Optiwhite Headlight Bulbs

[bigblock]

Just received an email from my Toyota dealer about the usual winter checks and service blurb. But also they are advertising these Optiwhite headlight bulbs which are claimed to give a white light thats 60% brighter than standart bulbs. Has anybody had these fitted and are they as good as they are claimed to be? They are priced around   £60 a pair for an Auris on eBay. Not enquired at Toyota yet to see what they would charge.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Optiwhite HIR2 bulbs (made by Philips) have been covered before on these forums. Like any brighter halogen bulb, the trade off for increased brightness, is a shorter life. The same for upgrade halogen bulbs from Osram, Philips, Elta, etc.

We've got them in the Aygo and they were a worthwhile upgrade.

Some members have bought Elta upgrade bulbs as they are cheaper. Available via eBay, etc.

[bigblock]

1 minute ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Optiwhite HIR2 bulbs (made by Philips) have been covered before on these forums. Like any brighter halogen bulb, the trade off for increased brightness, is a shorter life. The same for upgrade halogen bulbs from Osram, Philips, Elta, etc.

We've got them in the Aygo and they were a worthwhile upgrade.

Some members have bought Elta upgrade bulbs as they are cheaper. Available via eBay, etc.

Thanks for the info Mike.

[Rosgoe]

21 minutes ago, bigblock said:

Just received an email from my Toyota dealer about the usual winter checks and service blurb. But also they are advertising these Optiwhite headlight bulbs which are claimed to give a white light thats 60% brighter than standart bulbs. Has anybody had these fitted and are they as good as they are claimed to be? They are priced around   £60 a pair for an Auris on ebay. Not enquired at Toyota yet to see what they would charge.

Has your car not got led’s which I imagine would be brighter than those optiwhite are they for a auris or a corolla as per your profile.

[bigblock]

25 minutes ago, Rosgoe said:

Has your car not got led’s which I imagine would be brighter than those optiwhite are they for a auris or a corolla as per your profile.

My Corolla has the factory fit Led's but I think there is room for improvement to be honest. Lights are ok but just wondering about these Optiwhite bulbs. My dealer may shed more light on the case 😁. I quoted the price I saw for some on eBay. They just happened to be for an Auris.

[Chriss27]

Had these on a RAV4 and as frosty says the longevity of the bulb is shorter, less than a year when I had them

[nielshm]

3 hours ago, bigblock said:

My Corolla has the factory fit Led's but I think there is room for improvement to be honest. Lights are ok but just wondering about these Optiwhite bulbs. My dealer may shed more light on the case 😁. I quoted the price I saw for some on ebay. They just happened to be for an Auris.

I think the LED lights are a sealed unit. The bulbs can't be changed or what?? 

[Devon Aygo]

As an LED unit it is sealed and there are no serviceable "bulbs" in the traditional sense although weirdly the LED indicator is available separately 

 

the only possible update on models other than Excel would be the Bi Led units fitted to an Excel however having had both Excel, design & Gr Sport I noticed no difference between the normal LED headlamps to the Excels Bi LED

[nielshm]

7 hours ago, Devon Aygo said:

As an LED unit it is sealed and there are no serviceable "bulbs" in the traditional sense although weirdly the LED indicator is available separately 

 

the only possible update on models other than Excel would be the Bi Led units fitted to an Excel however having had both Excel, design & Gr Sport I noticed no difference between the normal LED headlamps to the Excels Bi LED

I thought Bi LED was a much more power full headlight? What does the Bi LED do different from the standard headlight, since it's a rather expensive upgrade? 

[stevecrvn]

14 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Optiwhite HIR2 bulbs (made by Philips) have been covered before on these forums. Like any brighter halogen bulb, the trade off for increased brightness, is a shorter life. The same for upgrade halogen bulbs from Osram, Philips, Elta, etc.

We've got them in the Aygo and they were a worthwhile upgrade.

Some members have bought Elta upgrade bulbs as they are cheaper. Available via eBay, etc.

I have optiwhite in the Auris and Elta in the Yaris . The Elta seem to give a better light then the optiwhite and are a lot cheaper 

[Roy124]

58 minutes ago, nielshm said:

I thought Bi LED was a much more power full headlight? What does the Bi LED do different from the standard headlight, since it's a rather expensive upgrade? 

Thanks for asking the question. I was wondering about the same thing. Another scatter gun approach from Toyota UK and forwarded by dealers. 

I also got a winter tyres offer. Tempted.  Rear wheels or all 4?  If I did I would hope to switch them to a new car in 2023.

[TonyHSD]

4 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Thanks for asking the question. I was wondering about the same thing. Another scatter gun approach from Toyota UK and forwarded by dealers. 

I also got a winter tyres offer. Tempted.  Rear wheels or all 4?  If I did I would hope to switch them to a new car in 2023.

Well if they light the road the same which is sensible to think then it’s purely the look (design line) only the difference and the shape of DRL inside. I wonder how much a replacement would cost, since they do go bad sometimes?! For the tyres definitely buy 4 and perhaps all season as these seems to be most suitable for uk climate., driving with mixed tyres especially 2 summer and 2 winter is dangerous and uncomfortable. 

[Trewithy]

I have had the 60% brighter bulbs form Philips in a previous car.  Although they had a whiter light when viewed from outside the car the increase in illumination was hardly noticeable.  Later I tried the 100% brighter bulbs and they were much better, probably better than the LEDs in my Corolla Design.  You can also get 150% and 200% brighter bulbs but as the brightness increases the lifespan reduces.

[twintopp]

had the dancing led lights in my previous astra these where brilliant { pardon the pun) , but still have no real problem with my corolla lights driving a lot on twisty country lanes and moor roads.

[Devon Aygo]

16 hours ago, nielshm said:

I thought Bi LED was a much more power full headlight? What does the Bi LED do different from the standard headlight, since it's a rather expensive upgrade? 

 

15 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Thanks for asking the question. I was wondering about the same thing. Another scatter gun approach from Toyota UK and forwarded by dealers. 

I also got a winter tyres offer. Tempted.  Rear wheels or all 4?  If I did I would hope to switch them to a new car in 2023.

In the UK there is no upgrade options we have two lamp types, LED fitted to all models excl' Excel & Bi Led in Excel models

• LED type lamps have a LED light source supported by reflector
• Bi LED as above but also an LED light source with a Projector lens

Continental Corolla drivers do get an option of Matrix LED which include adaptive lens/reflectors allowing aiming of the lights whilst driving.

 

 

 

[Cyker]

I wish we got that, Matrix LED systems are awesome! Having the shadow track other cars while everything else stays illuminated so you can have full brightness without blinding other drivers when going up and down hills is something all future cars should have IMHO

[TonyHSD]

On 11/21/2021 at 10:48 AM, Cyker said:

I wish we got that, Matrix LED systems are awesome! Having the shadow track other cars while everything else stays illuminated so you can have full brightness without blinding other drivers when going up and down hills is something all future cars should have IMHO

Actually these are horrible and I hope they will stop making them. If a car equipped with that sort of lights drives behind you on a dark country lane you will notice how bad they are for you,  they are ultra distracting and cause head ache plus blindness. I had few cases like that and it took me a bit to realise what was the reason for that thing happening but I sort the puzzle after a couple of more encounters. Don’t like those and the fog lights that turn ON on every turn.