Philips Racing Vision Headlight Bulb Review

In this article I will be reviewing the new Philips Racing Vision Headlight Bulbs. The bulbs my car takes are H4 and I am comparing them to the Halogen bulbs I bought and fitted last year.

Rather than testing the Philips Racing Vision bulb against a white garage door, which is what a lot of people do. I thought it would be better to test these bulbs on an identical drive, over the course of an evening. I believe this will give a realistic impression of these new premium headlight bulbs.

Philips Racing Vision Headlight Bulb
Brightness Comparison 

Fitting the Philips Racing Vision Headlight Bulbs
Fitting the Philips Racing Vision Headlight Bulbs

The above photo was taken part way through changing my headlights to the new Philips Racing Vision Bulbs. As you can see the left headlight (drivers side) is much brighter and whiter than the one on the right (passenger side). This was a promising start to testing the claim made by Philips (on the packaging) that these bulbs have ‘Up to +150% more brightness’ than standard headlight bulbs.

Philips Racing Vision old-vs-new
Old Headlights Vs New Philips Racing Vision Bulbs

The above photos are a before and after comparison of the new Philips Racing Vision Headlight Bulbs on my car. As you can see the new Racing Vision bulbs emit much more light with a wider spread than my older bulbs.

Going for a drive with Philips Racing Vision Bulbs

Before fitting the bulbs I found a quiet, dimly lit lane for the before and after comparison photos below.

disclaimer – I was stationary and the passenger took these images

Philips Racing Vision old-vs-new-rnoh
Old Bulbs Vs New Philips Racing Vision on a dark lane

As you can clearly see from the above comparison images, the new Philips Racing Vision Headlight Bulbs produce a much whiter, brighter and wider beam of light. The extra power of the Racing Vision Bulbs illuminated the shrubbery at the side of the road much better than the previous Halogen bulbs I had installed.

Old Bubls Vs New Philips Racing Vision Bulbs on a quiet local road
Old Bulbs Vs New Philips Racing Vision Bulbs on a quiet local road

The above images were taken (by the passenger) on a quiet residential road. As you can see the image on the right has a much wider spread of white light. It’s quite clear how much more light is produced when you compare the fencing in the background. The Racing Vision Bulbs illuminate the fence, which my previous halogen bulbs couldn’t reach.

Conclusion

The new Philips Racing Vision Bulbs are a delight to drive with, despite being fiddly to fit (more a design fault with my car). I can see much more of what is actually on, and around, the road thanks to the wide spread of bright white light produced by these bulbs.

Although the high intensity output of the bulbs means they suffer from a short lifespan (around 200 hours), I would highly recommend these bulbs. Especially as the night time darkness now outlasts daylight hours in our sunny Isle.

On a personal note, I found the bulbs hard to remove from the plastic holder inside the box, I think Philips over engineered that.