Silverstar Ultra halogens vs #10,000 lumen LED headlights #BlogPost

23 Dec 2016

This is an all out comparison between Sylvania’s Silverstar Ultra line of Halogen replacement bulbs versus a pair of Green-L 10,000 lumens COB LED replacement headlights. An important thing to note in this comparison is that both sets of bulbs are compared on the same vehicle, neither set are OEM style bulbs, these bulbs are H13 socket (high and low beam in a single bulb), and that the headlights were not adjusted in anyway in between tests. This was a simple plug and play comparison.

Silverstar Ultras

We will start with the more traditional Silverstar Ultras from Sylvania. These are said to be the whitest and brightest halogen bulbs available for stock wattage, while also reaching the farthest distance possible. Truth be told, I’ve yet to see better halogens. They truly are as great a halogen bulb as they state. However, the extra quality comes at a price: $59.99 plus taxes, while having a lower service light than a typical OEM style halogen bulb. A Silverstar Ultra last 6-800 hours compared to the standard bulb’s 1,000 hours. That’s a significant difference for someone like myself that does a lot of driving. However, it seems a small price to pay for the added safety that the extra visibility gives. Also, it does make a vehicle look better with the whiter lights.

10,000 Lumen LED

Even with all of that being said above, the Silverstar Ultras pale in comparison to these LED bulbs. The bulbs in question are the Green-L branded 10,000 lumen COB LED bulbs. These are roughly twice as bright as the Silverstar Ultras, which themselves are roughly twice as bright as an OEM bulb. They are easily and noticeably both whiter and brighter than the Silverstar Ultras. Of cours, the drawback has to be the ridiculous price. Not in this case. The LEDs came in at $53.99 total, including taxes and even two day shipping. That makes these actually $13.80 cheaper than the Ultras, all in. The colour temperature is rated at 6,000K, which makes for about as white of a light as possible without introducing blue into the colourings. As an added bonus, they go approximately 1.5 to 1.8 times the distance compared to the Ultras, which is impressive given their LED nature. Worth noting is that they have a sharper cut off compared to the halogens, so they have to actually be adjusted up. On the plus side, they will have no problems when in low beam of blinding other drivers. The lifetime expectancy of these bulbs are 50,000 hours, roughly seventy times the lifetime of the Ultras. Another notable thing about these bulbs are that they are COB bulbs instead of SMD. COB is the newest innovation in LED lighting, which gives more lumens per watt while keeping the circuitry at a cooler temperature. There’s no drawbacks with COB lighting versus SMD, only positives.

My biggest worry when ordering these LED bulbs was that they wouldn’t reach the distances that my upgraded halogens could. LEDs by nature do not typically go the same distance per lumen that halogens can. However, advances in LED technology have now alleviated that problem. The Ultras 5,600 lumens simply can not keep up with the LED’s 10,000 lumens, no matter the distance. It’s worth keeping in mind that the OEM bulbs are only rated at 1,500 lumens. If your vehicle still has stock style headlight bulbs, the overall improvement will be even more dramatic.

As those of you that have been following me for a while know, I have slowly been upgrading all of my lighting on my 2009 Focus daily driver to LEDs. With this upgrade, this finishes with the outer lighting. For those of you that haven’t seen my previous posts, I invite you to take a peak at how much better LED lighting is compared to both halogen and incandescent bulbs in some of my past posts this year. For any questions about LED lighting upgrades, comment below.