In a message dated 6/15/2007 6:06:51 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
'Hot' bulbs have short lives. There's some nasty power (mathematical) function at work there. The brightness goes up a lot, but the life goes down a lot faster. 'Standard' bulbs are standard, because the balance between light and life was felt to be acceptable. You have to pay to play in that arena. Myself, I just use regular bulbs, potentially high-wattage (un-blue) bulbs that are still quite cheap yet work very well. Jim and all, The new Silver Stars do have a shorter rated life, but 1 year of "light" use should not take one out! I would jump Sylvania on it. Or you can step up to HID. I just went to HID (4300K) on my ML which used the H7 55 watt halogen lamp for low beams. The ML lenses diffused the light so well that it was often difficult to tell if they were even on. The HIDs light up the Botts Dotts on the freeway with an incredible flat beam! And they are legal in all states! The HID uses just 35 watts and gives 3 times the light and 10 times the life of Halogen. The HID Kits are available for nearly all lenses using replaceable halogen bulbs. My set was just over $100 delivered from an Ebay dealer. I first installed a pair of HID lights on my dune buggy over 4 years ago. My eyes were getting old and I needed more light than the four halogen lights I was running. What a difference! The white light makes shadows on the dunes a 1000 feet away. The Off-road boys run as many as 8 of these and their investment runs in the thousands, just for good lighting. The design of HID seems to permit them to take a lot of pounding without failure. There is no filament, just two pins that energize the gas in the lamps. Just my $0.02 Regards, Jim Friesen Phoenix AZ 79 300SD, 267 K miles 98 ML 320, 151 K miles ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com