to me as though the best solution for you would be to save your money, don't buy the Catz system, but buy an APC harness and put in some overwattage 80/100 APC or Astra superwhites "xenon" bulbs in. You'll get the whiter/bluer light, but you'll gain back the intensity (lost to the tint) with the 35Watt increase in power.

 

Is there a bulb named "Narva" that fits the Max?

 

Hmmm...still gonna have to go with that Naxos

 

Based out of Germany, they provide OE lighting equipment for European cars.

The bulb that people here have tried, are the Narva Rangepowers. They are similar in performance to the Philips BlueVisions and Sylvania CoolBlues.

 

Try http://http://www.puma-access.com/specials.html
I've had really good experience with the 9004 bulbs from them especially if you want to stay stock wattage. You have a 2k model so not sure what bulb type it's using but if it's H4 then yeah they have that. And for those who want over-wattage then like Albert said get the APC harness and 80/100w bulbs from them..i have this setting and even though there's some loss of useable light due to the blue tint coating on the bulbs they still shine exceptionally brighter than stock and yes they do cast whiter light. And for the best of both world use the harness but with Normal 80/100w bulbs...light will alittle whiter than stock/much brighter and much less glare than blue/white bulbs..i'm probably gonna go with this setting since my left front apc bulb just went out on me.

 

Thanks, I thought I saw a pic of someones 4th gen who had them a while back. Wasn't sure on the name and I've never seen them for sale anywhere. Any word on where to get them?

 

i got nokyas and they were bleh.....really rice blue, no vision at ALL

 

Instead of going for the HID Look why not go with the Lexus-Yellow look? In my opinion that looks so much better but I really don't have the information on how well it works. I am thinking of getting the yellow PIAA ones but I read that it's more greenish or something.

 

They put yellow light on the ground and look yellow from up close, but from far away they look greenish.

 

What about the Sylvania Cool Blues? They look pretty good according to the website. Are they comparable to the Blue Visions? I cant seem to find the BV's anywhere near me.

 

Try Kmart, they carry Philips Blue Visions

 

i use the eurolite plasma bulbs and im very happy with them very white with a hint of purple.... ive had them in my car almost a year and no wire problem or blown bulbs... very very bright output to the ground and there only 55/65 bulbs... Had PIAAs blew in a week, Had Nokias BLew in 1 mth, had the cool blues didnt like them... so i put my original set of eurolites back in and bam I SEE THE LIGHT....