HID reviews

[Da Wyrm]

Hello everyone! Long-time-lurker-turned-member here.

To those who have HIDs:

Which brand do you recommend?

Which vendor do you recommend?

Are they THAT good? (I know they're AWESOME, but I mean on a car that has "regular" headlight housings vs. a projector like how it's "supposed" to be)

I asking this, because I want to a kit for my car (2002 plain Protege). I keep reading conflicts. Most love them, veeerry rare did people take them out to revert back to Halogen, and others insist not to do it unless you actually install projectors, etc. I am not looking for cool purple colors or anything; I want to be able to see farther down the road when it's dark whether it's raining, snowing, dry, etc. I want to make sure they're a good investment, and that people aren't loving them because they spent the cash, or others aren't putting down HID-only because they put in the time to install projectors, etc. I hope I make sense. I am not looking for bias. I read articles, and I get conflicts there, too. So I am now asking people who ahve them on their Mazdas to answer the questions above.

Thanks so much everyone!

 

[Revs]

Take it from someone who has has done a HID retrofit with Hella bi-xenon projectors, do a projector retrofit!
I know there are lots of people who have the hid bulb kits and love them, but in reality the light output is less. Read this http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html it will explain it.
If you run a search for HID retrofit you'll find my thread from a year ago detailing my retrofit.

 

[Canecreekfreak]

I got the Helios HID's from here:
http://www.msprotege.com/vbb300/showthread.php?t=119525
I got the 5k temp light, which is very bright and very white. It's a whole ton brighter than the Silver Stars I was using. But with regards to being able to see farther down the road on stock lamps, I don't think you'll be able to do so. While my lights are brighter, I have to aim them further down so that I don't blind on-coming traffic. If they're aimed too high you'll get flashed alot, and since traffic will be blinded, they'll be forced to slow down, causing unsafe situations for them (and you).
That being said, I ended up getting black-housing head lights and eyebrows, which helps reduce glare/blinding, and I aimed them down a bit so that I hardly ever get flashed. The beams aren't aimed as far out on the low beams, but the high beams are ok (although now nearly useless compared to the HID's).
Reflective items now glow more intensely (highway lane markings, exit signs, etc), and I can see in the rain as the water doesn't wash out the beams like it does to regular halogens.
Is it a worth while investment? Yeah, probably, but to get the full benefit of HID's I think you need to have a head light that was actually designed for it. I'd say save your pennies and get a Mazda 3 with the HID option. I know that's kind of contradictory, but either way you'll be ok. If you get 'em, aim them down, and you'll still be able to see better than stock. If you don't, just save up for a car that does have 'em and you'll see why they're better.

Hello everyone! Long-time-lurker-turned-member here.

To those who have HIDs:

Which brand do you recommend?

Which vendor do you recommend?

Are they THAT good? (I know they're AWESOME, but I mean on a car that has "regular" headlight housings vs. a projector like how it's "supposed" to be)

I asking this, because I want to a kit for my car (2002 plain Protege). I keep reading conflicts. Most love them, veeerry rare did people take them out to revert back to Halogen, and others insist not to do it unless you actually install projectors, etc. I am not looking for cool purple colors or anything; I want to be able to see farther down the road when it's dark whether it's raining, snowing, dry, etc. I want to make sure they're a good investment, and that people aren't loving them because they spent the cash, or others aren't putting down HID-only because they put in the time to install projectors, etc. I hope I make sense. I am not looking for bias. I read articles, and I get conflicts there, too. So I am now asking people who ahve them on their Mazdas to answer the questions above.

Thanks so much everyone!