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Author Topic: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?  (Read 12958 times)

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Offline Matto

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Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« on: October 07, 2012, 11:45:08 AM »
Hi all,

I've never bothered with spotties on the car, since I just don't drive at night enough to warrant them. However I can see us doing more night driving now that we've got the little girl to travel with. The Pathy's headlights are terrible - I've got bigger globes in there but the reflector design is just rubbish. Also because of the combo bulbs, I don't want to go down the path of converting the headlights to HID.

My budget doesn't extend to "good" HIDs or LED light bars, so I'm looking at either splurging on a good set of halogens (think 240 Blitz), or simply grabbing a pair of eBay 9" 55w HIDs. Obviously the eBay ones are much cheaper, and the potential is there to go with 4x smaller HIDs on the roof and get even more light for the same money as the LF halogens...

Looking for feedback from people who've seen both in action. Is it worth paying more for a good light these days, or do the el cheapo Chinese HIDs do just as good a job, if not better? Or does the better design of the LF lights equate to a better real-world outcome?

Cheers!
Matto :)
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Offline trekkn

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2012, 11:55:41 AM »
matto  i brought a set of narva 225 ulitmates both in spread beam new off ebay for $250 and added ebay 100w hid kit from thejaxtracks $200 and have worked fantastic super bright light and smokes my mates with there factory 70w genisis lf spots
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Offline Crazy Dog

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2012, 11:56:06 AM »
Hi Matto,

Give John a PM - JCLURES - he has fitted the HID and I think Dougie as well...If anyone can advise John can..

Grrr!!! >:D
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Offline fuji

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2012, 12:00:23 PM »
Hi Matto
I had 240 Blitz on the Prado and the wiring loom was upgraded. I think it was the Piranha loom and it did make a difference. The Lightforce lights were brilliant but the downside for me was that I had two spotties rather than one wide and one spot. Now the Prado is gone I am looking at Lightforce HIDs. Most of the ones I have seen are pretty good as far as HID go. You can always buy the LF halogen and when money permits, buy the genuine HID upgrade kit for $200 each I think. I think Autoelecau or similar do a pretty good deal on fleabay. (Not affliated)  :cheers:
Wayne
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Offline Mandrake

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2012, 12:36:11 PM »
Any reason for not including Hipowered LED lamps ??
I just bought a pair for $65 - 9 LEDs am waiting for arrival ...

Mandrake
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Offline singo-26

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2012, 03:27:03 PM »
I've had 240 blitz before I went hid on my car and was really happy with their performance, I've got too light 220's on my wife's Patrol and they are pretty good also, considering their price. That's the way I'd go then look at doing the HID in them as the funds allow.
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Offline cm4x4nut

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2012, 04:14:43 PM »
buy a reasonable set of halogens and then HID them (Hella 4000, Narva 225, Lightforce Blitz 240 etc, etc) you will never look back
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Offline MR MAC GU

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2012, 04:36:07 PM »
You are better off with good quality halogen than cheap hid lights.
I have hella rallye 4000s one spot and one spread and they are great, they are 10 years old now and have never missed a beat
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Offline grafy82

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2012, 07:59:55 PM »
For what its worth, 2 of my good mates bought a 35w HID set of spotties from eBay and the light output is awesome compared to my halogen IPF's. They have had them just over a year now so can't say how long they will last but for less than 200 bucks for the pair of 55watters now, you can't go wrong really.

Cheers

 Wes
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Offline rescue1

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2012, 10:14:46 AM »
I've got 6 halogen IPFs and 2 HID XXX lights that will be listed for sale this week as I'm converting both my vehicles to LED. Watch this space for deals on AXIOM LEDs as I'm their newest distributor.
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Offline WilSurf

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #10 on: October 08, 2012, 10:29:33 AM »
Matto,
There is/was a member on PCOA who sold HID spots for a good price.
I bought a set from him and are very happy with them.
They are Nite Stalkers.
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Offline Matto

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2012, 11:09:10 AM »
Thanks for the feedback guys.

It seems the "buy good halogens and then HID them later" crowd have it by number of votes. Unfortunately you're looking at a considerable investment by the time you're done. Contrast that to the $150 (delivered) 9" 55w ebay HIDs that I have my eye on. I'm sure the more expensive lights are better, I guess the question I'm interested in is "are they really THAT MUCH better?". I'm thinking that if I want to get that much into a set of lights, cheap HIDs + a LED lightbar is probably the better way to go. Or 2 x pairs of ebay HIDs are still cheaper than a single pair of LF 240 halogens.

I'm leaning towards giving the cheap HIDs a shot. If they last a year then die, at least I'm not going to lose a heap of money. I don't mind paying for quality when I can see a benefit, but I'm starting to think that the el-cheapos will give me almost as good a result for a fraction of the cost. Plus I won't be worried about getting them flogged.

CD - thanks for the tip-off - I'll drop the Tablelands boys a PM now, see what they think.

Mandrake - re: the LEDs, I'll be interested to see how you go with them. Do you think 27W will be enough light to work as a driving light, as opposed to just a flood/work/camp light? I'm thinking about LED reverse/flood lights on the back of the car, and looking at 2 x 15W lights. Last time I looked at the LED-replacement headlights (mainly for jeeps in the US) the general consensus was that they weren't putting out enough light to justify the cost. That may have changed recently though with LED lightbars pushing the tech forward. I'd love a 40" lightbar across the roof (who wouldn't???), but the price of even the cheap ones keeps scaring me off.

Grafy - That sorta confirms that I've been thinking.

Wilsurf - Joe's still around, but I don't think he's doing his importing gig any more. I might drop him a PM though, see if he's got any old stock sitting around that he wants to offload. Good idea!

Thanks to all for your input.

Cheers!
Matto :)
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Offline grafy82

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #12 on: October 08, 2012, 05:28:23 PM »
If you buy the eBay ones, you won't have to cry when a roo smashes them. ;D
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Offline Jason B

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #13 on: October 08, 2012, 06:02:47 PM »
Matto I have dirty old IPF 900's that I converted to HID using a pretty cheap Chinese kit.(about $120 for 75w). In my opinion this is the single best modification I have done to my Cruiser. The light out of the HID is unbelievable. If the cheapie lights you are looking at perform as well as my cheapie inserts that are now 12 months old, you will be a happy camper.

Regards

Jas
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Offline duggie

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #14 on: October 08, 2012, 07:15:29 PM »
Hi Matto,

I converted IPF,s spotlights with 35w/6000 HID chinese kit a bloody long time ago, I have been rerally happy with them, no problems at all.

I also supplied jclures with cheep chinese HID kits for his spotties and driving lights and he has had no problems.

The cheap $150 (delivered) 9" 55w ebay HIDs for my money are the way to go.

HID spotties out shine the halogen lights hands down.

cheers duggie
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Offline cm4x4nut

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #15 on: October 08, 2012, 07:30:31 PM »
Matto,

go for a cruise past your local auto wreckers and you should be able to get a set of reasonable second hand halogens. Look for something that will take a H1 or H3 globe as these are the easiest to get HID kits for. Then look out for a set of HID's on ebay and do the conversion. For what its worth, I find the 55W kits best, to me the 75w's are just too bright. Also try and look for a set with 4300K colour rating.

Good luck mate, once you go HID, you will never go back :)
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Offline GGV8Cruza

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #16 on: October 10, 2012, 08:39:48 AM »
Quote from: Jason B on October 08, 2012, 06:02:47 PM
Matto I have dirty old IPF 900's that I converted to HID using a pretty cheap Chinese kit.(about $120 for 75w). In my opinion this is the single best modification I have done to my Cruiser. The light out of the HID is unbelievable. If the cheapie lights you are looking at perform as well as my cheapie inserts that are now 12 months old, you will be a happy camper.

Regards

Jas

I did the same, the IPF's were good, but they are brilliant with the HID conversion

GG
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Offline D4D

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #17 on: October 10, 2012, 09:23:13 AM »
How do you go with the time it takes for the HID's to get to full power?
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Offline cm4x4nut

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #18 on: October 10, 2012, 09:26:36 AM »
Quote from: D4D on October 10, 2012, 09:23:13 AM
How do you go with the time it takes for the HID's to get to full power?

Probably takes about 5 seconds to get usable light out of them the first time you fire them up. Full brightness is about 10 seconds. However if you dip them for oncoming traffic, they re-strike to full brightness almost imediately.

:)
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Offline Jason B

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #19 on: October 10, 2012, 02:42:33 PM »
Quote from: cam_champion on October 10, 2012, 09:26:36 AM
Probably takes about 5 seconds to get usable light out of them the first time you fire them up. Full brightness is about 10 seconds. However if you dip them for oncoming traffic, they re-strike to full brightness almost imediately.

:)

X 2
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Offline fuji

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #20 on: October 11, 2012, 03:49:44 AM »
Matto
I think I have a HID conversion kit in the cupboard. Let me know what type of globe you're running. If it suits you can have it. I will look for it later today.
Wayne
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Offline Muckinhell

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #21 on: October 23, 2012, 06:44:51 PM »
Quote from: duggie on October 08, 2012, 07:15:29 PM
Hi Matto,

I converted IPF,s spotlights with 35w/6000 HID chinese kit a bloody long time ago, I have been rerally happy with them, no problems at all.

I also supplied jclures with cheep chinese HID kits for his spotties and driving lights and he has had no problems.

The cheap $150 (delivered) 9" 55w ebay HIDs for my money are the way to go.

HID spotties out shine the halogen lights hands down.


cheers duggie

I was looking through the 4wd action light camparo last night and see that the piranha off road HID lights look exactly like the chinese 9" hids except there asking something like $700 for em with 12month warrenty. spose they couldnt be that bad.
« Last Edit: October 23, 2012, 08:50:10 PM by Muckinhell »
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Offline dazzawhipple

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Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #22 on: October 23, 2012, 07:26:59 PM »
I have just received a set of cheap 55wHID spotties, look ok I will be fitting then tomorrow.

I got the eBay ones because if I hit roo I would be gutted if I smashed a expensive pair
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Offline fuji

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #23 on: October 24, 2012, 06:38:34 AM »
Just upgraded my headlights to HID and they are great.!
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Offline GeoffA

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Re: Spotties - good halogen or cheap HID?
« Reply #24 on: October 24, 2012, 06:50:46 AM »
Quote from: D4D on October 10, 2012, 09:23:13 AM
How do you go with the time it takes for the HID's to get to full power?

A valid question..........there is a down side.

I did the 75w HID conversion with my IPF900's. Easy, neat and not big $$$$.

Great light output with the HID's, but the warm-up time is a pain......I put the 130w halogens back in for normal use.
I might throw the HID's in for big trips. It's just a globe change now.

IMO, the HID conversion is better than forking out big $$ for thief-bait.........

Geoff
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