Osram Night Breaker Speed LED H7 'NEW'?

[Robdog]

Banging on about Halogen to LED again...every now and then I have a look to see what's new regarding Halogen upgrades for my T6.1. I've just come across Osram's latest marketing for new H7 SPEED LED's, I was assuming that they were 'not' road legal, however, there spec seems to suggest that they are 'Road Legal', at least in Europe. The blurb also seems to suggest that they would be OK for use in the UK. Anyone got any info, as there doesn't appear to be much chatter about these UK from UK websites?

NIGHT BREAKER LED | OSRAM Automotive

With the NIGHT BREAKER LED, OSRAM is introducing a legal LED lamp in the headlights of your car as a replacement product for halogen lamps.

www.osram.com

 

[Fishinbrine]

Looking at the spec sheets they look like very good LED bulbs, would be interesting to hear what actual users of these in T6.1 lights think.

 

[Robdog]

Looking at the spec sheets they look like very good LED bulbs, would be interesting to hear what actual users of these in T6.1 lights think.

As far as I can see these bulbs appear to be so new that there aren't any UK suppliers selling them at the moment, they only seem to be available via Amazon, and I can only see one UK purchaser who has made any comment in the Amazon reviews. If they are any good, and legal, then it possibly makes you question going the expensive route of swapping out your Halogen headlamps. Having said that at £114 a pair on Amazon their not cheap!

 

[Fishinbrine]

As far as I can see these bulbs appear to be so new that there aren't any UK suppliers selling them at the moment, they only seem to be available via Amazon, and I can only see one UK purchaser who has made any comment in the Amazon reviews. If they are any good, and legal, then it possibly makes you question going the expensive route of swapping out your Halogen headlamps. Having said that at £114 a pair on Amazon their not cheap!

Wow! £114 a pair! They want to be an improvement for that price most definitely, and not just a whiter white with no increase in brightness and visibility like most other bulb upgrades I have done (not in a Transporter I must add)

 

[ginkster]

They are illegal in the UK. It doesn’t matter how good, bad or new they are, it is illegal to have LED (or HID etc) bulbs in a headlamp designed for halogen bulbs. It is a mandatory MOT failure (regs were amended 2-3 years ago).

The tech is improving so hopefully better bulbs could become legal in the future. Although recent opinion polls suggest there is a considerable majority against bright headlights.

 

[Fishinbrine]

They are illegal in the UK. It doesn’t matter how good, bad or new they are, it is illegal to have LED (or HID etc) bulbs in a headlamp designed for halogen bulbs. It is a mandatory MOT failure (regs were amended 2-3 years ago).

The tech is improving so hopefully better bulbs could become legal in the future. Although recent opinion polls suggest there is a considerable majority against bright headlights.

Whilst this is indeed correct, the inspection manual does not give guidance on how to identify a headlamp that have been manufactured with LED lamps making it very difficult to fail LED headlight bulbs on MOT. Not that I'm advocating the usage of LED's nor contending the legality of their use, but the MOT inspection manual gives no guidance on identification of LED compliant headlamps only how to identify HID's.

 

[Dundee_Kev]

Whilst this is indeed correct, the inspection manual does not give guidance on how to identify a headlamp that have been manufactured with LED lamps making it very difficult to fail LED headlight bulbs on MOT. Not that I'm advocating the usage of LED's nor contending the legality of their use, but the MOT inspection manual gives no guidance on identification of LED compliant headlamps only how to identify HID's.

That is true, but led headlamps have proper led drivers fitted to them, and the lamp body usually has led stamped on it.

Normal headlamps will normally have h4/h7 stamped on them too.

Then you have the levelling device. Most cars with LEDs will have a level sensor on the suspension and not the dial in the car.

 

[Sasquatch]

Whilst this is indeed correct, the inspection manual does not give guidance on how to identify a headlamp that have been manufactured with LED lamps making it very difficult to fail LED headlight bulbs on MOT. Not that I'm advocating the usage of LED's nor contending the legality of their use, but the MOT inspection manual gives no guidance on identification of LED compliant headlamps only how to identify HID's.

Indeed. Conversely, you can bet that if you have a bad smack at night the CI's will be paying great attention to the headlamps.