It is true that these tend to be more on the expensive side, but there are good reasons for it.
If you compare halogen and HID lights one huge key difference will stick out at you immediately.auto Halogen bulbs have filaments encased in quartz that is of course filled with halogen gases while HID headlights have tubes filled with different gases that react to create an arc that produces the light without the use of filaments.
Two decent HID conversion kits are the HID xenon conversion kit . The McCulloch conversion kit claims that it is easy enough for anybody at home to put in their car, but it is always better to find a mechanic willing to and get their opinions on the best HID kits available
First of all they last longer, a lot longer than halogen bulbs which means a heck of a lot longer than the average household light bulb. Second of all they work better. People who get good qualityHID kits experience an average of about three times more light than what they got from the previousauto halogen bulbs . In some cases up to five times more light is produced.
As said beforeHID BULB use headlights that work by having an electric current course through gases that respond by creating an arc that gives you more light than you could ever get from the halogen headlights that you probably have in your car right now. Because it doesnt use filaments, the way household light bulbs andauto halogen bulbs do HID kits last a lot longer than anything you use now.
The reason other HID LAMPS burn out is because the filaments that allow electricity to flow through eventually wear down and snap ending the flow of the current. This happens rather quickly with household light bulbs because as the filaments begin to break down they deposit on the bulb. Halogen headlights last a lot longer than household light bulbs because the filaments are somewhat protected by a quartz tube that is filled with halogen gases the halogen gases allow the bits of the filament that are broken down to undergo a reaction allowing them to be deposited back onto the filament significantly improving the life of each filament. The HID lights last the longest because they dont have filaments that break down over time.
Despite all of these wonderful improvements that come with the HID lights it would take a long time for them to heat enough for there to be visible light. However, hid bulb and their break through we are past this problem.