120% Uprated Bulbs

[Ennoch]

Has anyone had any issues with these new high rated bulbs not lasting very long? In the past I've always used Halfords Extreme Brilliance and Ultra Brilliance bulbs and found them to last about eighteen months before they dimmed to the point I'd consider replacing, which to me seemed reasonable; up the power, lower the lifespan. Recently, on the WRX, I've used both the Philips Extreme Vision (110% IIRC) & OSRAM Nightbreaker Ultra (120%) and, on both occasions, life has been disappointing. The Philips lasted about three months before both bulbs popped within a week of each other which saw them replaced with the OSRAM's which are still in there. However, after six months they have dimmed to uselessness.

The problem is that these are on the new car and therefore I'm not able to be sure that it isn't the car that's burning them out prematurely, or if it's the bulbs themselves. I'd rather have a dimmer bulb from new that kept its output higher over it's life than a massively bright one from new that then dies within a few months.

Has anyone else found these high output bulbs to fail like this, or at least suffer really low life expectancy?

[ChocolateFrog]

They're pretty useless on Volvo's. The Osrams lasted about 6 months due to being on all the time.

Went within a couple of days of each other too.

It does state on the box that they don't last long

[Conscript]

I agree with the comments about lifespan, but I've never experienced bulbs getting noticeably dimmer over time.

I tried Osram Nightbreakers, although they didn't last long (12-18 months I guess), they were consistently bright then just blew one day (night).

[Slidingpillar]

I fitted a car with uprated bulbs with 12 month guarantee. At 12 months and a week, one blew, and its mate followed 3 days later. Don't bother now.

[RizzoTheRat]

I've given up using Halfords as the Osram and Bosch ones seem to last way longer and cost less, but had any issues with non Halfords extra brilliance ones.