Philips RacingVision GT200 v Philips WhiteVision Ultra

Given Philips' status as rulers of the automotive lighting industry, a state of fevered excitement understandably comes with any new releases of their car headlight bulb ranges.

As Philips have recently revealed not one but several stellar new ranges of car bulbs, including the Philips RacingVision GT200 and Philips WhiteVision Ultra, we thought we'd have some fun and pit these two impressive bulb ranges against each other and see which comes out on top.

Let the battle of the bulbs begin!

Philips RacingVision GT200 Review

Let's start by taking a look at some of the features of the new Philips RacingVision GT200 halogen range of bulbs. The RacingVision GT200 is truly a landmark Maximum Performance bulb, offering up to 200% more brightness than a standard halogen headlight bulb. Not only is this the brightest performing halogen bulb in the entire Philips portfolio, but it may just be the brightest halogen car headlight bulb available, full stop.

What this extra brightness amounts to is masses of extra vision on the road ahead. The Philips RacingVision GT200 allows you to illuminate up to a whopping extra 80 metres farther than a standard halogen headlight, allowing for a more alert, focused driving experience. The RacingVision GT200's extra coverage of light comes courtesy of Philips' world class engineers, whose expertise and use of the finest materials ensure a perfect framing of the road ahead, meaning no extra light goes to waste.

With such a bold, expansive and accurate light, the Philips RacingVision GT200 increases the visibility of your surroundings, other drivers and upcoming hazards. But its far-reaching light also alerts other drivers to your presence while avoiding any risk of glare that a poorly framed projection might pose. As such, drivers using the Philips RacingVision GT200 can enjoy nighttime driving with peace of mind, confident of their surroundings.

Such huge improvements to light output come, surprisingly, with no legal obstacles: the Philips RacingVision GT200 is a completely road-legal halogen bulb, and can be used on your vehicle's headlights on any public roads or highways. The only minor drawback is that as a result of such strong performance, the RacingVision GT200's 250 hour bulb lifespan is slightly shorter than standard (though still an improvement on other performance bulbs).  

Shop Philips RacingVison GT200 Bulbs

Philips WhiteVision Ultra Review

So, how does the Philips WhiteVision Ultra hold up in comparison? Well, as anyone familiar with the WhiteVision series of car headlight bulbs might presume, the WhtieVision Ultra range is a Styling bulb, unlike the Performance  bulb type of the RacingVision GT200. As such, the WhiteVision Ultra boasts a different but no less impressive set of lighting benefits.

First and foremost is an astonishingly stylish bulb colour temperature. Thanks to Philips' meticulous manufacturing processes and superlative choice of materials, the WhiteVision Ultra's light is able to achieve a tremendous Kelvin rating of up to 4200K. Meaning that not only is the WhiteVision Ultra light beam of a much crisper, whiter hue than a standard halogen, but it is also perfectly road legal.

Where the bold white light is a terrific stylistic feature of the Philips WhiteVision Ultra bulbs, it also has some practical benefits. Though the light output stretches no farther than standard, the outward appearance is undeniably more visually striking, and alerts other drivers to your presence. And the light's distinct 4200K colour temperature is also a closer match to daylight than standard, thus offering improved optical comfort when driving at night.

In creating the WhiteVision Ultra up, Philips held the range under the strictest of production standards to ensure that the bulb's light is as white as it can possibly be while still complying to ECE regulations. As such, if you're looking for a road legal halogen styling bulb, you simply cannot find a whiter light than the Philips WhiteVision Ultra. And where such high Kelvin bulbs often come at a severe cost to lifespan, the WhiteVision Ultra has a strong lifespan allowing for up to 350 hours of use.

And as a superb, money-saving added bonus, the Philips WhiteVision Ultra H1, H4 and H7 twin packs come with a free set of stylish WhiteVision Ultra W5W sidelight bulbs.  

Shop Philips WhiteVision Ultra Bulbs

The verdict?

Though both the Philips RacingVision GT200 and Philips WhiteVision Ultra are incredible halogen car headlight bulbs, they simply offer such starkly contrasting benefits as to make a direct comparison impossible.

That being said, each range truly is a halogen bulb operating at the top of its particular field. In that sense, it all comes down to the driver's choice. If you're looking for simply the whitest road-legal halogen available, pick the Philips WhiteVision Ultra. If you're wanting as much light as possible from a halogen car headlight bulb, the Philips RacingVision GT200 is the bulb for you.

The only question that remains is: which will you choose?

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