Makes four of us...

I ordered an E300D in '96, took delivery in April and I added the Xenon lights. I was disappointed when I learned that they were low beam only. What's the point? Even with the Xenon on low beam only I had great lights. I drive lots of narrow, hilly, winding Farm road at night so great lights are an absoluted necessity. I only drove the car a little over 70,000 miles, but I never had any trouble with them.

I did not even think of adding them to my C Class when I bought it, but now that they have the bi-xenon, I would like to try them on my winding, dark roads.

psfred, it sounds like you have great vision. I'm not blessed with that positive attribute, at least not any more. Because of your good vision, your eyes might be more sensitive than most.

Have a great day,

Larry, my vision is so bad that I cannot even tell that an eye chart is on the wall, much less try and read it. Glasses are my only salvation. When those blue lights come at the lenses of the glasses they refract into a blinding halo of light that immediately renders me without the capability to see anything else on the road in front of me. The blue light also has the same effect on the windshield, which, unfortunately, has been installed in the vehicle a few too many years.

The visibility that I get with the Hella H4's on low beam is about 150 feet. When that is not enough, the high beams literally will light up the road for 700 feet. This is certainly sufficient for any driver, and, when used judiciously, will not blind anybody.

There is no need for the extraordinary expense and the blinding irritation caused by those Xenon's.

Hey, never occurred to me but my glasses and windshield must have the same effect.

Exactly! My e-code Cibies are wonderful, great beam pattern, tons of light, and they don't blind anyone. Just in case I ever need any extra light, I've installed a second pair of Cibie headlights where my fog lights were... aimed them a little higher and a little more "outward", and now when there's nobody anywhere nearby in the dead of night I can light up half the state if I want to ;-). All without blinding anyone i normal driving conditions.

I didn't mention this earlier (because I figured it was mostly caused by mis-aimed Xenons) but they are sometimes physically painful to me too. On those occasions its pointless keeping my eyes open - it hurts like a ***** and I can't see for ***** anyway. I generally close my eyes and hope I don't hit anything over the next sex or seven seconds.

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'81 300TD Wagon 355k (Miss Diesel)
'83 300SD 180k
'84 500SEL 190k (Parting it out)

I tend to agree.

The expense alone is just, silly. Reason 4 million and 6 I don't pay much attention to newer cars.

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One more Radar Lover gone...
1982 VW Caddy diesel 406K 1.9L AAZ
1994 E320 195K

Two things which are quite cheap and I think make night driving much more enjoyable:
- Window tint which blocks out the blinding lights from behind and beside so I can focus on my bright light ahead!
- Ditching those DOT lights and going to euros.

Maybe the xenons work well, they surely have a nice modern look, but I'm also quite certain they are very annoying and are the most blinding lights out there as well.

Brian, ever look into laser eye surgery? My dad had it done and his eye vision is nearly perfect now, well except for low light reading. He is thinking about having it redone with the newer technology now so he doesn't have that problem. I have better than 20/20 myself, I can't imagine having to wear glasses all the time or poking my eye with my finger.

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Jeff M.
Mercedes W123 DIY pages are now located here.
1983 / 1984 300D Sold
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet ~58k Sold
2005 Avalanche 4x4 ~66k

Well I wouldn't have thought that with a bulb replacement you'd have to replace the electronics (I'm guessing this means the ballast(s)?). Xenons look awesome and their increase in sight at night is awesome. I think you just got ripped off... 1000 bucks would buy you a whole new set of bulbs and ballasts and then some!!!

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1984 190D 2.2 Auto 220k
2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport 70K
2004 Lexus RX-330 ??K
2005 Chrylser Crossfire LTD 6K

Play guitar? Go to www.cyberfret.com for free online lessons!

Eeek, your dad is a brave man to let someone go at his eyes with a laser. I don't know about Brian, but I don't find glasses to be much of a bother. I only wish my (*$@# optometrist had told me at the beginning that nearsightedness is reversible when caught soon enough. Of all the nearsighted people I know, the only one who was told by his optometrist was already far beyond the point of redemption; it's got to be a big cover-up so that they can sell you an expensive new pair of glasses every couple of years .

On the other hand, if xenon lights start getting hugely popular we'll all end up with free nightly laser eye surgery anyway .

__________________
'81 300TD Wagon 355k (Miss Diesel)
'83 300SD 180k
'84 500SEL 190k (Parting it out)

You guys obviously don't have to drive under the same night conditions that I do. Probably 99% of folks drive in the city or along country highways that are wide and well traveled.

Try driving on the roads that I drive and you will want all the light you can possibly have. The roads are narrow, hilly and winding. There are deer and escaped livestock to deal with. In this part of the country, most Cattle breeds are very dark colored, many are black. A Bovine is a large enough animal that hitting one can easily kill you.

If I didn't have twenty miles of these conditions just to get to the highway, I could probably get by with just about any headlights.

Everyone has different needs and conditions that they deal with.

That said, I think that 99% of the folks who have Xenon lights don't have such needs, but it is, of course, their choice as to what headlights they wish to have.

Have a great day,

As far as vision on a dark two lane road I don't think you can beat the visibility of Xenons...ask anyone who has drive 3-4 hours down a two lane deserted road

I am 99% sure my next vehiclw will have them


Warren
1992 300SD 177K
Columbus Ohio

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I have driven a lot of cars with varying quality and types of headlights and I have to say that I really do like the white light that xenon headlamps put out. I know they look blue from outside the car but the light output they give is very close to pure white. It certainly allows you to see colours and signs more clearly at night and for me anyway is easier on the eyes.

From the viewpoint of other road users, I understand why some people think they cause more glare, but really that is not the case. I can't speak for their effect on people wearing glasses but I'm sure that there are coatings that could take care of that. The light is certainly more intense but the glare is far lower than conventional headlights. I do think we need to differentiate clearly between REAL xenon healight systems and the quasi aftermarket systems and (worst) the 'blue bulb syndrome'.

All factory installed xenon lights that I have seen are fitted with self-levelling systems that keep the beams at the correct vertical distance from the road regardless of vehicle loading. They are therefore (if designed and installed correctly) far more likely to be properly adjusted than fixed incandescent systems. Proper xenon headlights do not use bulbs. The light is actually an electric arc hence the need for the special high-voltage electronics and ballast. The advantage of an arc is that there are no filaments to get brittle and break or to degrade over time. Also because it is at a much higher temperature the light is far closer to white than is possible with incandescent bulbs. They have special reflectors which can be tailored to provide a wide spread of light with good vertical cutoff to avoid scatter and glare. Some systems have low beam only while others use xenon for both Hi and Low.

Aftermarket true xenon systems may have some of these features but without being engineered into the car design they cannot be fully integrated with things like a self-levelling system as they have to fit into the standard conventional mountings.

Xenon bulbs are just incandescent filament lamps with a xenon gas shield as opposed to a halogen gas shield. They are not any brighter although their light is more white than the yellow of conventional bulbs. They have no special reflector or mounting, but still give some of the advantages of true xenon systems.

The 'Blue' bulbs (which unfortunately are also the most popular) are nothing more than conventional halogen bulbs with a blue coating to simulate xenon for the benefit of other road users. They have reduced light output (due to the coating) and are totally useless except as a cosmetic accessory.

Having said all that I have had cars with fantastic factory headlights that used conventional halogen bulbs but with a carefully designed reflector and lens that gave sharp cutoff and great distance on high-beam. BMW has always had great lights and my last Bimmer had an excellent combination of (true) xenon low beams and halogen high beams. Unlike many auto makers BMW keeps the low beams on when Hi-beams are selected. Why other manufacturers don't do this is beyond me.

In theory the true xenon systems should have a much longer life than a conventional buld headlight, but they certainly are very expensive to replace. Whether the benefits of xenon lights justify their initial and potential long term costs is an individual choice, just as the option of sunroofs and active ride control are on some cars.

Sorry for the long post.

Andy.

I would assume that it is due to th eamount of intense heat created by both filaments on at the same time, since many headlamps still utilize one bulb that has a high and low beam filament?


Just a guess

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#dieselFLEET
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'97 E300
'99 E300

My W210 with Xenon lights left on the low beam while the high beam was on.

Have a great day,

The eye surgery thing reminds me of a tagline on the opening theme of a Futurama episode: "Touch eyes to screen now for cheap laser surgery."
I'd have to join those here who find xenon lights distracting and annoying. I don't know what it is, but every time I see xenon headlights there is a strange effect on my eyes, and it's really distracting. I have better than 20/20 vision and fairly good night vision; I don't know how much that has to do with it. I'm not going to say they should ban them, but it would be nice if they could use a coating or something like that the make them less unpleasant.
I do know what it's like to want as much visibility as you can possibly get though. Out where we live there are deer all over the place, most evenings you see several not far from the road on the way home. So, I know all about the desire to be able to blaze away the shadows in the ditches. I kind of wonder if they don't have it wrong with the idea of xenons always being on low beams, whether or not they're on the highs. Maybe they should put the xenons on the high beams only, and leave the lows on H4. That seems to me like it would be a good compromise.

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Once and future king:
'64 Ford Fairlane w/approx 238,000 - looks rough, but amazingly reliable if you know how to look after it; I will soon begin work to totally restore and modernize it.
Family vehicles that I lay some claim to:
'78 300D w/approx 350,000 original, '62 Ford F100 4x4, '90 Ford E150 w/171,000 original

The new cars with Xenons DO have both high and low beam Xenon. They use some sort of mechanism that mechanical covers part of the beam to make high and low.

You know, I just had a thought. Ever since Xenons came out, there have been a number of blue bulbs that have been put on the market so that people can make you think that they have Xenons. I wonder if these are actually what are irritating your eyes rather than the real Xenons?

Just a thought. I don't want to irritate anyone with my headlights, but at the same time I want to be able to see.

Have a great day,