Greetings from Croatia 626 GE 2.5 V6

[commander_keen]

It sepends on what your priorities are.
OSRAM Nightbreaker and Philips X-tremeVision are a noticable amount brighter (so maybe attractive if you drive a lot outside cities alone in complete darkness), but will last significantly shorter than normal H1 light bulbs in the GE. (you can expect 3x longer life-time with standard brightness, I would guess based on my experience)

That being sad, if you just want light bulbs to last long, take any of them which are not advertised with something like +130% brightness etc.

[Kampfkuchen]

I use Nightbreakers also. I bought 64150NL-HCB for my motorcycle a few weeks ago and was surprised that Osram shows a diagram saying that this type H1 has less lifetime.
The better light is reason enough for me to get used to that fact. Most of the time I change them before end of life, just because they get darker after many hours. I always drive with headlights on, even at sunshine, and I change them after 2-3 years. So 16€ every 2-3 years isn't noticeable at all.

I'm confused why you paid 200€ for the new tank, I see 3 links in this topic showing brand new oem tanks for about 80€.

[JokeCro]

It sepends on what your priorities are.
OSRAM Nightbreaker and Philips X-tremeVision are a noticable amount brighter (so maybe attractive if you drive a lot outside cities alone in complete darkness), but will last significantly shorter than normal H1 light bulbs in the GE. (you can expect 3x longer life-time with standard brightness, I would guess based on my experience)

That being sad, if you just want light bulbs to last long, take any of them which are not advertised with something like +130% brightness etc.

I live in the countryside, so driving in complete darkness is almost a daily occurrence, especially now in autumn and winter.

Cool Blue Intense ?

[JokeCro]

I use Nightbreakers also. I bought 64150NL-HCB for my motorcycle a few weeks ago and was surprised that Osram shows a diagram saying that this type H1 has less lifetime.
The better light is reason enough for me to get used to that fact. Most of the time I change them before end of life, just because they get darker after many hours. I always drive with headlights on, even at sunshine, and I change them after 2-3 years. So 16€ every 2-3 years isn't noticeable at all.

I'm confused why you paid 200€ for the new tank, I see 3 links in this topic showing brand new oem tanks for about 80€.

Well, if we are talking about a lifespan of 2-3 years, then that €16 is really not a lot of money. And if the light quality is much better.


As for the links, I've seen them all, but the problem is that it's my only car and I was compelled to get it running as soon as possible. Daily duties. Also, some of these offers are outside the EU, and just waiting and paying customs and postage can almost touch the price of €200. This container arrived in about 7 to 9 days, while I would have to wait 20 to 30 days for the others.

[Kampfkuchen]

Ah, I see.

Did you ask mazda directly? Would be interessting how much you have to pay for an oem tank directly from mazda.

These I've bought for my motorcycle. In the 626 I have an older version of them.
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07FXH9352?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I know it is not really a reference, but maybe a bit.



From my dashcam, Autobahn and country road at night (just headlight, no high beam)

[commander_keen]

Cool Blue Intense ?

I would refrain from anything that targets explicitly blue light. For halogen lights like we have on our 626GEs this is most likely achived with a blue coating covering the full light bulb, which always reduces the brightness the bulb could achieve without the coating. (if only the tip is blue, that's ok, the main parts of the light won't be affected, it just looks "nicer" (more white) from the front)

Also blue light gets reflected more in fog due to its wavelength, which usually is not desirable.

If changing the bulbs like every other year or so is ok for you, as you said, then you can go for X-tremeVision or NightBreaker, whatever is cheaper in your area.


@Kampfkuchen: A comparison of the same place with standard H1 bulbs would be nice/useful, otherwise it's hard to tell a difference from GE with standard H1 and NightBreaker H1. If you have a before/after of that, please share. :-)

[JokeCro]

Ah, I see.

Did you ask mazda directly? Would be interessting how much you have to pay for an oem tank directly from mazda.

These I've bought for my motorcycle. In the 626 I have an older version of them.
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07FXH9352?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I know it is not really a reference, but maybe a bit.



From my dashcam, Autobahn and country road at night (just headlight, no high beam)

I asked the Mazda dealership in Croatia, but they told me that they don't have that container in stock and that they can't even order it.

I was just looking at this the other day Osram Night Breaker Laser H1.

[JokeCro]

Cool Blue Intense ?

I would refrain from anything that targets explicitly blue light. For halogen lights like we have on our 626GEs this is most likely achived with a blue coating covering the full light bulb, which always reduces the brightness the bulb could achieve without the coating. (if only the tip is blue, that's ok, the main parts of the light won't be affected, it just looks "nicer" (more white) from the front)

Also blue light gets reflected more in fog due to its wavelength, which usually is not desirable.

If changing the bulbs like every other year or so is ok for you, as you said, then you can go for X-tremeVision or NightBreaker, whatever is cheaper in your area.


@Kampfkuchen: A comparison of the same place with standard H1 bulbs would be nice/useful, otherwise it's hard to tell a difference from GE with standard H1 and NightBreaker H1. If you have a before/after of that, please share.

The most important thing for me is quality and better light, I can't say that I want a blue effect, but better visibility.

I would also like to see if anyone has a comparison of regular bulbs and for example the OSRAM NightBreaker.

[Kampfkuchen]

Last time I used regular bulbs was in 2015, so I don't have a real comparison at the moment.
I thought I have something for the motorcycle, but the problem is, that I cannot compare it directly because I changed the whole headlights.

Maybe I can compare the headlights one day with regular ones with more comparable pictures (fixed shutter-time, ISO and stuff like that), I guess I have some for emergency in a box, but I think before I do that you've bought some yourself

But for the future it would be a good idea to have a nice comparisson for regular and NightBreakers in the GE.

[Jenkins]

I would also like to see if anyone has a comparison of regular bulbs and for example the OSRAM NightBreaker.

I had changed and tested the NightBreaker in my and families other Cars (i.e. Mazda 323 BG, VW Scirocco 3, Opel Corsa D, VW Golf 6) and the light seems a way brighter and "more white". They are a good upgrade in general, but they failed very often in less than a year and i had to keep several spare bulbs in reserve.
But you get a better view in general at night, so i preferred them. But never testet in the GE.

[Mazda RX-7 SA]

Which light bulbs (short light, long light) do you use and recommend for the 626 GE?

I can recommend only LEDs in fact. I never was satisfied with any of the Halogen upgrade bulbs.
I installes 2 Sets of H1-LED Kit from Benzinfabrik:
https://www.benzinfabrik.com/de/led-abb ... ox8?c=7434

Installed them in 27 years old OEM headlights. Its just excellent!
The low beam was better than the OEM Xenon of my Mazda 6 MPS from the year 2006.
I drove the whole winter with it and I just love it!

Here some pictures, direct comparison at the same place with same camera settings.

Low Beam both std Halogen:



High Beam both std Halogen:



Low Beam both left Halogen, right LED:



High Beam both left Halogen, right LED:



Unfortunatelly on those pictures you cannot see how much yo can see more with those LEDs....

[Kampfkuchen]

LEDs are great, but in germany there is no legal LED for the GE. You have to care, that legal LED replacements are limited to a special list of cars.

Don't know how this is in croatia or in austria, so I guess JokeCro has to inform himself about that. If you don't mind if it's legal I can also recommend H1 Xenon replacements.

[Mazda RX-7 SA]

LEDs are great, but in germany there is no legal LED for the GE. You have to care, that legal LED replacements are limited to a special list of cars.

Not only with such ABEs or Gutachten with Lists of cars.
It can be done with an "Einzelabnahme".

Don't know how this is in croatia or in austria, so I guess JokeCro has to inform himself about that.

Can only speak for Austria, its similar.

If you don't mind if it's legal I can also recommend H1 Xenon replacements.

I don't agree. Had an Xenon kit installed in my Xedos 9. Quality of the kit itself was not good compared to Benzinfabrik LEDs. LEDs are also more compact.
Yes, light output is also much better than Halogen. But in total I prefer LEDs.

[Kampfkuchen]

The xenons I had fitted in the headlight, even with the cover. Just a external HID device, but it's okay.

It's very hard to get this with a "Einzelabnahme", maybe there are some inspectors doing this, but for the whole legal way you must prove the headlight is compliant for the bulbs and this is mostly impossible for privats.

[JokeCro]

I would also like to see if anyone has a comparison of regular bulbs and for example the OSRAM NightBreaker.

I had changed and tested the NightBreaker in my and families other Cars (i.e. Mazda 323 BG, VW Scirocco 3, Opel Corsa D, VW Golf 6) and the light seems a way brighter and "more white". They are a good upgrade in general, but they failed very often in less than a year and i had to keep several spare bulbs in reserve.
But you get a better view in general at night, so i preferred them. But never testet in the GE.

I saw here in Croatia that some stores give a 1-year warranty on these bulbs.