Headlight Bulb Selection

[sperold]

I have been looking at better bulbs for headlights on RockAuto and was surprised to see the number of categories:
Standard Replacement
Blue Coated Halogen
Maximum Brightness
Reduced Glare
Extended Life

Does anyone have any first hand information on some of these bulbs?
I would like better lighting and unless I hear differently, will be selecting form the "Maximum Brightness" category.

I am assuming that Dual Beam means High and Low Beams.
The warranties vary between 60 days to 200 hours, but I don't know what to do with that information. So that is discounted for now.
I have never bought anything but standard replacements in the past, is there a downside to picking something else? The various units claim 65-45 watts while others are 55 watts, anything to look out for there?

I have been toying with projector headlights and followed many threads on that topic, but for now I am sticking with a premium reflector type system.

 

[SHOdded]

The Max Brightness are probably 65W, while the Extended Life are 45W. I choose Max Brightness every time, though I realize that life will certainly be compromised, getting anywhere from 1-3 years, rather than the 5 or 6 with Standard bulbs.

 

[sperold]

Is "Blue Coated Halogen" the coloured lights you see on imports and modified civics and such?
What can "Reduced Glare" possibly mean?

Pricing on the "Max. Brightness" is all over the map; the Wagner's are $4.00 while the GE's are $11.00. Unless I hear something derogatory, I will be favouring the Wagner brand.

 

[SHOdded]

Most of the lighting I see on those cars is higher color temp (6000K or above) lighting done with tinted glass. Great for shows, not so great for actual driving. Light output is ... not good.

Supposedly, the "Reduced Glare" lighting uses the same technology as the "Blue Coated Halogen", but filters out more of the blue part of the light to give you a truer white light. However, as you can guess, the output is still not good.

I would stick with something in the Maximum Brightness category. I have heard that in order to get best performance, wiring directly to the battery via relays (a common action with high output HIDs) may help. The Wagner BriteLite should be fine, but they tend to burn out in less than 1/2 a year from what people are saying. I usually favor Osram (not Sylvania) lighting, and run their NightBreaker Plus lamps for my vehicle. Unfortunately, they do not have a 9004 version available.

BTW driving the higher wattage (55w) HIDs that are rated at 5000K actually makes them appear whiter than their 35W counterparts.

Found this old writeup for GM rewiring for high output lighting:

http://www.thirdgen.org/headlightupgrade

Color temperature chart:

https://www.lumicrest.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=1