[andrethaiss]

I just purchased the recently released Osram Cool Blue Boost Xenon bulbs for my F30 335i with adaptive xenon lights and decided to do a small writeup on them as I was very impressed by them. I will try to do a follow up to this review once the bulbs pass their break-in period of about 20 hours. As of this review the bulbs have about 2 hours of runtime.

Packaging:
The bulbs were packaged in the typical Osram plastic case packaging, also made a great holder for my old bulbs in case I ever need one.



Installation:
The installation was much easier than I expected, I did not take the wheels off, instead I turned them to full lock and was able to easily access the small plastic door that houses the bulb. Removing the metal clips did not take much effort, only thing to watch out for was just having a bit of care when placing the bulb into the holder again and making sure it didn't scratch. Whole time for installation took 10 minutes at most.

First Impressions:
As soon as I turned the lights on I immediately saw the difference, the bulbs start off as a deep blue and eventually cool down to a beautiful pure white. The bulbs are about 1.3-1.4x brighter than the stock Philips Xenstarts in my car and they haven't even broken in yet. First driving impressions are very positive, they light up street signs much better and throw light much farther and wider down the road than my previous bulbs. Osram advertises 7000k color temperature but in reality they are more like 5000k, they have a very sharp cutoff with a blue tinge near the top, giving a beautiful exotic look from far away. I have also coded the angel eyes to be at 80% brightness during low beam operation and disabled the sidemarkers, not only does the car have much better lighting, it looks very aggressive during night driving, they also perfectly match the angel eyes in terms of color.

While I have not driven with these in the rain at night, I imagine the performance to not be as great as a warmer bulb, but the color of these is much more pleasant than most LEDs on cars, the light this bulb currently makes is warmer than the blueish color of something like a newer Corolla's led lights, but from head on they look pure white. Whenever I drive i see my lights casting shadows on all cars I drive around making me believe they are as bright as most sellers advertise them to be. While they are brighter up close they evenly distribute the light down the road which have caused me no fatigue or eye strain during my driving.

The high beams are a huge improvement throwing light way farther down the road compared to my previous bulbs, I can't wait to take these on a long trip sometime soon!

In Summary:
Pros
-Brighter than previous Xenstart bulbs
-Look beautiful from head on
-Much brighter high beams than before
-Sharp cutoff and great light distribution

Cons
-Pretty expensive compared to other Osram bulbs
-Not 7000k or even 6000k as advertised (but still haven't broken in yet)

So would I recommend them? Even for their price I definitely would!

Video:
I have posted a small driving video with the bulbs, the lighting and white balance are not the best but it can give you an idea of their brightness and pattern.

Pictures:

[John in VA]

Thanks for taking your time to put this together!

[IK6SPEED]

How do you know these are not 7000K and “not even” 6000K?

[andrethaiss]

Originally Posted by IK6SPEED

How do you know these are not 7000K and “not even” 6000K?

The bulbs clearly produce a pure white light as of now, 7000k is definitely towards the blue side of the temperature spectrum, unless you want to count the blue hint of color on the cutoff light. Theretrofitsource and lightwerkz both did tests on this bulb and also commented about the light temperature being much closer to 5000k temperature in their tests. While mine haven't broken in yet I doubt they will reach a full 7000k temp.

[IK6SPEED]

Originally Posted by andrethaiss

The bulbs clearly produce a pure white light as of now, 7000k is definitely towards the blue side of the temperature spectrum, unless you want to count the blue hint of color on the cutoff light. Theretrofitsource and lightwerkz both did tests on this bulb and also commented about the light temperature being much closer to 5000k temperature in their tests. While mine haven't broken in yet I doubt they will reach a full 7000k temp.

The human eye fails miserably at estimating color temp without a known reference.

Without a color meter, preferably a spectral radiometer, statements (guesses really) about the color temp are pretty ridiculous.

Likewise, the statements about 1.3 to 1.4 times brighter than your current bulbs have no basis in fact either. In fact, the packaging from Osram does not indicate that. I suspect they have tested these with a reference Spectral Radiometer.

Not withstanding, I appreciate the parts of your reviews based on personal observations, just not the guesses disguised as facts based on no scientific evidence.

[chuckles01]

Originally Posted by andrethaiss

The bulbs clearly produce a pure white light as of now, 7000k is definitely towards the blue side of the temperature spectrum, unless you want to count the blue hint of color on the cutoff light. Theretrofitsource and lightwerkz both did tests on this bulb and also commented about the light temperature being much closer to 5000k temperature in their tests. While mine haven't broken in yet I doubt they will reach a full 7000k temp.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing your review and pictures of the cool blue boost. I installed cool blue intense bulbs a few months back (which are "rated" at up to 6000k), and haven't noticed a lot of difference in terms of color from the OEM bulbs. The CBIs are a tad brighter than OEM, though.

Seeing your beam pattern pic made me wonder about mine. On mine, there seems to be a cooler / whiter part of the beam on the top near the cutoff and on the edges, but immediately below the hotspot there is still a yellowish pattern like there was on OEM (see my markup in photos). I didn't want a blue light, but I was hoping that the CBIs would be pure white and get rid of that slight yellow, but it doesn't. Looking into it, I suspect that it was due to our fresnel projector lenses, which soften the light output. I was trying to research places that would do a clear lens swap, but haven't found any local shops (or ones that I trust ripping my headlights apart).

However, looking at yours with the CBB, I didn't notice any yellow at all in your beam pattern pic. Is that how it is when you see the beam on the road or do you also notice a warmer color just below your hotspot?

My pics of CBI (sorry for the crappy iPhone pics)

[Solidjake]

Excellent, thanks for the write up.

As soon as I bought my F30 last October I immediately bought CBI's. Had them on my E46 and loved them.

[chuckles01]

Solidjake since you have the CBIs on your F30 as well, do you notice the same slight yellow-ish patch below the hotspot in your beam pattern (like the part I marked in red in my pic above)? Or, is your beam pattern uniformly white?

Originally Posted by Solidjake

Excellent, thanks for the write up.

As soon as I bought my F30 last October I immediately bought CBI's. Had them on my E46 and loved them.

[Solidjake]

Originally Posted by chuckles01

Solidjake since you have the CBIs on your F30 as well, do you notice the same slight yellow-ish patch below the hotspot in your beam pattern (like the part I marked in red in my pic above)? Or, is your beam pattern uniformly white?

Mmmmm, I can't recall right now. My car is in the shop for body work and I won't have it for a week but when I get it I will take pics with my DSLR

[andrethaiss]

Originally Posted by chuckles01

Very interesting, thanks for sharing your review and pictures of the cool blue boost. I installed cool blue intense bulbs a few months back (which are "rated" at up to 6000k), and haven't noticed a lot of difference in terms of color from the OEM bulbs. The CBIs are a tad brighter than OEM, though.

Seeing your beam pattern pic made me wonder about mine. On mine, there seems to be a cooler / whiter part of the beam on the top near the cutoff and on the edges, but immediately below the hotspot there is still a yellowish pattern like there was on OEM (see my markup in photos). I didn't want a blue light, but I was hoping that the CBIs would be pure white and get rid of that slight yellow, but it doesn't. Looking into it, I suspect that it was due to our fresnel projector lenses, which soften the light output. I was trying to research places that would do a clear lens swap, but haven't found any local shops (or ones that I trust ripping my headlights apart).

However, looking at yours with the CBB, I didn't notice any yellow at all in your beam pattern pic. Is that how it is when you see the beam on the road or do you also notice a warmer color just below your hotspot?

My pics of CBI (sorry for the crappy iPhone pics)

My CBBs produce a small hint of blue on the top of the cutoff, there really isnt any yellow on mine. The blue isn't as noticeable as an Acura jewel led headlight, but it gives a nice blue shimmer when looking at it from head on at a distance.

[chuckles01]

Originally Posted by Solidjake

Mmmmm, I can't recall right now. My car is in the shop for body work and I won't have it for a week but when I get it I will take pics with my DSLR

Awesome, appreciate it!

Originally Posted by andrethaiss

My CBBs produce a small hint of blue on the top of the cutoff, there really isnt any yellow on mine. The blue isn't as noticeable as an Acura jewel led headlight, but it gives a nice blue shimmer when looking at it from head on at a distance.

Got it, seems like I should've gone CBB instead of CBI then since what I was really looking for was to get rid of that subtle yellow.

[deadserial]

osrams will burn in bluer over time, my CBIs did both times after about 30 hours I'd say.

[chuckles01]

Originally Posted by deadserial

osrams will burn in bluer over time, my CBIs did both times after about 30 hours I'd say.

Yeah that's what I've been told too, except when I took that photo i had about 40-50 hours on them already. I'm maybe at like 70-80 hours now and it looks about the same. :

[andrethaiss]

Here is a (terrible) picture of the cutoff, it shows small hints of blue and purple (only really noticeable on white surfaces under close examination). This is with about 10hrs of use, at first they didn't have any color around the cutoff. I seem to be seeing results as deadserial mentioned.

[chuckles01]

Originally Posted by andrethaiss

Here is a (terrible) picture of the cutoff, it shows small hints of blue and purple (only really noticeable on white surfaces under close examination). This is with about 10hrs of use, at first they didn't have any color around the cutoff. I seem to be seeing results as deadserial mentioned.

Thanks for the pic! Very helpful to see. It seems your hotspot is pure white with some bluish purplish tint st the top. Under the hotspot it's a little warmer, but still very close to white. This seems more like the look I was going for but didn't achieve with the CBIs. Looking nice man!

[Viper901]

Great review, I have the same bulbs and love them.

[dvaz]

Where you guys recommend by the bulbs?

Amazon have these, for $140 , with one day shipping + easy returns compared TRS($250)

Besides with the whole OSRAM Trust program, one can be sure i am not getting fakes right?

https://www.amazon.com/OSRAM-Xenarc-...CFEFDSKN0SMBB9


EDIT: Is HIDConcept legit? They have the same D1S CBB for $174 - 20% Veterans day coupon which brings it to the same price as Amazon.

[chuckles01]

Originally Posted by dvaz

Where you guys recommend by the bulbs?

Amazon have these, for $140 , with one day shipping + easy returns compared TRS($250)

Besides with the whole OSRAM Trust program, one can be sure i am not getting fakes right?

https://www.amazon.com/OSRAM-Xenarc-...CFEFDSKN0SMBB9


EDIT: Is HIDConcept legit? They have the same D1S CBB for $174 - 20% Veterans day coupon which brings it to the same price as Amazon.

Curious to see what others think of HIDconcept.com as well. I actually bought a couple things from there before, a H7 halogen bulb (for my wife's car) and my D1S Osram CBIs. They both looked legit, although stupid me I never cross checked the Osram site since I was excited to get the bulbs, that I just installed them right away!

[dvaz]

Did a bunch of reading / research last night.

I think imma pull the trigger on those on Amazon, can't beat the price, 1 day shipping and hassle free returns.

Reviews / comments sound legit, besides as long these come in a sealed package and the numbers check out on the Osram Trust website they should be good to go. It made sense to pay extra to buy from reputable stores in the past because of the counterfeits going around and no easy way to check for authenticity - but with Osram now giving the consumer a way to validate these bulbs themselves, it shouldn't be an issue anymore.

Technically counterfeiters could potentially get an authentic set and copy the label number and the serial number of the bulb, but Osram accounts for that as well. Their check will tell flag that label as "Checked way too many times" which could indicate a mass produced label.

Worst comes, I just return it to Amazon, no questions asked. No RMA # Needed. No "restocking fees".

Originally Posted by chuckles01

Curious to see what others think of HIDconcept.com as well. I actually bought a couple things from there before, a H7 halogen bulb (for my wife's car) and my D1S Osram CBIs. They both looked legit, although stupid me I never cross checked the Osram site since I was excited to get the bulbs, that I just installed them right away!

[Solidjake]

Took some different exposure pics of the CBI's. Wall was an off-white color

[chuckles01]

Originally Posted by Solidjake

Took some different exposure pics of the CBI's. Wall was an off-white color

Thanks for taking these pics! Super helpful to see. I notice the same warmer spot just below the hot spot like mine (although yours does seem whiter). I think it's just a byproduct of the fresnel lens in our projectors. I was hoping for a pure white output in my beam pattern, but seems like either I upgrade to cool blue boost from my CBIs, or do a lens swap...

[Logicoeur]

A clear lens swap would definitely make the cutoff and color band look extra crispy. TheRetroFitsource is usually a great place to start looking