Best replacement ungraded headlight bulbs? eBay? Halfords etc...

[Tubz1983]

I plan to get some decent spotlights or possibly mod the front headlights eventually but for now what are people's thoughts/experience with just upgrading the standard bulbs? What is the best I can get ?
1998 Fazer
T. 

[Gnasher]

Search the site there're loads of posts about this.


You can either upgrade just the bulbs Phillips Xtreme or Osram night breaker seems to be the favs, or HID conversion the other and really less effective way is to mod the lights i.e. wire them so they are both on at the same time.  This latter option is not the best way and is a trade off as you have to readjust the highbeam so as not to blind on coming traffic as the reflector is made for highbeam pattern only, so you lose your highbeam.


The reflectors is where the problem lays there shite.


The last and best option is to get hold of a 400 headlight unit these are both H4 and high/low beam reflectors, stick in the bulbs above and 100% improvement, convert to HID and wow.  Problem is these units are like rocking horse pooh!!!!!       

[darrsi]

I never knew the 400's had dual H4 bulbs! 

What the hell were they thinking when they designed the earlier 600's? 

I recently bought the Philips Extreme for my bike, they are obviously better than normal bulbs but still by no means good in comparison to other lights you see out on the road, especially when you get blinded by some little twist & go coming towards you. I can almost hear them laughing at the dullness of my bike. 
I've had the headlight mod done as well so both lights stay on.

[crickleymal]

I've been contemplating buying some LED headlights like this
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1240/10014435/2440800-3-led-18w-2000lm-6500k-neutral-white-led

or
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1211/10012005/2131500-jmt439-h7-1-cree-custom-made-36w-3200lm-6500k

[Gnasher]

I've been contemplating buying some LED headlights like this
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1240/10014435/2440800-3-led-18w-2000lm-6500k-neutral-white-led

or
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1211/10012005/2131500-jmt439-h7-1-cree-custom-made-36w-3200lm-6500k

I doubt very much they'll produce a good beam pattern, it's the same with cheap HID's.  The reflector is the key thing here it's not just about light power, yes they will be bright but it's very likely they wont have any penetration/focus i.e. you wont be able to see much.  All reflectors are designed to capture and project light in a focused (beam pattern) way their design and quality is more than half the battle in how much you can see even with quality HID bulbs fitted the beam pattern is still lacking on Fazers.  The other key element is point at which the light is produced from the reflector surface a mm or so up/down/left/right/back/forward will greatly reduce it's effectiveness. I did quite a bit of work on this some years ago here:

http://fazerowners.yuku.com/topic/6192/HID-kits?page=4#.Vr3tY63cvIU   

The way these produce light and the position of the light will make a poor reflector even worse I believe.   

[crickleymal]

You're probably right. I might lash out on the $20one as it's only about £15 to lose if it's crap and I may have someone who would buy it off me to replace the 30W headlamp on his trials bike. If you think the FZS headlights are rubbish you should see that, I was in front of him one night and it was like being followed by a candle.

[Tubz1983]

Thanks for the bulb suggestions, I shall do this as a temp fix, but looking at these with regard to spotlights s they look excellent http://www.twistedthrottle.com/denali-xtreme-spot-dual-intensity-led-headlight-kit-with-5-amp-fuse

Or this conversion looks do-able and has been on here before:

https://www.retrofitlab.com/retroquick-projector-kits-1/yamaha-fzs600-mh1.html

[Paulfzs]

http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,15666.0.html

[Paulfzs]

https://www.retrofitlab.com/retroquick-projector-kits-1/yamaha-fzs600-mh1.html

i did this for £30 buying them on ebay instead of branded by bike

[SQL]

I can vouch for these bad boys they certainly light up most of croydon from my garden.

[darrsi]

I can vouch for these bad boys they certainly light up most of croydon from my garden.

Are we talking about Croydon rioters, or headlights? 

[tommyardin]

I have been quite amazed at reading about all the woes with the earlier Fazer FZS 600 square (box) eye lights. Are they really that poor? I know my fazer has the foxeye headlights and I have put the brighter slightly colder bulbs in it, but to be honest I only did that to get the slightly colder colour as the headlights were very good before that, and to be honest now they really are brilliant they are better than the lights on my car, both lights are on when dipped and on main beam. I have also fitted two projector Cree LED spot lamps and have them focused low as to not dazzle oncoming traffic. I ride with the spots and headlights on all the time even in daylight. I wondered if it might cause battery issues but the battery is always charged and my battery conditioner drops back to normal/maintain after about 2 mins of plugging in into the bike.

[darrsi]

I have been quite amazed at reading about all the woes with the earlier Fazer FZS 600 square (box) eye lights. Are they really that poor? I know my fazer has the foxeye headlights and I have put the brighter slightly colder bulbs in it, but to be honest I only did that to get the slightly colder colour as the headlights were very good before that, and to be honest now they really are brilliant they are better than the lights on my car, both lights are on when dipped and on main beam. I have also fitted two projector Cree LED spot lamps and have them focused low as to not dazzle oncoming traffic. I ride with the spots and headlights on all the time even in daylight. I wondered if it might cause battery issues but the battery is always charged and my battery conditioner drops back to normal/maintain after about 2 mins of plugging in into the bike.

Trust me, they're embarrassingly poor.
It's not so much the lights, i have Philips Extreme bulbs in mine, it's the reflective part, it's what i can only describe as totally shite, i really don't understand how they could get it so wrong and not be aware of it!

[tommyardin]

There seems to be a lot spoken about headlamp mods for the box-eye on here, but, it seems some people (who seem very knowledgable) say that it's not really the answer because of focus issues. Sounds like a real bummer, I rather like the look of the box-eye model but the lighting situation doesn't sound good.
[size=78%]My fox-eye has two H4 twin filament cold white bulbs (replacement upgrades) I think they are 80/50watt, not quite as bright as some of the HID's but they are a fair bit brighter/whiter than my car. Mind you I tend not to ride often at night because the bike just for fun I don't use it as workhorse.[/size]

[darrsi]

There seems to be a lot spoken about headlamp mods for the box-eye on here, but, it seems some people (who seem very knowledgable) say that it's not really the answer because of focus issues. Sounds like a real bummer, I rather like the look of the box-eye model but the lighting situation doesn't sound good.
[size=78%]My fox-eye has two H4 twin filament cold white bulbs (replacement upgrades) I think they are 80/50watt, not quite as bright as some of the HID's but they are a fair bit brighter/whiter than my car. Mind you I tend not to ride often at night because the bike just for fun I don't use it as workhorse.[/size]

Mine really is mainly used as a commuter, so same old route 5 days a week, but i recently put some self adhesive yellow film over the headlight lens to differentiate me from other vehicles, and i must say it appears to be working rather well. I've probably lost a tiny bit of light by dong this, but the benefits kind of outweigh that.
It's still just the BMW drivers that i'm only guessing have one way tinted windscreens fitted the wrong way round that tend to be the most predictably consistent arseholes, and couldn't spot a firework in front of their face let alone another road user. 

[dcurzon]

http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,15666.0.html

This kit was actually created on my bikes' headlights, a few years ago when i got in touch with RFL. i sent them a set of headlights and they used it as a template to create the kit.  Its not just the projectors, but a backplate to replace the reflectors on each side as well, plus the gubbins.