Philips X-tremeVision

Price: £18.52 Beam: 85.1

A farewell victory for X-tremeVision, which will be replaced by the +130%. It’s long set the single filament H7 bulb standard, and takes the H4 crown now, too. Its advantage could easily be seen in the light tunnel with a sharply defined beam that could be aimed high without dazzling oncoming drivers. Our winner by a narrow margin.

And coming soon to the market...

Philips X-tremeVision +130%

Price: £32.30  Beam: 88.2

We couldn’t buy these bulbs – they’re so new that we got pre-launch samples from Philips. But they raise the bar in the extra light claims and as there’s no defined spot where the light is increased, only tests like this reveal their true performance. In the tunnel it was bright with a wide spread. Top performance, but you’ll pay for it.