Keep blowing *low-beams*

[Newsman]

About six months ago, the driver's side low-beam burned out. This was the OEM headlamp on my 07 Versa. No problem, I went down to Autozone and bought a pair of headlamps, because the general advice is to replace them in pairs. Well, a couple months later, the driver's side died again. This time I only replaced the one lamp/bulb. Now the passenger bulb has died and I had to replace it a second time.
I've not been using "cheap" parts... the bulbs I used were about $18 or $20 apiece and were Sylvania brand. Now either I'm just getting crappy bulbs or there's something wrong here... is it worth paying extra for the OEM bulbs? Does buying a "Nissan" bulb make it less likely to blow?
Note that I've replaced both bulbs twice in about 6-8 months now, after the OEM bulbs lasted over 3 years. The high beams work fine and if I replace the bulbs, the low beams work fine for several months. They just seem to blow easily.

[Moghedian]

Are you touching the bulbs when you put them in? Grease from your fingers can dramatically shorten a bulbs life.

Were the Sylvania bulbs you bought halogen or SilverStars? Silverstars notoriously burn out faster cuz they tend to run hotter.

Nissan bulbs are no better, matter of fact they are Sylvania's if I remember correctly.

[Newsman]

I'm very careful *not* to touch the bulbs when I replace 'em. Funny thing is, that the *high* beams still work normally, so the whole bulb didn't fail, just the low beam portion. You can see the burned filament hanging there when you take the old bulb out. I think that I've been using the "Xtravision" bulbs to replace the old ones. Funny thing, when I go to the Autozone website and look at the specs on those bulbs, they're only rated at 150 hours.... so maybe they're just burning out normally. As I said, I do tend to drive with my headlights on, day or night. Any recommendations on a good brand to use that might have a longer life?

[Bubs daddy]

Usually, a headlight halogen bulb lasts years. I was going to say the same thing as Moghedian said, don't touch the bulb when you install. If you do, just take some rubbing alcohol and wipe the bulb clean.

But you've indicated that you haven't touched it so maybe it was a cheap bulb. Most I know of are 850 hours or so, Sylvania included.

[Newsman]

Yeah... According to the Autozone website, the ones I've been getting are only rated at 150 hours...unless that was a typo or something. Maybe I'll have to spring for more expensive bulbs