Bulb test - H7 standard

Forget tyres or brakes; when it comes to improving safety, new headlamp bulbs should be at the top of your list. After all, what use are the best rubber, pads or discs if you can't see where you are driving?

For around £20 you could significantly improve your chances of avoiding a crash, simply by replacing the bulbs in your lamp units. You don't have to wait until they fail; even superior products generate less light as they age, while the difference between the best and worst is immense.

So which are the bulbs to buy to keep you safe when night falls? We headed to Philips' testing facility in Aachen, Germany, to find out.

For this test we have concentrated on the single filament H1 and H7 types. The former is the original halogen lamp from the Sixties, while the latter is the modern version, now the best-selling bulb. It is built to tighter tolerances that allow car makers to do away with light-sapping lenses and use the reflector to shape the beam. To complicate matters, both varieties are available with xenon-look blue coatings, as well as with 30 or 50 per cent more light. We've referred to the latter as +30 and +50 in our product panels.

The bulbs here are available from the stockists listed on Page 73. They can also be bought via mail order or the Internet, plus nationwide accessory shops (AS) and service stations (SS).

Verdict

The best bulbs have Philips or Osram on the baseplate. The former has the edge, as subsidiary Narva supplied Halfords' Brilliance. But the results were close whether you want blue, +30, +50, H1 or H7. If you must buy a standard bulb, go for Unipart.