The Brightest D2S Bulb (Test Results)

The Brightest D2S Bulbs + Proof!

How bright is the brightest HID kelvin and who (among these brands) has the brightest D2S bulb? These are the questions we will answer in the article below.

Important notes:
– Photos were taken with iPhone 5S, hence the Philips XV looks especially blue for some reason
– All bulbs are brand new right out of the box and into the Mini D2S 3.0 projector unless otherwise noted. These are powered by a Denso D2S ballast.
– This is an unbiased, true-as-it-gets test. We tried for maximum output of each bulb at 25 feet which was the center of the hot spot of the beam.
– Do not use this as a guideline for your output. This is only a sample test and is not for concrete facts and figures. We simply got a new lux meter and wanted to test it out.

New Philips 85122 – 788lux
New Philips 85122XV – 790lux
New Osram 66240CBI – 788lux
Used Osram 66240CBI – 763lux
New Morimoto XB35 4500K – 815lux
New Morimoto XB35 5500K – 805lux
New Morimoto XB35 6000K – 772lux

This D2S bulb test was originally posted on The Retrofit Source’s Facebook page

One thing that is great to see here, is that the 4500k HID light is, in fact, the brightest light produced. It’s a very common misconception that the higher the kelvin number, the brighter the light. For example, 6000k and 8000k are NOT brighter than a 4300k-5000k. They simply have a different color hue which can reduce the about of light produced and projected.

Also, in case you were wondering some of the same things, here are a couple of questions from fans:

Fan – Probably a dumb Q but can the human eye really tell the difference of 10 lux?
TRS – Likely not, when there’s 800 total!

Fan – Lux isn’t the be all and end all of HID bulbs. Consider the even light distribution, and the quality of the bulb as – if it will still produce that level of light after 2-3 years.
TRS – Our manufacturer reports that after 200 hours of run time, Philips 85122 lose 14% of output, Morimoto XB35 lose 17% of output.