After 2 years, the Phillips Vision Plus bulbs are getting dimmer and dimmer. So I was looking for another set of Vision Plus for replacement. They were about US$40 a pair after shipping. I also happened to read a lot of good reviews on the HID (High Intensity Discharge) conversion kit sold by vvme.com. I checked it out and it was only $67 after shipping from Beijing China. A few years ago, HID used to be a few hundred dollars.


HID lights are much much brighter than halogen and consume less current (35w each) than the halogen (55w each). However, the start-up voltage is 23000 V. The battery's 12V input to the HID ballast ramps up the voltage to 23000 V to ignite the HID bulbs and once it's ignited, the voltage dropped back. HID bulbs also need some time to warm up to full brightness and they don't like to be switch on and off quickly (like flash-to-pass).
They also come in different bulb temperature from yellow (smaller Kevin degree) to blue (higher Kevin degree). vvme carries HID from 4300 deg (also pure white) to 15000 deg (blue). I ordered a pair of 4300 deg and they arrived California from China in 5 days.