Sylvania ZXE H7 Bulbs

JINKSTER

I Love my Wife!
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Hey Folks..long time no post and no riding (until lately) but for good reason..docs had me on lyrica for about a year for leg neuropathy (diabetic nerve damage) and while on the lyrica?..i kept my riding to a minimum..and as much as it hurt i think it was a good call as the lyrica had me about a scatter brained as i've ever been (didn't trust myself or my reflexes..decision making was in slow motion as well as short term memory)..so long story long? LOL! Oren has spent waaaay more days on the battery tender than on the road this past year..the good news?..i got so disgusted with myself and how dopey the lyrica made me feel?..i kicked it..screw the docs...screw the lyrica...as just staying active and walking a lot actually seem to help more..sans the "zoned out" feeling..and just this past month i've felt alert enough to start swinging a leg over '03 Gen I Oren Ishii again..but this past week my "sylvania silverstar ultra" low beam crapped out..and as far as i'm concerned?..it was due..i think it's been in there for about 2-3 years now and has served me extremely well (for what it is..i.e. "not" hid)...as i was very pleased with the whiteness (hence percieved brightness) and the curb too curb light it put out..and stopped at auto zone to buy another today and wasn't going to settle for less..and there they were..$25.97ea..same as last time..but asked the guy..."Have they come out with anything better yet?"..and he claimed they have..but while also being another $5 per bulb more expensive?..they only came in "Two Packs"...for a whopping $59.99...me?..of course i justified by thinking..."cool...i got a spare to carry"...and with tax and a lil ketchup pack of grease?..total was $66.37...just got home with them...haven't installed them yet and started checking out some reviews..most were negitive but of those many seemed to be comparing them to HID however the sales hype on the box states "HID Attitude/Xenon Fueled"..also..the back of the box states that...

"they are engineered to achieve the highest performance possible which results in a product life that is less than standard lamps"

but go on to guarantee satisfaction for 12 months..so techically?..i guess i'm up to double the price but..if they are in fact better than the silverstar ultra's (which i personally was very pleased with) and the fact that i do have an emergency spare to carry?..i'm cool with it..long as they brighten things up for my 54 year old diabetic eyes.

I'll be installing one here shortly..meanwhile thoughts and opines are welcome..i might even hold off a bit on the install to hear some of those responses as i could also just as easily be swayed into returning them..but i don't think so...i'm kinda anxious to see for myself first hand as i heard a lot of bad press on the silverstar ultra's as well (which personally speaking) i wound up being very pleased with...and here's a pic of which i speak..

zxebulbs.jpg


have a great weekend...glad to be back in the saddle again and L8R, Bill. :cool:
 
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nobody tried these yet?..no opinions?...

or am i just an old guy with an old bike still living in a pre-HID world? LOL!
 
Wow I haven't see those on the shelf round here yet. That being said I needed to get new lights for my parents truck, So I looked at all the Sylvania lights they had on the shelf. It did seem the lumes and bulb life varied inversely. In the end I took the second to best lights knowing they were probably the best lights for their application and they might not have noticed the slight change in intensity.

On this flip side I was using cheaper HID lights and I was going through a ballast every year at $50 a pop so if you get two years out of each bulb you are doing pretty good. A good set of halogens are better then a cheap set of HID for multiple stop driving, I think that is why I burned the ballast so quickly. The Halogens will be a brilliant white but that blends in with the cages, that is why I went with the HID I could have a slightly blue light. Now the number of people who have pulled out in front of me can be counted on one hand, and those people had their heads firmly planted up their posterior.

The more light you can have with the bike the better and I can't put a price on safety. I look forward to your review of the lights. I might want to put some in my truck.
 
okay..it's in and functioning..the toughest part?..was trying to figure out how to open the fancy box they came in..fortunately (and just prior to grabbing the nearest hammer) i doned my 3.0 readers and even then?..it was tough to see the ultra clear round tape dots that needed to be removed first..they actually looked like a result of the molding process and part of the clear box even with the extreme readers on...and didn't realize they were tape until i wrenched and warped the box crooked enough that one wrinkled a little..ahh..now i see...sylvania?...are you listening?..EITHER COLOR THE BOX OR COLOR THE TAPE!

My next debacle was all on me...partly due to not working on any bikes for about a year now and partly due to early senial shear lazy old man syndrome..as normally?..(back in my ambitious days)...i would've went ahead and just pulled the nose fairing to make things real easy to access, clean and inspect as i go..but no...i'm older and wiser now right?..so i just popped out the left fairing insert and forced my wide hand with stubby fat digits down in there (without looking cause there was nothing to see anyways) felt around , spun and viola..out she came..but there were two problems...

1. The element in the bulb looked just dandy and..

2. It looked nothing like the new bulbs! ???

man was i pi$$'ed..but the element thing really bothered me..oh no...and electrical problem?..hey!..maybe it's a fuse?..and it took my old senile self a minute to realize but at least i did...that..i just pulled the wrong bulb..that was my high beam i was looking at. :banghead:

the next 3 hours was spent getting it right...which included jamming my hand up in there with my cellphone camera to take a flash picture to see what was what and what needed to get removed, unlatched an disconnected..and now both bulbs needed wiped down with alcohol and oh so carefully re-installed without dropping them from my now cut up and bleeding small wide hand with chubby stubby lil digits..working blind..whadda PITA!..glad i don't work on bikes anymore. LOL!

hows the bulb?..dunno really..to early to tell but the sun will be down in about an hour..alls i could tell on this sunny bright day is..it didn't look like squat from an angle but looking it dead in the refractory eye?..it was blinding..and extremely white..the only cool part so far?...when i turned on the hibeam as well?..the two look like a spot-on color match..meanwhile?...i'll know if it was worth while in about and hour here but to be honest?..i'm not expecting anything stellar by comparison to the silverstar ultra i had. L8R, Bill. :cool:
 
Bill good to see you posting. We need to get together and ride as soon as it warms up.
65 is too chilly for me...:whistle:
 
I just replaced my low beam with OEM. I wished I had paid a little more and tried some of the better lamps.
 
Bill good to see you posting. We need to get together and ride as soon as it warms up.
65 is too chilly for me...:whistle:

sounds good but i gotta warn ya..i ain't as fast as i used to think i was..crazy daze are over..i've settled down quite a bit,,but if you still wanna do some cruising?..i'd be happy to ride with ya. :thumbsup:

I just replaced my low beam with OEM. I wished I had paid a little more and tried some of the better lamps.

DOT..it's not to late..but it could be..so stop wishing...the difference for me going from oem to just the silverstar ultra?..was literally night and day..oem was narrow dull and yellow while the SS Ultra was bright, white and wide..i remember wanting to kick myself when i put that bulb in for not doing so long before i did...dollar for dollar?..most definantly one of the best mods/upgrades i did..way i figure?..the better i can see at night?..the better folks can see me...win/win...and my next jump probably will be some sorta HID conversion kit.
 
sounds good but i gotta warn ya..i ain't as fast as i used to think i was..crazy daze are over..i've settled down quite a bit,,but if you still wanna do some cruising?..i'd be happy to ride with ya. :thumbsup:



DOT..it's not to late..but it could be..so stop wishing...the difference for me going from oem to just the silverstar ultra?..was literally night and day..oem was narrow dull and yellow while the SS Ultra was bright, white and wide..i remember wanting to kick myself when i put that bulb in for not doing so long before i did...dollar for dollar?..most definantly one of the best mods/upgrades i did..way i figure?..the better i can see at night?..the better folks can see me...win/win...and my next jump probably will be some sorta HID conversion kit.


So you're saying the next time we pass a St Lucie county mounty you're gonna stop and not.....:whistle:


:laugh:
 
Well I did what any good friend would do? I stopped and talked to them so the other guy could get away.
:)
 
meanwhile?..the results are in...and compared to what i observed during daylight hours?..i'm impressed..and i guess the best way i could put it is..

No doubt..the $25 Silverstar Ultra bulb was a full step up from the oem lamp..where the ZXE is about a 1/2 a step up from the Silverstar Ultra..and for about $5 more per bulb?..i'll call that a deal and i'm very pleased with my purchase..shocked actually...the stop sign is about 200' away (2 lots) and here's what the ZXE lowbeam looks like on a no lights residential road..sucker lights up about 200 feet of road and does so in a very bright/white way and super panarama..lit up about 10-15' directly left/right of the roadside..should come in real handy when hunting street signs/names at night..

zxe1.jpg


and here it is with the oem hi-beam lit up as well..

zxe2.jpg


there's no photo trickery involved here and as a matter of fact?..i actually had to pull the bike up the driveway into some ambient light just to get it to NOT look like some cosmic entity floating around in a black hole. LOL!

ZXE low beam only...

zxe3.jpg


ZXE Low-Beam w/ OEM Hi-Beam on..

zxe4.jpg


truth be known?..i'm so pleased with the ZXE low beam that i'm 1/2 tempted to run back to autozone tomorrow morning and replace the oem high beam with a ZXE bulb as well. L8R, Bill. :cool:
 
Well I did what any good friend would do? I stopped and talked to them so the other guy could get away.
:)

yeah...you have a habit of doing that...i'm still wearing the cross you gave me 2 1/2 years ago..everyday..and you are most definantly towards the top of the shortlist of true friends of have..so stop it..you're making me feel bad...which reminds me..i kinda still owe you a burger for that one don't i? :laugh:
 
I do wanna see you. It's been too long man. I miss you so much :(


:laugh:


I should cruise up and hang out for a bit one day soon.
We will talk about it.
 
Been using the Silverstar Ultra low beam, so going to have to check these out. Wondering how the zXe compares with the PIAA Extreme White + bulbs. PIAAs are $50 ea, and the low beam was lasting roughly 6 months (high beam has lasted 4 years), which was what drove me to the Sylvania bulbs.
 
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