Headlight confusion

[oscarisapc]

I am of an age where my eyesight and night vision is not as good as it used to be so every little helps when it comes to illuminating the road at night. Could someone kindly enlighten me (not a joke!) about headlights (or provide web link to somewhere I could enlighten myself)? I had bi-xenons in my previous 05 plate C320 and they were superb. With my current car, an 08 plate SLK, the headlights are halogen and a significant deterioration from the precision high intensity illumination I had become used to. I realise you can’t legally retrofit xenons but is it possible to improve the lighting of ordinary halogen headlights? I have seen some comments on replacing the OEM bulbs with Phillips High Intensity halogens but are these a significant improvement and, importantly, how do they compare to Xenons?
We are now considering selling the SLK and if we do it will be important to get the lights right next time. Should we insist on a car factory fitted with bi-xenons? What about LEDs? I had thought they do not give out as much light as ordinary incandescent bulbs, but I see that Audi and Peugeot are fitting them to their latest models so I guess my prejudices are out of date. Any opinions? Thanks

 

[whitenemesis]

Osram Night Breaker Plus are cheap and a definate improvement over stock halogens.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0047N0B0U/?tag=amazon0e9db-21

LEDs are very impressive but so is the replacement costs. Speaking with my dealer, should one need to replace a single LED headlamp *bulb* you could be looking at £400!!! And no aftermarket offerings as yet.

I would defo opt for bi-exnons on my next car.

 

[martyz]

Upgrade to night breakers or the like and you will see a significant improvement.

 

[Dieselman]

make sure the full battery voltage is getting through to the bulbs, before doing anything more.