Thread: Best Driving Lights?

I have lightforce HIDs, very good spottie, mine are only 35w, I also did a HID conversion of my headlights, because I found that when dipping from Hi to Lo with the HIDs spotties it took a while for my eyes to adjust back to the halogen light from the white HID light, it a scarey thing, your bascally blind for a few seconds

Baz.

I think this will turn into a "how long is a piece of string" thread, but anyway:

For my money I can't go past Hella Rallye 4000 spread beam driving lights. I have a set on my Range Rover (converted to HID) and I also have a set on my regular work LandCruiser (not converted).

You should be able to pick up a set of Rallye 4000s for around the $400 mark if you bargain hunt and a HID conversion kit will only be about $100 max (ebay, could be a lot cheaper).

Personally I don't use one spot / one spread as I don't think you will ever out drive the range of the spread beam driving lights, especially with HID. The extra light on the edges of the road far outweighs any benefit of extra light 1.5 km down the road.

Personally I have never been a big fan of Lightforce lights. I have seen them with yellowed lenses and I am lead to believe the bulbs they use are not common (for replacement purposes).

Thanks for the replies so far. I have heard of the problem re feeling blind when HID's are swithed off. Did you just upgrade the low beams then?

Been there-done that...

Some random comments...

Be a wary of HID colour temperature specs, for good overall colour-balance you'd be best to sta under 4800 K. Above that and the foliage flattens off, browns and reds etc become featureless and darker... But worst of all, the light OUTput drops off markedly.

Rule of thumb, especially for cheaper lamps... bluer is lesser.

Ordinary halogens have the advantage of reaching full brightness in a very very short time, unlike some HID's which can take up to a minute to stabilise. - A real pain in the Sit-Upon when continually changing / dipping!

Once again, you get what you pay for, to an extent.

This is especially true when you pat yourself on the back for 'saving' power, eg, when the spottie globes are only 35 watt as compared to 55 or even 100w halogens. Bear in mind that "35 watts" is the rating of the BULB, the power supply is not 100% efficient, more likely 85 to 90% at best... add to that the relay(s) and your "35 Watts" starts to look more like 45 watts overall.

I've got 3800 K low-beam only HID's in my Wife's run-around, very nice output and colour-balance, and best of all, not overly obvious, just brighter than before. The Hi beams are 5000K and are bluer, and I reckon less useful on the road. - The bitumen comes up nice and light-coloured, but not much else!

My biggest problem with HID's is when they're retro-fitted into normal headlights. Not sorry...but unless they are designed from the start specifically for HID lamps, they will *not* control the beam(s) as well as they do halogen. Now you have heaps of bright light...concentrated into a little patch directly in front of you...and enough uncontrolled scatter to illuminate reflectorised signs hundreds of metres away...and dazzle oncoming drivers.

Dazzle is the main problem, even with perfect headlamps designed for them, a thin film of dust can scatter the light enough to make it dangerous for other drivers.

Or worse still, any dust or moisture INside the lamp-housing, or discolouration or deterioration of the reflector surface makes them very VERY unsociable.

My own feeling, over many years of night-shift, is that most folk who 'upgrade' their headlights usually have them set too high and/or improperly aligned, and are a total pain in that they are the ones who give the ammo to the "6-monthly warrant of fitness" brigade and their ilk !

Best all-round for headlights is the so-called 'Plus 50' range of halogen globes, along with decent relays and suitable wiring... And stay away from heavily coloured 'daylight' or blue-dyed ones which merely filter OUT the red/orange/yellow end of the spectrum!

Coming from Jap vehicles, the pathetic wire gauge of British vehicles is disappointing to say the least....

Save the HID's for driving/spots, where the extra light output means a matched pair of "driving'' beams is more than adequate for Land-Rover speeds....

Grumpy Older James in Perth.

I am with superquag with regards to Kelvin. I never go higher than 4300K with any of my HID kits.

Originally Posted by wardy1

Thanks for the replies so far. I have heard of the problem re feeling blind when HID's are swithed off. Did you just upgrade the low beams then?

I did the Hi/Lo conversion, but if doing it again I would only go for the Lo beam only, HID Hi beam is useless, I also went with the 35w, 4300K conversion, plenty bright enough and doesn't blind oncoming cars.

Baz.

I hear you all!
I'll make sure to stick with the recommendations re Low beam only upgrade on the car (I was going that way anyway) and will stay within the Kelvin limits stated....
Now, back to the SPOTTIES! (please)