# Ultra-Powerful Xenon-Brite Bastard Bulbs - I can't \*see\*, dammit! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 21, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680 "2003-08-21T14:37:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/1 "2003-08-21T14:37:03Z")
Anyone else fed up with those ridiculously bright car headlights that seem to be standard issue these days? You know, the ones of an intensity better suited to vaporising diamond than illuminating a dark road. They are annoying not just because even on low-beam they are completely dazzling - whether on oncoming traffic or via the wing-mirrors when they are behind you - but also because as the car behind you goes over a bump you get a super-halogen burst of intense blue (or purple or green, if the offender is _really_ poncey) light searing your retinas. Is my memory fooling me, or was it possible only five or so years ago to drive at night without utterly ruining your night vision? And, heaven forfend, to actually be able to _see the edge of the road_ when a car was coming in the other direction, without being forced to brake hard or risk ending up in a ditch or getting intimate with an oak tree? ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/2 "2003-08-21T15:09:18Z")
Preach it! I liken it to being hit in the eyes by a 1920’s style Death Ray. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/3 "2003-08-21T15:14:35Z")
Are you sure that it is the xenon bulbs that bother you? I live near a couple of wealthy neighborhoods and never had a problem with the purple xenons, even on dark back roads. However, the halogen manufacturers tried to scoop up some of that business and they started putting out those silly blue lights (that shine more glare into oncoming traffic while, ironically, providing less on-the-road illumination for the driver than a white halogen). ---
**Author:** ![moi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@moi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moi)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/4 "2003-08-21T15:44:39Z")
I don’t know the commercial name of the super-bright bulbs that are responsible for blinding me, I just mostly hiss obscenities every time I’m blinkingly faced with them. I thought it had to be just me because I just couldn’t fathom the thought process of the folks who buy them: “Hey, those bulbs are blindingly bright! Where can I get me some?” ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/5 "2003-08-21T15:52:36Z")
Ya know, red light doesn’t damage night vision. Why can’t headlights be a brilliand red? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/6 "2003-08-21T15:54:52Z")
I don’t know exactly what they are, **tomndebb** , I just know that they _hurt_. The first few times I encountered them, I thought the other driver had forgotten to dip his full-beams as I approached, so I gave him a quick flash of my brights to remind him. He responded by turning _his_ up to full beam and my eyes nearly melted. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/7 "2003-08-21T15:55:08Z")
> [@](#): > > “Hey, those bulbs are blindingly bright! Where can I get me some?” You know, that’s exactly what I said right before I bought a pair for my vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/8 "2003-08-21T16:19:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by r\_k \* > \*\*The first few times I encountered them, I thought the other driver had forgotten to dip his full-beams as I approached, so I gave him a quick flash of my brights to remind him. He responded by turning _his_ up to full beam and my eyes nearly melted. \*\* Sounds like those lights were aimed too high. A few dopers have ranted about the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/9 "2003-08-21T22:31:39Z")
I have the Xenon bulbs. I like them because the standard headlights on my car (1994 Dodge Intrepid) are shitty to the max. The Xenon bulbs really do help light up the road better. I used to never want to drive at night because my headlights were so poor that it was hard to see the road. Plus they’re only like $20-25 dollars if you know where to get them. It’s become kind of a fad in my town, probably 30-40 people have them and it’s a pretty small town. I like them because whenever I see them I know it’s one of my friends! My boyfriend pretty much started the whole thing in my town because he was the first to have them (aside from the people who have cars that come standard with them), so I got mine for free. You can also get Xenon fog lights too. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/10 "2003-08-22T06:56:11Z")
The very intense car lights are high-intensity discharge (HID) bulbs. Xenon bulbs are quite bright, but have been around for quite a while. HID lights are not actually blue, but your eyes perceive them that way because they’re much less yellow than conventional lights. There are aftermarket imitation bulbs that use a blue filter so that they look a little like HID headlights, but they are far less intense. My car came with HID headlights, and I’m ambivalent about them. I _really_ like how much more I can see with them as a driver, but I’m also aware that they can be a bit too intense for other drivers. I keep them properly angled, which hopefully lessens any problems they cause other drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/11 "2003-08-22T10:05:47Z")
HID - that’s the name I was looking for, thank you. They’re especially bad when mounted on 4x4s (SUVs), as they are then that much higher. (FYI, I drive a very small Renault which will be 20 years old come November. It has a couple of gas lanterns duct-taped to the front.) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/12 "2003-08-22T10:12:28Z")
What pisses me off is that they do occasionally appear to flash blue as the car bounces, which often makes me think I’m being followed by an angry cop. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/13 "2003-08-22T12:45:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Particlewill \* > \*\*Ya know, red light doesn’t damage night vision. Why can’t headlights be a brilliand red? \*\* I think they’d be confused too often with 1920’s style deathrays. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/14 "2003-08-22T13:25:46Z")
Motion seconded! And let’s include the knob-heads who drive around with their fog-lights on all weathers. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/15 "2003-08-22T16:42:52Z")
Not to rain on veryone’s pit parade, but HID lights are not any brighter than halogen lights. You just think they are because the color temperature of the light is different. HIDs are substantially more efficient, so a lower wattage bulb will produce the same amount of lumens as a higher wttage halogen, but that doesn’t men they bump up the wattage to match the halongen wttage. They use lower wattage, thus extending life. [http://www.halcyon.net/dir/faq\_07.shtml](http://www.halcyon.net/dir/faq_07.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/16 "2003-08-22T16:50:54Z")
I’m sorry, it’s not solely color temperature making the difference. HIDs also have a different spectral range and more uniformity than halogen bulbs. Still, they travel no further than normal halogens. Correctly aimed HID bulbs should not be any more objectively blinding than normal bulbs. ---
**Author:** ![Anita\_Vacation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Anita\_Vacation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anita_Vacation)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultra-powerful-xenon-brite-bastard-bulbs-i-cant-see-dammit/196680/17 "2003-08-22T19:09:43Z")
Which kind of bulbs they are doesn’t matter to me, what matters is that there are a lot of headlights out on the road now that make driving more hazardous. What good does it do the driver who sees the road better when he has blinded oncoming traffic so badly that they might run into him or someone else? The aim of the lights doesn’t solve the problem. Bumps, hills and turns can end up aiming the lights straight into other driver’s eyes. I heard that some localities are trying to enact legislation to ban them. PLEASE!