Earth's Second Sun

Night Trials - HID Lamp

Okay, so it'd be an exaggeration to claim the HID lamp to be a second Sun, but it's sure is bright - if white is bright.

As only one of the two reflector cells is full of HID light the road image cannot really be expected to be "normal" but brighter, can it? Well, it's not normal; it's a lovely wide area in front of the bike that stretches left to right about 3m each side (with any definition) and about 20m to the front - so within the MOT limit on that last one, which calls for a 25m dip to avoid dazzle. It's fuzzy; but that's the focus bit I'll play with later.

The light is white; there's no doubt. The image of the two lenses shows the difference at the lamp, but on the road this is a great strength. All the hype of it making vision easier on the eye is right. Looking down through the forks I can see yellow and dimpsy halogen splash on the left and bright moon-blue-white on the right, which is noticeably brighter. (I've likely said that before - I repeat things if I'm impressed).

On the road the dimmed beam comes to the fore when approached by opposing traffic's lights. With the halogen only set-up the road image could be completely washed out by the dazzle. Tonight, even on a highly reflective wet tarmac, I remained confident of the 20m in front of me. On the dual carriageway this was worth the difference between crawling along with a white stick at 50mph and making progress at 80mph. Seriously, even with what I consider a less than optimal set-up this gear is going to change the ways in which we ride!

What of further on? Well, I may not have a road image beyond 20m but even in a line of halogen-lead traffic, traffic signs well into the 200m distance have our HID-white appearance. It's quite satisfying.

Long exposure but still a difference can be seen

High beam on the halogen setup was always bloody brilliant in luminescence and reach. Well, the HID lamp screws this up big time! It over-powers the halogen so you have really only the use of one lamp. I think the best option here would be to buy another plasma cannon for the opposite side...but there's nothing wrong here, it's just different, not worse or better, but the potential is definitely there.

So, at £60 would I do it again or tell my mates to do the same? (Ian, buy and fit one!) Yes. This is a Farkle that I fitted so it must be pretty straight forward after all's said and done (though mostly I swore and threw spanners around) and it's a marked improvement on the sightlessness suffered with just the halogens.

Another point is the worth against the price. A High-Intensity H4 bulb from Halfords is £20. My Wife has a set in the front of the Lanny and they're very effective and very bright if I drive the Alpha in front of her at night they are painful to look at in the mirror. (There was a Wife joke there, but I value my testes too much to make it). The HID lamp is simply better. The lamps my Wife has cost a 3rd the price. Actually, that makes the HID conversion pretty good money, doesn't it? And the bulbs are reputed to last much longer than Halogen, too.

Recommended. "F&%$ing quality", in the words of my hero, Gordon Ramsey.