Comprehensive Review - XenonDepot 4300K HID kit in 2003 Limited V8 4WD

[WTS]

Here's an email reply from John at Xenondepot about the differences between the regular HID 9006 and their Philips 9006 HID;

Regular HID 9006 bulb:

9006 / HB4 XenonDepot HID Replacement Bulb

Philips 9006 HID bulb:

9006 / HB4 Philips HID Replacement Bulb - 4300K

You can tell the difference by looking at the top of the bulb. These bulbs are rebased by a 3rd party company, not by Philips. That is why there are no Philips markings on them.

Thanks,

John
----------------------------------------------

Really! if you'll notice under the picture of the Philips rebased bulbs it states;

NOT ACTUAL 9006 BULB SHOWN
BULBS SOLD INDIVIDUALLY - NOT AS A PAIR

Ah, so how am I to see the real differences if the actual picture I was sent isn't really the actual picture of the rebased bulb?

Just gets better as we move forward. Really! LOL.

Cheers,

 

[WTS]

John or Steve,

Looking at the pictures on your website for the "xtreme kit featuring 9006 Philips hid bulbs", which is what I purchased, the pictures of the bulb doesn't even match what you sent me.

So with that in mind please send an actual picture of what the rebased Philips bulbs I purchased should look like, because nothing in the way of pictures on your "websites" comes close to what you sent me.

Thanks,

 

[XenonDepot]

Hi,

I will reply below to keep the lines of thoughts clear:

[MENTION=12905]XenonDepot[/MENTION]
a few questions:

1) who does your phillips rebasing then? Seems the spacing would be critical to get the correct optics.

---> we work with a Korean factory to rebase the bulbs. I'm not going to provide you with our supplier information as that information is proprietary.Alignment is critical - which is why the bulbs are laser aligned to ensure optically correct beam patterns.

2) please post your philips contact as mentioned, as i would like to ask him a few questions. I dont see how a company like Philips would allow their bulbs to be rebased by a 3rd party for the very reason i mentioned above.

---> please view this link:

Philips Bulb Look-up | 2015 ACURA ILX w/HID H/L

Click on the shopping cart icon or the where to buy link and you will see XenonDepot.

Clearly... We are an authorized and approved vendor.

How can Philips control what someone does with the bukbs once they purchase them? It would only be an issue if someone printed the Philips Logo on the third party base -- which goes back to what I said initially.

3) Where can I find that you are an approved vendor listed on the philips site, i cannot easily find this listing.

See above


WTS: please post up some pictures of the bulbs you received. If your bukbs have metal supports, and blue and black trigger wires then the bulbs are Philips. our Asian made bulbs do not have metal supports and the trigger wires are black and white.

Steve

 

[yosh2000]

Hi,

I will reply below to keep the lines of thoughts clear:

Originally Posted by yosh2000 View Post
@XenonDepot
a few questions:

1) who does your phillips rebasing then? Seems the spacing would be critical to get the correct optics.

---> we work with a Korean factory to rebase the bulbs. I'm not going to provide you with our supplier information as that information is proprietary.Alignment is critical - which is why the bulbs are laser aligned to ensure optically correct beam patterns.

2) please post your philips contact as mentioned, as i would like to ask him a few questions. I dont see how a company like Philips would allow their bulbs to be rebased by a 3rd party for the very reason i mentioned above.

---> please view this link:

Philips Bulb Look-up | 2015 ACURA ILX w/HID H/L

Click on the shopping cart icon or the where to buy link and you will see XenonDepot.

Clearly... We are an authorized and approved vendor.

How can Philips control what someone does with the bukbs once they purchase them? It would only be an issue if someone printed the Philips Logo on the third party base -- which goes back to what I said initially.

3) Where can I find that you are an approved vendor listed on the philips site, i cannot easily find this listing.

See above


WTS: please post up some pictures of the bulbs you received. If your bukbs have metal supports, and blue and black trigger wires then the bulbs are Philips. our Asian made bulbs do not have metal supports and the trigger wires are black and white.

Steve

Your link provided proves you are "Clearly... We are an authorized and approved vendor."....but only for LED replacement bulbs. no where on any of those pages does it state you are authorized for any sort of HID bulbs, which is what the subject is at hand.

again i request, please post your philips contact (that you offered up to do in a previous post) so that we may confirm directly from him that xenondepot is authorized directly by philips to rebase authentic philips HID bulb and sell as such.

thanks for your help in putting everyone at ease and settling questions others have of HID bulb authenticity.

Also, how on earth do you sell an pair of phillips D2S bulbs for $140, yet a complete PNP HID kit supposedly using these same exact D2S bulbs, but just rebased, for $155?!! That only leaves $15 for the laser aligned rebasing, ballasts, igniters and wiring!!

 

[WTS]

Steve,

YEs the bulbs have metal supports and the wires coming out of the bulbs are both black. But there is a short pair of blue/black wires in the one of the harnesses.

I can tell you that the orange o-ring that came on these bulbs is cheap cheap cheap, when I pulled the one bulb out the bloody o-ring was practically falling off. I can tell you that o-ring is definitely not stock Philips quality.

Yes I find that interesting too that you can sell this kit complete with Philips bulbs for $155 but yet sell the original Philips bulbs for $140.

I'm sorry but I'm with Yosh here, still, where is the proof that these are Philips bulbs in different bases?. Sure they may have different colour wires, so what, that doesn't prove anything.

So I guess I can at least rest easy knowing that the Philips LED tail lights I purchased from you are the real deal.

Cheers,

 

[WTS]

Here's the email I received from John;

Walter,

If you can send a picture of the bulbs your received we can confirm if they are the Philips bulbs. You should have gotten Philips paperwork in the box with the kit too.

Thanks,

John
-------------------

Unbelievable. I've asked already to see a picture of what I should have received for bulbs so I can see if they match what I did receive but still no picture. You guys are the dealer, do you not a picture of what you are selling?

Oh and because I received a piece of paper that had Philips written on it proves what I got was Philips, LOL, really! Any copier could have printed out that piece of paper that came in the box, it proves nothing.

I cannot believe this has gone this far and still no proof. I'm sure in the future there will be lots of members reading this thread for years to come and if they don't see any conclusion to this what will they think? I read this thread and it was one of the reason I purchased these in the first place. But after these questions and no answers if I were to read this I sure wouldn't be buying from Xenondepot or KBstuffs.com.

You know I really do want to believe you guys but you aren't making it very easy to do that or trying very hard to convince Yosh and myself.

You need to try a little harder.

Cheers,

 

[XenonDepot]

(1) Rebased HID bulbs are not rebased by Philips, nor does anyone require permission or authorization to do so. The only issue that can arise is if someone was printing Philips on the base, or selling bulbs as being Philips capsules - when they are not (quite common).

Please contact the following person at Philips regarding our company:

Rich Zeichner
Office: 248-699-2298
[email protected]

I've just contacted him, and advised him of your concerns. He is expecting your call.


(2) Here are some pictures of a XenonDepot 9006 HID bulb with a Philips burner:

(3) Pricing: there's a lot of variables that you are not taking into consideration (and are not aware of). Respectfully, I'm not going to start breaking down our pricing structure and how and why we price our products.

I've provided you with pictures, a contact at Philips, and you can search 8 years worth of posts on the forum regarding our products (that's how long we have been posting). I hope I've satisfied your concerns.

Steve

 

[WTS]

Steve,

Thank You very much for the information. Yes those are what I received. And just a note the O-rings are crap, way too soft, when I pulled the one bulb out the o-ring wasn't even seated all the way on the bulb, as it had come out of the groove because it's too soft a rubber. And that was with the bulb off as in not turned on. I think I'll take the O-rings from an old set of bulbs and use them instead of these flimsy O-rings that came with them.

Actually the same goes for the LED fog lamps I purchased from you, they don't seat very well, as in too loose and I'm afraid they might get moisture in the housing because of that. I assume these are another housing made in China.

I also sent an email to your Philips contact but have not received a reply as of yet.

Cheers,

 

[WTS]

Just to update this thread.

I did receive an email from a guy by the name Rich Zeichner from Lumileds which is apparently a division of Philips and his reply was;

Hi Walter,

We did in fact rebase these bulbs in S. Korea this was to help Asaf out as capacity on this bulb is maxed out of our Germany plant. Hope that helps.

Regards,

Rich Zeichner
Key Account Manager
[email protected]
Lumileds
34119 W. 12 Mile Rd, Suite 102, Farmington Hills, MI 48331
T +1 248 699 2298
M +1 734-347-0845
------------------------------

So it's been a while coming as I rarely need to drive at night or do, but now that it's coming to that time of year way up here in the north where the days are shorter as far as daylight goes, I've had the chance to drive when it's dark to really check out these new bulbs and all I can say it they are nice, they have perfect colour temp(Philips 4300) and they throw the light for a long long way, much farther than the Toshiba HIRs did and a lot brighter, wow.

So I would say I'm happy about installing these. I just hope they last as long as the HIRs did, which were still good by the way.

Cheers,