Posted on 02/09/2011 9:06:49 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed
This chat thread is to divert an off-topic issue from the Ashley Turton car fire death news thread.
bfl
Hate em, blind oncoming drivers.. cost way to much and burn out fast.
These are basically the equivalent of full time high beams as far as I’m concerned and are just as ignorant and obnoxious not to mention dangerous to oncoming drivers as leaving your high beams on full time.
They also go smack dab into oncoming drivers eyes if the road isn’t FLAT.. IE oncoming car over crest of hill.. autoleveling only works when the road is flat.. if you are coming up one side of the hill and I am coming up the other, I guarantee your Xenons are going to blind me, regardless of this feature.. trust me.
I suppose it is just arrogant and inconsiderate people who use those bulbs when they know they are annoying to other drivers.
Oh please. Arrogant and inconsiderate?? The cars COME WITH THOSE BULBS! FGS. Yeah...we’re all on a mission to piss you off by using those bulbs! How DARE we? It’s all about YOU! Take it up with the car makers.
Your all-caps rant tell me a lot.
You didn’t seem to get it when I didn’t in a prior post. What a silly response. The only “rant” here is yours trying to accuse car buyers of only buying a car with blue lights because they are arrogant and inconsiderate and really want to piss you off. As I said before, take it up with the car manufacturers. Should I put that in all caps so you actually can process it?
The absolute best option or aftermarket add on you can get for a vehicle. I have had them on my last 4 vehicles and my wife would drive at night without them. And no driving with your standard halogen HBs on is not the same by a long shot. The Xenons are brighter, with a better light color (4800-5000K as compared to 2800-3300K for halogens) and throw light further than any halogen HB or LB.
True, but so do halogens. HIDs are just more noticeable because they put out more light. HIDs in the US actually project less glare straight across into oncoming traffic simply because they're almost always put in projector lenses that can focus the light precisely and evenly, whereas halogen are almost always in simpler reflector-style lamps that, when built to US standards, allow more glare to be thrown up into oncoming traffic.
Wrongo. That is that actual difference in the brightness and spread of the HID vs Halogen.
If they are blue then they are the decorative type that a lot of young urban types put on their rice burners for style. The true OEM and OEM-like HIDs do not have the bluish tint. They are white to slightly yellow. The decorative ones are in the 6000-10000K color range which are progressively more blue to almost purple. And yes they are annoying.
And can trigger migraines if you are unfortunate enough to meet several in a short span of time.
And, really, with most drivers in urban/suburban settings, who needs lights that can see WAY down the road anyway? I know, I know you MIGHT need it but just switch to brights as someone has suggested.
So many drivers already drive with those small lights down near the road as well the two lamps in each headlight also on at the same time (you can actually see them), the last thing we need is another way for drivers to be even ruder to other drivers.
Turbo,
I read it and I am a hater. Thanks for explaining the issue of factory and after market jerry rigging. That would explain why, as has been said on this thread, some of them don’t seem so bad.
The auto levelling feature is very cool and I have riden in cars that have it - you can even see it from inside the car - looks like a shade is drawn down on the driver’s side headlight.
Now if only everyone would use/install them.
Well, my every time I drive at night say you are quite wrong.
When I’m behind a car, their license is lit, and everything above it and to the left is in blackness.
Well I dare guess that most of these lights are just standard equipment on alot of newer cars. And buying the cars with these lights has not a single thing to do with being arrogant or inconsiderate.
Anyone who owns one of those cars and now knows that they are irritating and endangering oncoming traffic by using the lights, they can be considered arrogant and inconsiderate for continuing to drive them.
They key funny statement is “just more noticeable” if it is more noticable it is MORE BLINDING, period.
I am less blinded by a halogen on high beam than I am by these stupid Xenon bulbs, and yes even in an OEM configuration designed for them.
Trust me, I know by the blinding my eyes take when its a XENON lamp coming over the hill at me vs a halogen. One I can still see the road, and the other I am completely blinded. The things are crap.
They are no different than running with your high beams on full time as far as I’m concerned. I know they have all this added technology to supposedly cut down on blinding oncoming traffic, but they still blind oncoming traffic, period.
Yep, they burn brighter, cost more, burn out faster and are basically a safety hazard and no amount of autoleveling or projection lenses will fix the problem. You can’t redesign roads.. and all the technology in the world won’t prevent an oncoming driver from being blinded by these things...
Cresting hill with a turn.. period. Nice way to wind up being run off the road because the oncoming driver blinded you in this situation.
“Burn out faster”? LOL. HID lights don’t burn out at all - they don’t even have a filament. They last many times longer than halogen bulbs.
As for the rest of your pity party, I respectfully decline the invitation. The facts are in post 49, but please feel free to continue to disregard them and know that I won’t be bothered in the slightest.
Glad I could help. There’s actually no reason that the sharp cutoffs and leveling systems couldn’t be equipped on all headlights (they are in Europe), other than the higher cost. Once you drive behind a properly setup headlight, halogen or HID, you won’t ever want to go back.
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