Sylvania Silverstar Ultra Halogens Bulbs Review
Sylvania claims that the premium priced Silverstar Ultra Halogens bulbs are whiter, brighter, and offer the look of HID lights. Let’s find out what the others have to say.
Sylvania
Sylvania, the company that manufactures these halogen bulbs, says that the Silverstar Ultra is the brightest and whitest bulbs in the company’s product line. Not only that, the Silverstar Ultra is also up to 50% brighter, up to 40% more downward visibility, and up to 50% more side road visibility when compared with stock light bulbs.
Road & Track
Road & Track’s senior editor Douglas Kott thinks that “these Silverstar Ultras (at approximately 4100 K) are a nice change from the yellowish cast of the factory-installed halogen headlight bulbs (roughly 3100 K) in my Toyota MR2 Spyder. Sylvania claims these 60/55W bulbs can, depending on application, both broaden and lengthen the beam pattern, but I can say from experience that reflectorized signs and land markers pop with a new brilliance, and that previously murky roadside objects are far better delineated. It’s not exactly HID performance, but pretty incredible illumination from a small coil of glowing tungsten. The downside? A shorter bulb life expectancy, but we’ll take the trade any day.”
Bestcovery
Bestcovery has awarded the Silverstar Ultra with the Best Replacement Headlights winner award (the PIAA Intense bulbs is in second place). Bestcovery thinks that the Silverstar Ultra is the best because it is 100% street legal, and it provides a good balance between brightness and life expectancy. Users rated 4 out of 5 stars for the Silverstar Ultra (the PIAA Intense is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars by users). Full details are available here.
StagNet
At StagNet, a user posted a photo of the Silverstar Ultra in action (the headlights, not fog lights). The discussion can be found here.
In summary, the Sylvania Silverstar Ultra halogen bulbs are noticibly whiter and brighter than most stock bulbs, but the lighting performance is not as good as HID lights. Life expectancy is shorter than stock bulbs, which is generally true for a lot of the whiter aftermarket bulbs.
My dad got a set 2 months ago. He said the lights were brighter and he did like them, then 1 light went out. He had to buy another set 44$ Yesterday the 2nd light from the 1st set went out 12|6|11. We are waiting to see how long these last
Went through 6 of these in less than a year. My Honda kept the OEM headlights for 10 years. No Silverstar at $25 each, lasted longer than 4 months. One or 2 might be a fluke, not 6.
@Bill I hate to ask, but did your Dad use clean rubber gloves to handle the bulb.
@W Wommack Mine lasted for a couple of years worth, here again any oil from your hand will usually shorten the life of the bulb.
Looks like I got those switched around, anyway oil will do them in in short work. I do agree that they will not last anywhere near as long as a standard halogen.