bob4256

iTrader: (17)

Im 99% sure those are fake bulbs.

Ive never seen legit Philips bulbs sell for so cheap, plus I dont think they sell 4800K bulbs...

GenXenon

Correct.

Virtually all Philips bulbs that are below $50/each are fake. Certain sellers on eBay are notorious for selling counterfeit Philips bulbs: "philipsxenon" and "factory_oem_xenon" are known to have fake Philips bulbs.

Unfortunately, the two above sellers charge as much as $80 a pair for these fake bulbs. They get them in China for about $10 a pair. Whether or not they know they are fake, I am not sure, but they definitely are.

I have personally purchased these fake bulbs to test them out, and while they work initially, they may not last. In addition, I have put together a graphic which shows real vs. fake bulbs:

GenXenon

You are also correct. A tell-tale sign of fake Philips bulbs is when a seller will advertise "6000K" color temperatures on standard Philips bulbs (seller "philipsxenon" does this). The only option for Philips bulbs to be higher than 4100-4300K is to get Ultinon bulbs, which are generally $300 a pair.

There are a few sellers that sell "Philips Ultinon" bulbs for $99 on eBay, in what looks like convincing and real packaging. We buy our Philips Ultinon and OSRAM CBI/SVS bulbs from official channels, and have never seen them priced that low.

This is the reason we do not sell Philips bulbs. There are so many fakes out there, that being price competitive is impossible. We pay high prices from Philips because they are real, and we can't make a profit if we price it similar to the fake bulbs on eBay.

Regarding Amazon, if you see "Xenon Corp" selling Philips bulbs, they are most likely fake.

The Harison-Toshiba bulbs we buy are purchased in factory OEM trays and come from official distributors in Japan. Each bulb has a unique QR code with a unique serial number, which is something the fake bulbs do not do. If you have two bulbs and the QR code is the same, then the bulbs are fake.

Hope that helps

tcho82

iTrader: (1)

I've been using these toshiba's for over 18 months and they work fantastic.

GenXenon

Glad you like the Harison Toshiba bulbs! They are excellent bulbs and I run them in my car in lieu of Philips bulbs. From what I've learned, Toyota phased out Philips bulbs due to manufacturing difficulties of Philips bulbs, which caused excessive failure. I believe there was a recall on the D4R bulbs in Prius and Sienna models, but am unsure if that's still around.

OttomLexus

Hi Sounds good , if the Toshiba lamps are serving you good past 18 months at least, can you help me from where did you buy this lamps ?? I checked on ebay and Amazon , few suppliers but not sure who is genuine ..