Given that the headlights serve also as daytime driving lights, it's a great idea to change them out yearly or every 2 years. Mine are dimmed enough that I am ready to change them out.

 

Are yours as hard to change as my 2014? Pull the battery, windshield washer fluid tank, and aircleaner etc.

 

Avoid the bulbs that claim higher light output. Go with the cheaper versions of the bulb and your bulb life expectancy will increase.

 

Regardless of life, i still suggest changing out the bulbs every 2 years or so. Don't wait for them to burn out.

 

Anyone have experience with Hella headlight bulbs?
I used to have a set of killer off road driving lights back in the day, like aircraft landing lights, but don't know about their headlamps...

Just doing some poking around and found them boasting a rating anywhere from 250 hour lifespan to 500

HELLA H11 2.0TB Twin Blister Kit High Performance Bulb, 12V, 55W
HELLA 9005 2.0TB Twin Blister Kit High Performance Bulb, 12V, 65W

 

Have Hella bulbs in my toyota truck, love them but they are pricey. Mine are the 65/85 watt bulbs that they no longer make, about 20 years old but I rarely drive the truck at night!

I'm one who would rather go with good, bright headlights, such as the Silver Stars or Philips vision plus bulbs, rather than ones that last longer, as I think seeing at night is more important than them lasting 4 instead of 2 years. And its hard to run LED replacement lamps as they are never going to be "tuned" for non-LED specific housings. Did it on the Odyssey we had and it was just okay for lighting, but I wouldn't do it again. Just not enough directed light where its needed for that housing, and I suspect it will be the same for older trucks.

 

Thanks Flyinhawaiin
I would love to get 4 years, I do not drive that much at night, so they mostly run during daytime driving.
These do not seem pricey to me, under $50 for all 4 on Amazon.
The 2014 Duramax is such a pain to change them, otherwise I would not care, and just throw in whatever was on sale. The GMC truck I had prior to this one took 15 minutes to change bulbs, with next to no tools as I remember it, takes longer than that to get the tools together to do this truck.

 

Going with the Hella bulbs, they are on the way, now only time will tell.

Thanks everyone for your input

 

Which ones did you go with? Their long life bulbs? Or one of their high output bulbs?

 

I went with these
HELLA H11 2.0TB High Performance Bulb, 12V, 55W
HELLA 9005 2.0TB High Performance Bulb, 12V, 65W

I did not see the long life bulbs in my configuration, these claim a 250 hour lifespan

 

I've been using Susquehanna for quite a few years, they seem to have good prices and usually have them in stock.. They've been around for forever! Here's for the H11 bulbs from them:
https://www.rallylights.com/light-bulbs/l/h11

and your 9005 bulbs:
https://www.rallylights.com/light-bulbs/l/9005

The ones you picked look good though, should have a good amount of light, and the 250 hour lifespan, well it should be much longer than that!

 

Cool thanks, those are good prices