GCGC Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Just a couple of comparative images showing the difference between the OEM HB3 and the Osram Night Breaker Unlimited HB3. This is not supposed to be a review, but rather, to offer my first impression and to demonstrate any difference (if any) between OEM and the Osram NBU upgrade bulb. Image 1 Left = Osram NBU, Right = OEM bulb Image 2 Left = OEM bulb, Right = Osram NBU Image 3 Left bulb = Osram NBU, Right bulb = OEM (Vehicle = 2006 Station Wagon with factory OEM HID) Image 4 Left & Right = Generic blue tinted HB3 bulb from eBay (Vehicle = 2004 Seden with factory OEM HID) My First Impression & Thoughts: I have to be honest, initially when i compared these images, i was disappointed and unimpressed. I was disappointed that the NBU isn't brighter than my OEM bulb. I was unimpressed because i can hardly tell the difference based on the photos. However, after some thinking and a few hours of using these new Osram NBU bulbs, I realised that I have been mistaken, and here is why. More light is better, but this is only true if the light is being projected onto where you need to see. And this is exactly what the Osram NBU is very good at. If you look carefully at the two images, you can see that the beam patten is in fact slightly bigger/wider than the OEM bulb (this is particularly noticeable when compared to the generic bulbs) and driving with the NBU in rural road makes a significant difference as you can see wider and further! In terms of appearance, due to the blue upper and lower tint, NBU admits a much whiter light (yes, white, not blue!) than the OEM bulb and it certainly compliments the factory HID nicely. But then again, i don't usually keep my high beam on when there are on coming traffic, so why does it matter? All in all, I believe that the Osram NBU HB3 is ideal for those who are looking to enhance their night time driving experience. However, for those who mostly drives in urban area, the benefit may not be that noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNVAR Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Should've bought HIR bulbs instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Image 3 (Vehicle = 2006 Station Wagon with factory OEM HID) Image 4 (Vehicle = 2004 Seden with factory OEM HID) What OEM HID? My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danteneon Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 I don't know of any OEM HID systems that use a HB3 bulb I like to cook my pets and my family. Use commas. Don't be a psycho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 In Europe we have OEM HID, so no big deal. And the color of the low beam headlight pattern seems to match OEM HID:s too. The light pattern looks like it's for left hand traffic, so the UK, Ireland, Australia, Japan or Hong Kong seems to be plausible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 B.t.w. the main beam light pattern here seems to be off - was the bulb correctly mounted or was the bulb bad? http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=167406&d=1383965537 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCGC Posted November 9, 2013 Author Share Posted November 9, 2013 I don't know of any OEM HID systems that use a HB3 bulb The OEM HID i was referring to is the low beam not the high beam. I believe it is D2S for low beam and HB3 for High Beam. (Please correct me if i am wrong) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danteneon Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Yep, the high beam would be a HB3 I like to cook my pets and my family. Use commas. Don't be a psycho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 Turn Headlights off. Pull stalk back. Take pictures. edit: E-brake on too. My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 Turn Headlights off. Pull stalk back. Take pictures. edit: E-brake on too. Won't necessarily be effective on models with HID lamps. At least on mine the low beams also goes on, so the resort would be a physical masking of the low beam - post-it notes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNVAR Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 HIR bulbs are significantly brighter than their regular counterparts. Seriously should've just gotten those instead of these Osrams with their gimmicky blue tint. At least the tint isn't all around and they leave an untinted strip for the untinted (untainted more like) light to come out that axis... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 An OEM would not make the HID's turn on with flash to pass.... unless they were bi-xenon... which they're not. My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 An OEM would not make the HID's turn on with flash to pass.... unless they were bi-xenon... which they're not. Tell that to my car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 So if your headlights are off, and you pull the stalk back, your high beams and low beams come on? My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 So if your headlights are off, and you pull the stalk back, your high beams and low beams come on? Yep! I can of course double-check that in all settings of the lights, but at least when the position lights are on and the fog lights are on and I pull the stalk. And it's in the BIU that's happening. Since I don't have the means to re-program it I will have to live with it. Hand me the code and tools and I might do some fun stuff for the BIU! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownLeggy Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Won't necessarily be effective on models with HID lamps. At least on mine the low beams also goes on, so the resort would be a physical masking of the low beam - post-it notes? My lows come on with the highs, too. I guess you could just unplug the lows if you just wanted to see just the high-beams... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 My lows come on with the highs, too. I guess you could just unplug the lows if you just wanted to see just the high-beams... Probably easiest to pull the fuse then. Good luck unplugging the HIDs in any different way without getting a tazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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