Originally Posted by apleschu
I have seen MANY. MANY folks that tried to 'explain' to me in discussions because this and that I must be wrong and there is actually more or 'better' light due to their filtered HID look alike light bulb.
In all reality there is no replacemen for a real HID light.
This is accurate. High Intensity Discharge lighting can be either a metal-halide or a high-pressure sodium type w/an arc tube and halides (chemicals including mercury) that 'excite' from the energy sent to them through tungsten leads. There is a huge increase in light output with an arc tube (also heat) vs a filament style lamp - but they need ballasts to work. I would guess that headlamps are metal-halide without knowing...but do know how HID lamps are manufactured and operate.