Osram CBIs are amazing. Extremely happy with mine.

 

I'm happy to report that after two weeks of having my CBIs installed, i'm also very satisfied!
The bulbs start out with a purple hue that slowly changes to about 5K (definitely more yellow than white), but maaaan are they bright! (definitely brighter than stock or the old 6Ks) After a couple of days with temps fluctuating between 75-38 degrees, i'm also happy to report that the bulbs fire up every time without any glitches! (^ - ^)

 

Are the Matsushita Ballasts not compatible with aftermarket bulbs? I was shopping around to replace my ballasts and i decided on the Matsushita Gen V's but the guy told me the Matsushita's are picky and only run well with OEM bulbs and said the Osram CBI 5k bulb ($200) was the one to get with it. He said aftermarket bulbs burn out the Matsushita's a lot, lot faster. DId he just try to upsell me or is that true about the Matsushitas?

 

He is correct about that. It has been reported on here and on myg37 websites as well as theretrofitsouce.com and HIDPlanet forums that the matsushita ballasts in our cars are picky.

Sometimes, they will work with aftermarket, and sometimes, they will not. They just have a much better chance working with OEM bulbs. You can still try aftermarket bulbs on them but you run into a risk of them not firing on your car.

This is listed on theretrofitsource.com
"The Matsushita's ballasts are best used with Philips or Osram bulbs, sometimes have trouble igniting aftermarket lamps"

myg37.com
http://m.myg37.com/forums/showthread.php?t=257514

 

Ok thanks so much mathnerd88. I was hoping i could save some money. ugh $200 bulbs and $170 ballasts are killer

 

That being said, the salesperson trying to sell you $200 bulbs is RIDICULOUS. You don't need Osram CBI (they're the most expensive sought after because of their 5500k color and same light output as regular OEM.) Usually, the more blue/violet color you go, the less light output the bulb has, and the less you can see at night. The top OEM bulb manufacturers are Philips or Sylvania/Osram. Any bulb from those two manufacturers will go along great with the Matsushita.

You will be fine with Philips 85122+ bulbs or even the Osram 66240 NOT CBI. Both can be had for less than $100. Why do you need ballasts? Our cars already come with ballasts. The Osram CBI 5K bulb is not even standard on many other cars equipped with HID. Acura only uses Sylvania/Osram 66240 non-cbi and BMW uses either Philips 85122+ or the 66240 non-cbi. Lexus uses the D4S Philips bulbs.

If you don't care about the light being bluer than what is originally equipped on our cars (Koito OEM bulbs,) then I would go for either of those two listed above.

 

+1 on what mathnerd said, go for the cheaper solution & get quality/genuine bulbs 1st before spending time & money on ballasts.