I did look around before posting this. But I want help specific to my issues so I don't mess something up. I have a 2010 Prius. Not sure the exact trim but I know it is pretty basic. A company (Kensun) is offering me free HID's. They want to know the color temp and 35 or 55 watts. I don't know anything about this stuff. I want to have the brightest light. I don't care about silly things like blueness in a light just visibility. the lights would be for my low beams. I think I want 4500k but have no idea on the wattage or what it does. Really appreciate any help.
TANSTAAFL. I'd be cautious if they contacted you offering you something for free. On the other hand, if you asked them for advice in upgrading your low beam headlights, they won't stay in business long if they give away free product (if it is a legitimate business). Perhaps you could provide a bit more detail of the offer and what they expect from you. To answer your question though, I believe your car has 35W but is capable of handling 55W bulbs when paired with stronger ballasts. Color temp of 4K - 5K is close to daylight while 3K is closer to typical inside lighting. Check in the Gen-3 forum for HID replacements; I'm sure someone has upgraded their HID beams.
I got some LED lights from them but didn't like them so now they are offering to exchange them for HID's instead.
Before you commit, check the forums to see what others have successfully done. I've seen some videos on PC that show how the upgrade is done.
I have 4300k HIDs and they are white with no blue. Get 35w H11 bulbs with the ground wire opposite from the largest tab on the base of the bulb. If you get the H11 bulbs with the ground wire next to the largest tab on the base, then you will get ground shadows. Make sure that the ballasts are AC, not the cheap DC ballasts. Get 35w ballasts. 55w ballasts are brighter, but they are overkill and will cause a lot of foreground glare in front of your car, which will constrict your pupils and decrease your night vision. Same reason why you don't use highbeams in fog, because the glare from the reflected light decreases what you can see. 35w HIDs are approximately 3x brighter than oem halogen bulbs anyway, so you don't need 55w.
Here's a picture of the two types of H11 HID bulbs. The one on the left is the one that will give you ground wire shadows, the one on the right will not:
