HID Headlights

[AyJay]

i'm very drunk, so I might regret this post but.... I'm a fan of popcorn and a good argument. Understanding comes out of many arguments.

PaulSmith, please rebut every single one of the points that BikerDude has made. Just because you have measured 28.5mm from base does not answer the point about lateral free play, for instance. And what about overheating and longevity? I see guys with HIDs from time to time and many of them are clearly badly set up, uselessly and pointlessly dazzling other road users. In fact, I'd say the majority of bulb replacements are badly set up. The all in one separate spotlight kits complete seem ok though, probably because they are designed as a unit to work with HIDs. I seriously doubt there's much design gone into a 20 quid HID replacement that can be retrofitted to any number of bikes.

I am considering a kit and would like to know more, and I'd really like to know why you have to start slagging people with 'your behaviour is clearly not normal' type comments. That's just a fucking stupid slag off rather than a point or counterpoint and it undermines any argument you make. Someone disagrees with you and you call their sanity into question.. really.. ? Answer the questions.....

• did you measure to the center of the arc, from the base of the H4 plate? as most will be out a few mm, but can the same be said for Hi beam?
  
• is there lateral free-play in yours (as in vertical movement where gravity will be pulling the bulb mech downward, mean it out of alignment). And because the bulb is flapping about while the bike is moving you get additional dazzling of other road users.
  
• all telescopic hid kits that I have seen have two shrouds/baffles, an inner and outer. The position of the inner is almost always inaccurate and either allows some spillage on dip and/or obscured on Hi.
  
• The hole in the outer baffle (again on all kits I have seen) dosent allow enough light out so you don't get all the light being exposed to the reflector.
  
• And the solenoid mech used in all kits I have seen is very cheap and chearfull to the point that when Hi beam has been on for a while the whole back of the bulb overheats, because its essentially just shy of being a short circuit.
  
• A lot of the telescopic kits are so poorly manufactured that the bulbs dosent stayed screwed into the baseplate assy and/or arent sealed so water/condensation can ingress into the headlight unit.
  
• And keeping on the subject of cheap and cheerful, most of these kits don't last anywhere near as long as stated, either the bloody bulbs or the ballasts go.