They are a lot more distracting than the halogens because they are "bouncier". I think there are two causes for this: One, there is a lot more mass than just bulbs in the housing now, but more importantly, there is a BOTTOM cutoff that is much more pronounced than with the halogens. So the areas near the bike have much less light that further down the road. All the vibration and bouncing of the bike is clearly relayed back to the rider from the bottom cutoff and it is going to take some getting used to.
I noticed that the bulbs are very loose in the ....(searching for term to use here)...actuator(?) ..that is the socket that the bulb slides back and forth in between low beam and high beam usage. I can hold the socket and make the bulb flop around just by moving the socket up and down. The movement is marginally lessened in the high beam position. It seems to me that this must add to the "bouncier" effect.
Yep, you guys are a really bad influence.
Ordered a set for mine this morning.
We try Rob...
Congrats!
OK, now I have a nighttime ride, and had to go a good ways to get to an area with no street lights and no cars so I could make some real observations.
Yes, they are brighter, no doubt now. And the 4300 color is excellent, seems the same as on my Infiniti. I immediately noticed the top cutoff is lower than on the halogens and had to stop several times and aim them up higher.
They are a lot more distracting than the halogens because they are "bouncier". I think there are two causes for this: One, there is a lot more mass than just bulbs in the housing now, but more importantly, there is a BOTTOM cutoff that is much more pronounced than with the halogens. So the areas near the bike have much less light that further down the road. All the vibration and bouncing of the bike is clearly relayed back to the rider from the bottom cutoff and it is going to take some getting used to. Also, there are a few horizontal darker stripes in the beam. The overall pattern is not great, worse than the halogens, MUCH worse than the Infiniti projectors. I agree that there is more scatter with the A&R HID than the stock halogens, too. The scatter is not awful, though.
I was worried the high beams would not be as effective, since [unlike the halogens on high beams] they are only using half the reflector. I think those fears are unnecessary.
It is going to take me more time to aim them properly. I am always afraid of blinding people, so I will have to go do some additional tests and adjustments later. I did the best I could while actually riding to try and make sure the low beams would not hit mirrors of other cars. After those adjustments (mostly raising them), when I got off the bike (side stand) and walked 100 feet away, the low beams seemed to be below my knees, which seemed surprisingly low.
Overall, it is an improvement over halogen. Once I get a few more trips at night and finish adjusting, I will know how much of an improvement. I am spoiled by expensive-car HID projectors and might have had my initial expectations a bit too high. I have no experience with "HID kits", so I don't know what is typical.
I noticed that the bulbs are very loose in the ....(searching for term to use here)...actuator(?) ..that is the socket that the bulb slides back and forth in between low beam and high beam usage. I can hold the socket and make the bulb flop around just by moving the socket up and down. The movement is marginally lessened in the high beam position. It seems to me that this must add to the "bouncier" effect. I'm not sure how large the focal sweet spot is in the reflector, but I would think that the bulb movement must change the light pattern as well.
Brian, so you saying these hid bulbs use rusty nails for terminals inside???
I am a little surprised that you seem under whelmed by the light output of those HIDs. By anyone's reckoning, they put out at least three times the light of any tungsten H4, at least the low beam, and twice what the H4 high beam puts out.
I think what you are seeing in the movement of the light pattern is just because the light is brighter-[...]
The beam from a C-14 headlight bucket retrofitted with HIDs is considerably wider but shorter (top to bottom) as compared with the original H4 lamp. I actually prefer the light on low beam, and high beam using HID works very well too until the bike is leaned over- then the beam does not have enough height to it. It isn't disastrous or anything, just a little less than desirable IMO. Still, an HID retrofit is a very positive thing overall I think and still pretty responsible for oncoming traffic provided the headlight lens is kept clean.
The aftermarket HIDs are quite poor by comparison and the 'bi- xenons' where the glass envelope moves is just terrible. Still they manage to work reasonably well which is almost amazing I think.
I don't know if the bulb in the aftermarket is really moving though in normal riding- I think the greater visual impact is mostly due to the much greater light and sharper cut off line between light and dark.
The A&R are bi-xenons and the bulb does move. And due to this, there is some jiggle, especially on low-beam when the bike is moving. But if it were not bi-xenon, I would not have bought it, because I want the same HID lighting on both high and low beams. I don't want halogen on one and HID lighting on the other (blech). I think in my Infiniti G37 projectors, something OTHER than the bulb moves when switching from low to high beam, but I am not completely sure on that. But there is ZERO jiggle.
If anyone has a copy of the installation instructions handy, could they PM them to me? I would like to get an idea of how much time I need to budget for this task.PM sent.
I find it puzzling why they don't just have them posted on their website.
PM sent.
They are posted on their site.... http://www.aandrmotorsport.com/directions/concourshidinstructions.html
Looks like a bit much to try and tackle before ZG and Gumby get here in the morning for our ride tomorrow. That's if the kit even arrives today. Maybe a task for Sunday?