Headlight Comparison

[Flyinfool]

There have been a bunch of threads lately as to the best headlight for our bikes.

Those that have the SilverStar Ultra feel it is the best, those with HID feel it is the best, most of us feel that whatever we have is the best.

 

What I would like for some of us to try to accomplish, is a side by side by side by...... comparison of the different headlights available to us.

 

There would be a Silver Star, Silver Star ultra, PIAA, And several different brands of HID, with maybe a stock thrown in for fun.

 

The test could be held at a MD or possibly even a M&E that ran late enough.

 

Before the test every one would need to make sure that all of the lights are aimed to the same point.

The bikes would have to be lined up across a dark road and each take turns turning on their head light.

It would have to be judged by everyone as to best illumination in both hi and low beam, beam patterns and even by someone a few hundred yards down the road looking back to see which was most visible and or was blinding oncoming drivers. That person down the road may even have a photographic light meter to get some actual non-subjective data.

 

This way it will be as scientific as possible.

Well at least as scientific as we can be that late in the day.

 

What else needs to be added to this and how can we pull this off?

 

This thread is not for the "I like what I have posts" but to try to determine what really works without 1 person having to go out and buy all of the systems to test.

[Squidley]

Jeff,

Thats not a bad idea, might be a little tough to facilitate it, but we might be able to come up with something.

[Flyinfool]

I know I should have thought of this before MD.

I'm sure that everything and everyone needed would have been there somewhere. Along with a LOT of judges.

[V7Goose]

To make any such test even close to useful, you would have to ensure that everyone had a virtually new bulb. ALL incandescent bulbs age and loose up to 20% or so of their initial brightness. This is well documented by most manufacturers - here is info on the SilverStar: http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProducts/AutomotiveLighting/HighPerformance/Silverstar/

 

I can give you first hand information on how significant this can be. Last year Pnch and I ride back from Don's maintenance day together, and we ended up riding all through the night. We both had SilverStar Ultras in our RSV, but his was quite new and mine was four years old with about 60,000 miles on it. The miles are much more important to this subject than the years since our headlights are on anytime the bike is on.

 

Anyway, I thought his headlight seemed inordinately bright and probably aimed too high. At one point we found a big white brick wall at a truck stop where we could back off about 30 feet and compare the headlight spot from both bikes side by side. BIG difference. Although they were both aimed identically, his light was significantly brighter than mine, but on the road I still thought my SilverStar Ultra was very bright, something like double the brightness of a stock bulb. In fact, despite seeing the difference between his new bulb and my old one, I am still happy with the light output, and this same bulb remains in my bike, now with over 80,000 miles on it.

 

So the whole point is that if you do not ensure that all tested bulbs are relatively new, your comparison results will be fairly useless. A new bulb from brand X might be quite a bit brighter than a new bulb from brand Y, but if you compare it with someone who has an older Brand X bulb, your results may show exactly the opposite.

 

An even bigger problem will be someone who says they have a SilverStar Ultra bulb, but in reality they only purchased a normal SilverStar and didn't realize the difference. The problem is that the normal SilverStar bulb is 35% DIMMER than the Ultra. And just about all other brands have a premium version of their top bulbs too, for example, PIAA has the Xtreme and Philips has an Ultra. So in the end, if you don't actually have the bulb packages there to examine, you probably will not have any idea at all what is being compared to what.

 

Bad information is worse than no information.

Goose

[BuddyRich]

That Better ?

[ahoutzer]

I don't think the readings on a light meter really matter. It seems to me that everything that is truly important is in the eye of the beholder. The meter may say that one bulb puts out more than the other, but the color and the pattern make the "weaker" bulb more effective. A really great headlamp should 1) make it easy to see where you are going 2) make you noticed by other drivers, day and night 3) be able to do all of this without bothering/blinding other drivers. If it could also counteract the glare of oncoming headlights pointed at me, then I would be happy to spend $100 even if I had to replace it every year!

[KiteSquid]

To make it more scientific, you should take a stock Yamaha headlamp out of a bike and mount it in an immovable fixture to assure all lamps were aimed at the same angles. if the fixture gets moved during testing, you must redo all previous tests!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so make SURE it is immovable.

 

You need to do it on an overcast night well after sundown. or in a LONG warehouse like building where you can make it completely dark so ambient light does not bias the judges.

 

get one or two film cameras with manual settings to document the beam-shots.

 

 

Use the same power supply set at 13.5V which is the normal operating voltage of most bikes, preferably NOT a battery as the voltage will vary over time and temperature.

 

Use the same OVERSIZED wiring to assure a level playing field. as little loss in the wiring and switching.

 

There should be targets on the center-line of the beam and off axis to help with judging the coverage of the beams for throw and spill on low and high beam.

 

This should be a blind test, meaning only one or two people know what bulb is being tested and they will NOT be judging the beam as they could be biased.

 

 

These are just a few quick ideas I had, I might come up with more.... Does it show that I work in testing???????

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Or you could be REALLY scientific and count the number of times you get high beams flashed at you per week. Multiply this by the PSI in your rear shock, add your house number, then add this to your engine hours since the last oil change, divide by your lawnmower's blade length, then subtract half of your age and then add the cumulative diopters of your last 3 eyeglass prescriptions.

 

Biggest Liar WINS!

 

 

(Mine is 29.27).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1BigDog]

Or you could be REALLY scientific and count the number of times you get high beams flashed at you per week. Multiply this by the PSI in your rear shock, add your house number, then add this to your engine hours since the last oil change, divide by your lawnmower's blade length, then subtract half of your age and then add the cumulative diopters of your last 3 eyeglass prescriptions.

 

Biggest Liar WINS!

 

 

(Mine is 29.27).

 

 

:rotfl::rotfl:

 

Now thats just plain funny.......

 

But seriously.....Like someone said, its in the eye of the beholder. I thought my stock bulb with the driving lights on was sufficient. I then went to the Silverstar (non-ultra) and thought "WOW", nice! I followed that with the HID light....And for a night riding near blind as a bat it lights up the road just great for ME. I dont need no test to tell me which one I prefer. HID hands down....

[starkruzen]

I don't think a Silver star or other type of bulb would be better than a HID system. Just take a look at all the new cars that have HID as standard equipment. You just can't out shine the HID.