Philips D1S 85415 Xenon HID bulbs review

[nordwulf]

This is a long-term review of the Philips D1S 85415 Xenon Standard bulb. There are many reports of fake HID bulbs made in China so this is also a resource to compare to other bulbs that may or may not be official OEM or counterfeit bulbs.

There are many sellers on eBay and Amazon that may offer counterfeit bulbs made in China. They can produce them cheap and sellers can often make a big profit. But as often the case, you get what you pay for you'll pay more in the end when you buy cheap products.

You may think "So what if the bulb only lasts for a year if I bought them cheap?" The problem is the bulb is part of your lighting system with many other expensive components. And those are not cheap to replace. Counterfeit bulbs can seriously damage other parts and you may be in for a big repair bill. Another reason is not wanting to buy counterfeit products in the first place because you're buying from scammers.

Well-known HID bulb brands are Philips and Osram/Sylvania and they mostly manufacture their bulbs in Germany. I am sure there are other brands that make quality products. Car dealers often charge $200 or more plus installation for these bulbs. Some cars are more difficult to replace the bulbs on but often it just takes some time and no special skills.

Choose a reputable seller to buy your HID bulbs from. I often order from Amazon because I consistently have a good experience with them and I get free 2-day shipping and don't have to pay sales tax. But beware when ordering from them. There are many different sellers selling their products through Amazon and they may or may not be legit. When it says "Sold by Amazon", I feel confident about my purchase. And in case I receive a bad product, it's easy to return. This is not an endorsement for Amazon and just my own opinion.

These bulbs were $50.50 each sold by Amazon. Other sellers are selling them new between $40 and $80. I am not saying these are all fake, I just don't know for sure if they are legit or not. The bulbs I received look and feel like the real deal, even though I have not seen a fake Philips HID bulb myself.

These bulbs feel like a quality product you expect from a reputable manufacturer. While I am not an HID bulb expert, you often can spot a product that costs a few dollars to produce. On the box is a unique ID code, a security code on a sticker with a hologram and a QR code. Scanning this QR code with a smartphone takes you to a Philips website and automatically fills in the ID number. You have to enter the security code and the site will tell you if they are valid or not. That seems pretty difficult to reproduce with fake numbers but a fake website is easy to set up. Just make sure the website directs you to a philips.com domain or go to Willkommen in der Welt der Philips Originallampen.

Obviously if you have a box or labels that appear to be fake or a box with identical ID numbers, it's a good sign you may have a fake bulb. The bulb itself doesn't show any of these identification numbers, even though have a different (serial?) number. In the picture it is 002331. The other numbers are identical to the other bulb.

Hopefully this information and detailed pictures will be a guide for others that are looking to purchase these bulbs. After i have these installed, I'll report on the light output, color and other details.

Link to Manufacturer website: Buy the Philips Xenon Standard Xenon 85415C1
Link to Amazon product page: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ALTVCC4ERCFJJN
Please note the Amazon link will take you to the product page and not neccasirly to the time that is Sold by Amazon. Reviews for that product is from all sellers, not just Amazon.

[nordwulf]

First impression of the new bulbs is good, even though they appear to have a bit of a yellow tint. But I read these bulbs have to "burn in" and they will turn whiter after use. Not sure how long that will take. Light output seems better than the old bulbs which is not a surprise. While I only drove with them for about an hour, they sure light up the road and beyond.

The old bulbs are most likely the original Osram Xenarc bulbs installed in my 2005 Saab 9-5 in the factory. You can not tell for sure for how long these old bulbs were used but my car currently has 85K miles.

According to Philips specifications, these have a color temperature of 4200K and visible light amount of 3350 +/- 300 lumens. Light color is always difficult to exactly determine by eye or camera picture but I think the pictures below show the correct color of the old and new bulbs. Light color also greatly depends on the surface the light is reflected from so it will be interesting to see if the new bulbs change in color or not.

The pink color of the old bulb definitely shows it was past due for replacement. It also occasionally turned off and on or flickered.

[J McGuire]

My "new to me" 2005 Arc Combi has a flickering drivers side and I am assuming they are original to the car. I'll be ordering a set myself and changing them out before spring. I appreciate your time in this review and so many others here. This site has helped a lot!

[SaabTNT]

Hi

Any update with the Philips 9285 148 294 bulbs? How do/did they last? Any idea how they did compared to the recommended Philips 147 -series? Would you recommend them?

Thanks for info. I need to replace bulbs to my Saab before winter.