HID headlight upgrade

Comparison:

$65 DDM HID kit(4500k or 5000K can't tell which yet since the bulbs weren't labeled) in my '10 prius II

$400 Philips HID kit (4300k) in my '03 celica gt. It's amazing how much cheaper these things got.

Initial impressions of the DDM kit is that it is alot bluer than the Philips. The ground lights up with a blue tint to it as opposed to the Philips which is pure white. I'm not really sure how long this kit will last since the Philips has been running strong for 6 years. I'll be leaving the headlights in the on position for every drive to see if it's going to last. There is a lifetime warranty on it so we'll see how that works out. The ballast are smaller/slimmer now and made mounting much easier. It took less than 20 minutes to install. Everything was Plug and Play. No modifications needed. I also installed the extra relay harness. I'm hoping this is safer for the Prius sensitive electronics so I wont fry anything.

I noticed the projectors in the prius have more glare towards the sides and the top of the cutoff when driving around. The celica's projector beam is alot more focused.

Here's some pictures to compare cut-offs and the glare created with regular halogen projectors.

Prius:




Celica:

 

Thanks for the pics. What is the difference between the first two pictures from your Prius? (Besides the difference in location.)

And also, did you order the 35w or 55w system for the Prius?

And like you said, the price has come down so much, it's incredible. I'm a bit concerned about the blue-tint part -- I was hoping the 4500K would look a lot like the 4300K found on most cars these days.

 

I would hate to be on the other end, two drivers heading towards each other, and while you may not realize it, you are not running the stock power headlights, and the other person with a weak sight ends up hitting a pedestrian...

I think that is scary. Are they truly legal, and how has that been shown.

l think an accident, or worse yet, a death is nothing trivial.

 

Strange, you weren't concerned about death when someone was advocating putting tint on their tail lights. Your same fictitious weak sighted driver with a car load of kids and puppies would certainly have difficulty seeing tinted tail lights!

 

The first pic is about 20 yards farther than the second one. I just wanted to show what kind of glare halogen projectors give off. You can't see it from afar but up close you can see three rectangular blocks of it.

I ordered the 35w kit but I think I should have went with the 55w. If you're not concerned about the headlamps getting too hot or the extra load I would definitely recommend the 55w.

55w 5000k would give you a 35w 4300k color.

I'm hoping the light blue tint goes away after break in.

 

Interesting. Those light spots above the cut-off are there on the halogen bulbs as well -- so that is not a side effect of the HID's. In fact, I don't really see any difference from the pictures with the HID. (At least in beam pattern.)

So with 35w vs stock Halogen, how much brighter are they?

 

No - you are correct - that was *you*