Galco

Let us know what you think of the Night Breakers.

mishar

I am a bit puzzled here. Only difference I can see in those images is light color. Yellowish one is probably 4300 K and the bluish one higher. Am I missing something?

EHLO

With the 4300 K NBK I see a wider low beam spread in the field on the right, slightly better high beam illumination at the end of the road, and an overall higher luminosity.
Some of end of the road difference is probably due to the better definition from the warmer color of the NKB, opposed to the cooler 5000 K CBI, like how a true fog light is yellow.
My first job out of school was at Keene Lighting, designing outdoor HID products, I still have a floater in one eye due to a lab incident.

mishar

Yes, I can see those small differences, but I think they are coming mostly from better illumination with 4300 K bulbs. Actually, whole area is better illuminated with the lower temperature light and that's what bluish light lowers should realize. Those lights are on the "all show no go" line with extra shallow tires, slammed suspension ...

MP4.2+6.0

You forgot the coffee can exhaust ends, hard wired fogs, plastic body kits and purple window tint, and maybe an occasional stagger set up. Fortunately at least some rarely make it to big Audis.

Meanwhile, I have a set of Nightbreakers standing by for the next fender liner pull. D3 is still not up to 2013 Q5 stock snuff, so must change that. Old AW'er I helped w/ a steering noise issue and who asked about HID's now swears by them pre- vs post- change

mishar

It will be hard to beat 7 years younger lenses/reflectors technology and dust accumulation. Nightbrakers most likely deserve that name. I remember a huge difference when I installed them. Old ones where not bluish yet. Just an rally addition: 65W halogen high beams. Mostly used to flash red light runners so they think they'we just been caught by a traffic camera.

EHLO

On the range of blue, the CBI is at the low range, and despite it's Cool Blue Intense name some consider it to be neutral white.
Something I thought about doing, but will save for later, is to overdrive a set of CBIs with 50W ballasts.
This will increase luminosity, make the color warmer, but decrease bulb life due to the 3% tolerance.

Galco

EHLO is correct, don't be lured into thinking due to the name "Cool Blue Intense" that these are the blue/purple lights that you are referring to and yes I too find juvenile, IHMO. Those are in the 6000+k range. CBIs are slightly whiter than 4300k stock bulbs which are a warmer white (leaning toward the cooler temp and red in color part of the light spectrum). At 5000k the color is more white and similar to natural sun light (as any pro photographer will tell you). The term "bluer" is used as they are a higher kelvin color temp the closer the color is toward the blue/purple spectrum of light waves.

As others have expressed, the trade offs are TYPICALLY the lower kelvin the higher the lumes. Also, the 4300k bulb with its warmer more yellow version of white illuminates better than an equivalent 5000k bulb, especially in rain, snow or fog. Hence why factory's have shipped 4300 HID set ups as it an effective application for the most driving conditions. I live in Southern California and weather was the least of my worries, which was the deciding factor for me to go with the Osram CBIs. CBIs strikes an nontraditional balance of higher kelvin (5K) and 3400+ lumes, which is on par with the best 4300k HIDs as far as lumes. Nightbreaker is the exception as its rated around 3500 lumes, depending the source. So if you prefer the whiter light and don't want to give up lumes, the CBI is a good choice.

To each his own, some will prefer the standard 4300k from the factor as it does an excellent job of lumes, preferred for rain, snow or fog, and comfortable color rendering to their eye; while others will prefer a crisper white light and sacrifice a bit of lumes. That said, there is a reason why manufactures stick with 4300k as it an excellent compromise. I did read somewhere that Porsche and some others are shipping newer models with 5000k HIDs but can't confirm. The ones i see on the road do seem to have a crisper white than other HID equip cars traveling along side, so my causal observation make me believe there is a movement toward 5000k and LED in general.

For me it was a very close choice between the 5000k CBIs and 4300k Nightbreakers (both from Osram). I ended up with CBIs and very happy. At the same time, I am very interested in opinions of those that choose Night-breakers (MP4.2???).

Sorry for the rant, hope this is helpful to others.....

mishar

Not really clear to me, are you saying that those bluish pictures from that link is better light than those yellowish?

Galco

Mishar, I'm not sure I can answer your question directly -- read on.

Its simply too subjective which is better and each person may have a preference. In my real world experience going from factory 4300k to the 5000k CBIs, the CBIs offer excellent visibility. And, I personally like the snap of a crisper whiter light. Again, its not that awful Blue/Purple you often see on the road at night, coming at you that you feel compeled to say out loud to your wife, "oh, what is that 16 year thinking!". BTW, if your wife is like mine she is annoyed you even mentioned it as it didn't matter to her in the first place....and why would intrupt the conversation about our children!

Back on point, if one prefers the slightly warmer tone of 4300k like the factory and are use to the color rendering that it provides, then they are likely to prefer the 4300k bulbs. In the pictures, one sees more accurate colors of the dirt road and green grass in the distance with the 4300k bulbs. But i wouldn't, nor should others, go by pictures alone. With many years of professional video experience, I can tell you one camera sees color different than another and the camera may have been white-balanced to 4300k light source, hence more accurate colors. Compound that with the significant color temperature differences from one monitor to another; and you maybe miss-leading yourself. In the pictures alone, I would lean toward the 4300k as things look more accurate in color and the throw of the that bulb and that lens is further. As i mentioned in an earlier post, that is a very good demonstration. I will add "but not for a final determination".

Behind the wheel of my car, with CBIs I am happy. Would I hate a set of powerful,but warmer toned 4300k Night Breakers with a bit more lumes than the CBI -- likely not.

In short, for me personally, it was time for a change and with so much LED out there, it suggests to me there is a movement to around 5000k - 5500k. And as long as the engineers can get the lumes to be on par or better than 4300k in their designs, it seems to be the direction things are going.

Trust me, I went back and forth on the 4300 v 5000 as there wasn't a clear hands down winner.