It took less than a decade for xenon headlights to first “take off”, becoming an object of desire for many drivers, and then also rapidly went out of fashion almost completely. At the same time, halogen lighting products are in constant demand, primarily among car manufacturers. So why is more archaic technology with a good score outperforming much more advanced technology on the market? Let's try to disassemble the question point by point.
Advantages of gas discharge lamps
Discharge lamps (xenon) bypass halogen lamps in many ways. Their light is brighter, the light temperature is higher and closer to the natural temperature of the sun's light, which is good for the eyes. Xenon shines farther and at the same time consumes 10-20% less energy during operation. At the same time, gas-discharge lamps are also more durable than conventional ones. On average, they serve 2500-3000 hours, versus 400-500 hours for a halogen. It is also important that xenon lamps do not immediately fail, but gradually lose their brightness. All this clearly puts xenon on a qualitatively different, higher level in relation to more archaic lighting fixtures.
Cons of gas discharge lamps
The first and, perhaps, the main drawback of brilliant xenon is its price. Simple comparison without brands. The cost of halogen bulbs starts at 100 rubles. Decent lamps can be found for about 500 rubles. The highest quality products will not cost more than 2.5 thousand rubles. Now let's look at gas-discharge lamps: the cheapest one here won't cost less than 1,000 rubles. And good, not to mention first-class lamps, will cost a motorist several thousand apiece. It is the tenfold difference in prices that scares off many motorists.
Not the last word in the popularity of xenon for the level of its manufacturability. Or rather, for the technical difficulties associated with the operation of such lighting devices. The xenon device is much more complicated, such headlights are much more demanding on the quality and cleanliness of glass. In addition, in Russia and Europe, xenon is officially installed only with an auto-corrector of headlights (provided that its network flow is above 2 thousand lumens). All these are additional costs and complications.
There is another unpleasant specificity. For example, gas discharge lamps are very disliked by any intermittent modes of operation. In other words, blinking with xenon is not a good idea. And also such lamps do not work at full power immediately at the moment of switching on. It takes them a few moments to "warm up", so when trying to blink, such a signal may go unnoticed. As a result, it turns out that a halogen light bulb, for all its fragility and relative weakness, is much better: it is cheaper, easier to install and operate, and also does not have all kinds of "whims".
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about 10 carsthat impress with their manufacturability.