I read through many "light" forums tonight and while everyone's opinions in them varied like an opinion would, all of the guys who seemed to know their shit in them referenced Daniel Stern Lighting as the bible of lighting.
I found my issues with Sylvania's bulb burn out is most likely due to condensation while using aftermarket high output bulbs. It seems like the OE bulbs are better suited to the rough wet life opposed to aftermarket lights. I believe what I read because my cheap aftermarket tail lights leak from driving in the rain (not sub-runs), my PIA fogs leak, and my headlights are FUBAR and leak as well. Meanwhile they all toasted their "white" light bulbs and neither the OE head light nor the OE taillight have blown with the original bulbs.
Daniel Sterns site was harsh towards the US sold "Sylvania" lights as well as the emergence of blue coated bulbs into the US market.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/good/good.html
Consumer reports pretty much trashed every brand:
Consumer Reports
Not all bright ideas are the most economical
By the editors of Consumer Reports
Premium replacement-headlight bulbs are marketed as a functional and cosmetic improvement over the conventional bulbs found in most cars. But are they? Consumer Reports recently tested five top-selling models to find out.
Bulbs such as the APC Plasma Ultra White, GE Nighthawk, Philips CrystalVision, Sylvania SilverStar, and Wagner TruView try to mimic the whiter, brighter light of the high-intensity-discharge (HID) lamps that are standard equipment on some pricey vehicles.
HID lights can be brighter than conventional halogen bulbs, but illuminated distances are often just comparable. One clear advantage of conventional halogen lighting over HID is that, when the former requires replacement, you need only change the bulb  usually a simple task for most backyard mechanics. With high-intensity-discharge lights, the entire assembly must be replaced.
Premium halogen-replacement bulbs attempt to offer some of the benefits of HID lights while fitting into the vehicle's original headlight assembly.
The five bulbs Consumer Reports tested are priced between $26 and $40 a pair (two to three times the price of standard halogen bulbs) and are sold in discount or auto-parts stores. The test bulbs claimed Department of Transportation-standard compliance. Noncompliant bulbs may be marked as "for off-road use only."
CR's tests were designed to be both subjective (to determine how well distant objects could be seen by the human eye) and objective (measuring bulb illuminance, or brightness). Three test vehicles  a Chrysler Sebring, a Toyota Camry and a Honda Ridgeline  were used to provide a variety of bulb sizes and original equipment (OE) performance. (The Wagner TruView was not available for the Honda.)
To test claims of increased brightness, CR moved inside a dark building and placed a light sensor 50 feet in front of each vehicle  at different heights, both on center and to the right to simulate a shoulder.
Subjectively, all five bulbs emitted a whiter light than OE bulbs. That could prove attractive to buyers seeking the look of HID lights: Studies show that some drivers prefer driving behind whiter light than the more yellow light of most OE halogen bulbs. But that doesn't mean you can see farther.
In the distance tests, only the GE Nighthawk improved low-beam sight distance, and then just for the Honda Ridgeline. Generally, low- and high-beam distance either remained the same or decreased with the premium replacement bulbs.
Meanwhile, results of CR's brightness tests showed some localized improvements, but no one replacement bulb scored consistently better than OE. The Nighthawk and APC Plasma Ultra White improved illuminance in more tests than the other bulbs, some of which did not perform as well as stock bulbs.
Premium replacement bulbs may be cosmetically pleasing  CR's tests showed that they do yield whiter-looking light than original-equipment bulbs  but they don't offer a consistent performance advantage. In fact, they can perform worse than OE bulbs.
Bottom line: Outfitting your car with these dazzling premium bulbs may not be such a bright idea."
So after wasting the past 4hrs reading about stupid light bulbs Ill be grabbing some non-tinted Narva Rangepower +30 bulbs or Osram Silver Stars for my Piaa fogs and Hella 700's......if I can find them.
