IT TAKES MORE TIME TO CHOOSE A BULB.
It took me 1 hour to buy a bulb recently. And a further 30 minutes to return it. It was the wrong fitment.
When we needed a new bulb in the 80's, the biggest head scratching choice was 40W vs 60W. Or going for the beast of a 100W. Which one would provide sufficient illumination without blinding you? And not burn your lampshade. Easy solution, you bought both and tried them. Sometimes, you even had the choice to spoil yourself and opt for pearl.
Fast forward to 2019 and we can see that today's choice and variant rich world has also influenced the humble old bulb to flex it's muscles and become not so humble. From fitments to wattage, all the way through to mood setting, consumption and shape, with the choice of LED or traditional filament thrown in for good measure, there is a bulb for every occasion.
And it takes time to first workout which bulb you actually need, then decide on what variant of it you really want.
Thomas Edison produced the first version of this wonderful widget I have been speaking of in the closing stages of the 1800's. Thanks to his pioneering force, the world around us is lit up exactly the way we want it to be.
In the process however, bulbs and the place that they live and die both increased in complexity.
Cars are the epitome of this. When my old 1997 BMW needed a headlamp bulb, I simply popped into a petrol station and there it was, on the shelf, bought and installed within a matter of minutes. I dread the day that my 2005 BMW loses a headlamp.
Not only will he insist on bonging loudly in time to a fault error on every occasion possible, but his 'Xenon bulb' will be expensive and take a while to source. For some reason I think I will have a choice of colour if buying aftermarket. Bright white. Blue hue. Tint of blue. All well and good if I will be able to tell what shade the working one is.
And this is before I take the wheel off to access it. Still, lucky he uses 'old' Xenon technology. I believe the new BMW 8 series has laser headlamps. Lasers. I thought they only existed in Star Wars.
It took me 1 hour to buy a bulb recently. And a further 30 minutes to return it. It was the wrong fitment.
When we needed a new bulb in the 80's, the biggest head scratching choice was 40W vs 60W. Or going for the beast of a 100W. Which one would provide sufficient illumination without blinding you? And not burn your lampshade. Easy solution, you bought both and tried them. Sometimes, you even had the choice to spoil yourself and opt for pearl.
Fast forward to 2019 and we can see that today's choice and variant rich world has also influenced the humble old bulb to flex it's muscles and become not so humble. From fitments to wattage, all the way through to mood setting, consumption and shape, with the choice of LED or traditional filament thrown in for good measure, there is a bulb for every occasion.
And it takes time to first workout which bulb you actually need, then decide on what variant of it you really want.
Thomas Edison produced the first version of this wonderful widget I have been speaking of in the closing stages of the 1800's. Thanks to his pioneering force, the world around us is lit up exactly the way we want it to be.
In the process however, bulbs and the place that they live and die both increased in complexity.
Cars are the epitome of this. When my old 1997 BMW needed a headlamp bulb, I simply popped into a petrol station and there it was, on the shelf, bought and installed within a matter of minutes. I dread the day that my 2005 BMW loses a headlamp.
Not only will he insist on bonging loudly in time to a fault error on every occasion possible, but his 'Xenon bulb' will be expensive and take a while to source. For some reason I think I will have a choice of colour if buying aftermarket. Bright white. Blue hue. Tint of blue. All well and good if I will be able to tell what shade the working one is.
 |
| Looks yellow to me. |
And this is before I take the wheel off to access it. Still, lucky he uses 'old' Xenon technology. I believe the new BMW 8 series has laser headlamps. Lasers. I thought they only existed in Star Wars.
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