Daniel Stern Review

[DRACO A5OG]

Well Fellas,

I did it, I know I was supposed to do a side by side but it was an obvious improvement.

Daniel Stern's Product Line Up:

H1 55Watts +50's by NARVA (lo-beams)
Reverse Lights 35Watts (vs OEM 21Watts)
Side Marker Lights 6Watts (vs OEM 4Watts)
3rd Brake Light (CHSML) Hella MATRIX 5237 (LED, OEM Style)

Daniels Stern's Recommendations, He does not sell these:

Brake Lights HONDA OEM 3496 8Watts NICKLE PLATED BASE (vs OEM 5Watts)
Turn Signals HONDA OEM 3497 8Watts NICKEL PLATED BASE (vs OEM 5Watts)

Background on my Car:

I had Sylvania Silver Stars and fell for the their marketing BS, supposed 4000K 35% Brighter. It was brighter than standard H1's and had a blueish tint on the bulb.

According to Daniel Stern, Sylvania's claims are IMPOSSIBLE with blue tint on the bulb which in short blocks light emitted by the filament.

His H1's made by a German company NARVA was clear like an ordinary H1, it is Much BRIGHTER and Filled the light pattern more completely without for lack of a better term DEAD SPOTS. The LIGHT is NATURAL incandescent in color not simulated HID color.

I moved my expensive POS Sylvania's to the Hi-beams.

Here are some bad pictures but I hope you get the idea:

Narva H1's 55W =+50


Side Markers 6W & Signals 8W:




Reverse Lights 35W:


Brake Lights 8W & HELLA 3rd Brake Light:


Converted my Fog's to DRL's LED's by SuperBrightLEDs:

Not too much fog in the SoBay SoCal The Standard H3's tend to melt the housing if left on too long as DRL's

I was worried about the higher wattage but according to Daniel Stern, the wattage is so slight it will not effect the housing . An email quote from Daniel Stern regarding the higher wattage of the mods:

Originally Posted by Daniel Stern

"21 watt" is nominal at 12.0v; 35w is at 12.8v where the "21w" bulb runs at 27w

So far so GOOD,

Jim

[MH911]

Hey Jim. Was this a plug-n-play setup or was there a lot of modifying (relays and whatever)?

Looks pretty good.

[DRACO A5OG]

Yes, except for the 3rd Center Light, but luckily I had another brand in there already so I just crimped new connectors and plugged it in

I also already had relays for my lo-beams but adding a relay is a snap as well, If you buy the relay from our host I would consider upgrading them DIY to thicker gauged wires.

It really is much brighter and worth the wait & cost. According to Daniel these will last a pretty long time, which was not the reason I bought these but nice to know

Jim

[mpetry]

Great info on the Sylvania bulbs, I suspected they were BS. And +1 on Daniel Stern, what a great service he provides.

The JWest headlight relay kit provided by our sponsor is a super product, easy to install and seems to work very well.

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by mpetry

Great info on the Sylvania bulbs, I suspected they were BS. And +1 on Daniel Stern, what a great service he provides.

The JWest headlight relay kit provided by our sponsor is a super product, easy to install and seems to work very well.

Indeed, Daniel's communication and hand holding was above and beyond expectation. What a wealth of knowledge.

+1 on Head Light Relays a must and you can measure the difference with a DVM, no hype here.

[aj88cab]

+ 1000 on the Sylvania marketing BS.

I am an architectural lighting consultant, I eat, sleep, and breath lighting (got to do something to pay for the Porsche addiction). BS like the Sylvania ads jumps right out and just pisses me off. For example this is the "fine print" from their SilverStar Ultra ad:

* SilverStar and SilverStar Ultra Products brightness comparisons based on coil luminance measurements. Headlights dim over time by 20% or more and timely replacement results in increased lighting performance.

Claims based on measured comparisons between SilverStar and SilverStar Ultra product families at 100% light output and standard halogen bulbs at 80% light output. Actual performance may vary by product use, vehicle model and usage.

The first paragraph means they are measuring the filament brightness (coil luminance), not the roadway light. The reason it is "brighter" is because the filament is smaller and runs hotter. Hotter is how they get the higher (Kelvin) color temp with a clear lamp. With a smaller filament the same amount of light output (lumens) is concentrated in a smaller package, so it is "brighter" at the source. Measuring the filament brightness is meaningless to roadway light, because the light (lumen) output of a DOT lamp is fixed by federal regulations. If its a tinted lamp (typical of 4000K lamps) then the filament must produce more light because it is filtered thru the tinted bulb. But the whole package (filament & tinted bulb) must still meet DOT regulations. It wouldn't surprise me if they are measuring the filament without the tint just to make it look better for the ads.

The second paragraph means that the standard lamp they are using for comparison is an old lamp that is producing 20% less light than a new standard lamp. That's called lumen depreciation and it happens to all light sources as they age. So the final insult to our intelligence is they are comparing this old lamp that they acknowledge is 20% down on light output to a brand new lamp at 100% of rated output!

And they have the balls to charge outrageous $$$ for these lamps. Please listen to Daniel Stern...he knows what he's talking about and cuts thru the BS.

FYI - An accurate way to compare lamp output is to find a technical spec for the lamp that lists the Lumens or the Mean Spherical Candlepower Distribution (MSCD), I believe MSCD is the critera that DOT specifies (dictates?) for lamps. If you can find this info (and its not an accident that it is not readily published) you will find that DOT lamps of a given type (H1, H5, 9005, etc) will have the same MSCD. I once found such a table on the Sylvania website and sure enough the "Standard", "SilverStar" and "Silverstar Ultra" lamps all had basically the same MSCD!

[DRACO A5OG]

Yeah, what he said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thanks AJ for not beating me up

[aj88cab]

Originally Posted by DRACO A5OG

Yeah, what he said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thanks AJ for not beating me up

Jim,
It's Sylvania that needs the beating...certainly not you!

[Flat Six]

AJ -- clearest, most succinct explanation of these wild claims I've read. Very nicely done, sir.

[MH911]

I think I'll be putting the Daniel Stern headlight setup on "my list".

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by MH911

I think I'll be putting the Daniel Stern headlight setup on "my list".

I Highly Recommend It!

As I said, I was planning on HID's ( not the HID Build, just the bulbs ). But I am TOTALLY SATISFIED with Daniel Stern's products/recommendations!

Here is a shot of the light pattern __/ __/ :

[PatrickB]

Where can you get these light bulb replacements?

[dicklague]

DRACO

What are you shooting photos with??

I want to avoid it!! ;-)

[MIK911]

Draco--great info. Thanks!

What model/product LED are you using in your DRL Fogs?
I'm also running my fogs as DRL's, haven't had any melting issues (yet), but may change to LED

I'm also in the SoBay, and it may get foggy in PV en route to the Pelican Meets!

[sky1jord]

Originally Posted by PatrickB

Where can you get these light bulb replacements?

Just thought I'd mention it, guys, that it looks to me that this thread is nearly 9 years old.