Affordable alternative to HID are halogen lighting upgrades from Philips and Osram ($35-$40/pair for European Prius' H4 bulbs): -Objects and situations can be seen clearly at a distance of 75 metres -Service life comparable to that of standard H4 and H7 lamps. -Up to 50% more light on the road [Broken External Image]:http://www.powerbulbs.com/products/osram/silverstarh4.jpg Osram Silver Star [Broken External Image]:http://www.powerbulbs.com/products/philips/pvph4_large.jpg Philips Vision Plus Warning: while these bulbs are fully compliant with European ECE Regulation 37, check your relevant state regulation before installing it. http://www.powerbulbs.com/bulbtest/index.htm I'm pretty sure you can find it even cheaper in US. Anybody has experience with these upgrades? Does it worth the money?
They aren't legal in the US if the wattage exceeds 55w low beam and 65w high. Otherwise it may be a suitable upgrade if they've found a way to make them brigher. Or, you could go aftermarket and try to do your own HID conversion.
These are 55W bulbs. HID conversion for Prius, Rick, is very interesting question (Toyota doesn't offer HID here in Europe for some reason). I posted this question some time ago here and asked couple of people in Japan about it. Still waiting for reply... In the meantime, I'll go for this upgrade, it's not a big deal...
Just an FYI, the Osram's are the same thing as Sylvania's here in the States: http://www.sylvania.com/auto/silverstar.htm These are the ones I have in my Spyder and I'd never go back to normal halogen again. No one complains about getting blinded by them either, and they are a white light, not a blue.
Thanks for your opinion and Sylvania link, Danny. There is more info there than at the original Osram site. So, it looks like it definetely worth the money (even if improvements are a bit exagerated on these pictures). [Broken External Image]:http://homepage.mac.com/boagh125/.Public/osram.jpg [Broken External Image]:http://homepage.mac.com/boagh125/.Public/osram2.jpg P.S. It still cheaper (incl shipping) at powerbulbs.com
