Spot / Floodlight Housings

[Crais]

How much does the housing itself actually matter? I want to buy 4x 6" halogens to go on my sports bar, with plans to HID convert them later on. With this in mind, does it really matter what i buy, seing as it will be the HID kit that makes the difference? In other words, will there be a difference between a supercheap light set and say, an IPF/Hella/KC/Lightforce light set, once converted to HID?

[thedude]

I'm going to say yes, because there will be differences in material quality. What's the point of spending cash and going to the trouble of doing a HID upgrade when it all goes to shit because an inferior housing let's a shit-ton of dust, mud and water inside and ruin it all?

[Crais]

fair call. also seems cheaper to buy HID spotties than to convert later also

[BigJonWB]

Buy Hella Rallye 4000 spread beams.
Buy HID conversion kits.
Convert lights to HID.
Finish.
Profit?

[nine2nine]

The quality of the reflector is what you pay for. Most definitely matters. Have a close look at supercheap ones and the reflectors are not mirror finish, they actually quite dull. A decent reflector should look like a mirror.

Then there is also the issue of reflector design. All i have to say about this is bigger is better for HID due to the longer globes they use, 6" is a pretty small light.

[Crais]

hmm ok, might do some more shopping around then. the more i think about it, the less i can be stuffed converting to HID, ill just look for HID converted ones already

[ahabthearab]

HID's are so 2011

LED's is where it's at

[irsa76]

Have a look at the HID lights on egay. Dad bought a pair of 6" HID in spread and pencil beam and is pretty happy with them. Not as good as the Lightforce or Hellas the trucks run, but for 1/3 the price he's happy.
Sort of tempted to give these (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/100w-HID-Driving-Lights-100watt-9-inch-EURO-/180728924787?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a14488a73) ago, although maybe not the 100w HID version!

Although I have to say, the better the basic light the better the results would be. I prefer to use Hella or Cibie for driving lights, and even then some Hella lights don't impress me. At a minimum I use Narva, the quality difference between Narva and Hella at a similar price is noticeable.
As for needing a bigger light for HID, not true. Both Hella and Narva had smaller lights with HID, Hella's Micro HID uses the same housing as their Micro DE foglight which is 70mm overall dia iirc. Narva's smallest HID isn't much bigger, true a bigger light will have a better beam, but the smaller lights are apparently pretty good if space is an issue.

[Dark Orange]

HID's are so 2011

LED's is where it's at

*nods*

There are some pretty speccy LED units I saw on a minesite yesterday - company gave them a couple to try, and now they are replacing all their halogen and HID units with them. No idea of price, but performance and reliability are A+.

[ahabthearab]

They aren't cheap, Reasonably new technology and all that.
I put a set of Great Whites on the front of my Patrol last week, Brilliant.

A nice touch is they are waterproof to 3 metres, That way if I ever drive into a creek at night I'll still be able to see when swimming out.

[Crais]

Ended up with a pair of eBay 7" hid's for the bullbar, but they will probably go on the roof to make way for a nice big led bar when funds permit

[Kyle]

*nods*

There are some pretty speccy LED units I saw on a minesite yesterday - company gave them a couple to try, and now they are replacing all their halogen and HID units with them. No idea of price, but performance and reliability are A+.

Nordic lights? Nordics are the go, but big $$

[nine2nine]

As for needing a bigger light for HID, not true. Both Hella and Narva had smaller lights with HID, Hella's Micro HID uses the same housing as their Micro DE foglight which is 70mm overall dia iirc. Narva's smallest HID isn't much bigger, true a bigger light will have a better beam, but the smaller lights are apparently pretty good if space is an issue.

More referring to aftermarket installs because smaller aftermarket lights typically come with the H3 globe, which is a lot shorter then an aftermarket HID globe. Factory HID are obviously designed for it.

[ar3nbe]

Also,

Dont assume that you will get a good beam pattern by converting a standard light to a HID. Some lights work well, others turn to shit. Just because something is brighter doest mean it is better, beam pattern is where its at.