Interested in better headlights for my ‘98 XJ, but there’s too many to pick from and considerable price variation.
What do you folks suggest?

 

If by "better" you mean headlights that allow you to see better forget LEDs and get Hella h-4's (with halogen bulbs) and put in a headlight relay harness.

 

Hella headlamps are fine [as good as the OME Cibies on export models (still let down by that pathetic wiring) but last longer] but Hella H$ bulbs ate nothing special. As the lamps themselves are metal with glass lenses you could go old school 80 0r 90/100w's or even 100/130w's but:-
"These are currently the highest performing stock wattage bulbs on the market:

• Philips Racing Vision +150 or +200 - Best low beam, reduced high beam output. See updated +200 review in post #3169. Followed by Osram Nightbreaker +200 in post #4066.
• 
  
  
  
  GE Lighting H4 NHX/BP2 Nighthawk Xenon Replacement Headlight Bulb, 2-Pack
  GE Nighthawk Xenon +120 - Full performance high beam

Which bulb is best? Depends on your needs. The +150 bulbs are going to provide excellent low beam performance, but coat the high beam reducing performance. The Philips are rated at 200hrs. The GE +120s have a blue coating on the tip but leave both the low and high beam uncoated giving superior high beam performance with a slightly lower low beam performance over the other bulbs." courtesy of crashnburn80 on the Tacoma World forum.

 

Those are pretty expensive and 200 hours for the low beams is incredibly short. I run NAPA house brand, Osram 55/100 which seem to last a long time.

 

Yup, quality doesn't come cheap & life expectancy is inversely proportional to output.

Those 55/100's are interesting as never seen such a difference between his & los. Of course they should last as long as standard 55/60's as most driving is done on low beam. Personally, 100w highs are of very limited use because that's not the problem, the criticism of most headlights is poor low beam performance - simply because manufacturers (vehicle and lights) have refused to accept that for at least the last 30 years road/traffic conditions require low beam headlights that are safe at 70mph+

 

I drive a lot of empty road at night, and the 100w are fantastic for spotting deer. And of course flashing the guy with obnoxiously bright high-beam LEDs aimed in my face. I don't like going more than 55w on the low beams, because I don't want to be "that guy".

 

yea..you have to love the ones that are trying to light up the next county.....

 

1) Do you have a NAPA part number for those? I tried coming up with one and failed to associate a part number with that wattage

2) My driving is 100% rural. 55 low beam is fine because that means there's other light around so who cares but do want the sharp cutoff. High beam means there's no other light around so I want the lines on the road to melt.....deer/ bears etc
3) need to be careful with that flashing stuff. Couple months ago 2 guys got into it a few miles from here and one of them ended up shot full of holes.

 

On the rare occasions I can drive for more than 5 mins on hi beams the 60w's are fine - although they are those Phillips +200's but highway driving is another matter. I've just managed to score some NOS Hella 80/85's which were very highly regarded but I'm a bit apprehensive about using them in plastic headlights, which even the XJ has now (not from choice, that's how it came) , not that it often ventures off country roads, certainly not after dark.