Well Ive had my X for almost 2 months and for the most part I am pretty happy with it. The one thing that has bothered me lately is the HIDs. One of the main reasons I went with a X with the SSS package was for the HIDs, but they are not as bright as I thought or hoped they would be. They're honestly no brighter then the non-HID lights on the 08 Civic I traded in for the X. Even adjusting the height hasnt made much of a difference. I guess you can say that I am disappointed with them. Anyone else feel the same way?

 

They should be fine. Mine are pretty intense, and don't produce a glare like HID's in halogen housings. I wonder if something is wrong with your ballasts. I'd find another person with an evo x in your area and compare.

 

I challenge that they aren't as brigtht as the Civic's. The cutoff for distance should be the only thing that favors the civic, but that is what Non-HID high beams are for. I will bet that your primary lighting zone in front of the Evo is FAR better than the civc.

To each his own though, i may not know your situation

 

I had an SI and there are no comparisons. The evo is much better.

 

The X uses the HIDs for its high beams as well. There's a mechanical shroud that lifts to allow the extra light to show through.

I regularly drive my '06 Si and the '08 Evo back-to-back, and there's no doubt that nighttime visibility is better in the Evo. Most of that probably has to do with the color temperature, which is advantageous for maintaining night vision. Of course, I didn't go in expecting them to be extremely bright like the OP did.

 

They're called bi-xenon projectors.

And yeah, we have a '06 Civic SI in our household and our lights are way better.

In fact, they're way better than my GTI's as well.

And they're actually way better than everything else I've been in..

 

wait till you drop the car, if you do, your lights cast light nearly as far as they did at stock height...to me, that is annoying

 

most of the people i know who have the X have swapped out the bulbs

 

now that i got my hid fixed i put in a set of 8000k and now i can see
w/ the 4600k is difficult, at least for me

 

I think the Evo's lights are very bright! Only thing that bothers me is that they're uneven!!!

 

^^There supposed to be uneven.

And I agree with the OP, My VIII was bright as hell. The X are bright when you first turn them on, After about 5 min that brightness disappears.

I am going to be switching out the bulbs for a pair of Philips bulbs and I think that will do the trick.

 

blue light actualy strains the eyes and provides less illumination.

if your good at sodering you can up the wattage of your ballasts.. hehe

 

Wow, lots of Si owners on here. I had a 08 Si as well until I wrecked it recently.
The Si's headlights in my experience certainly cannot compare in visibility with the evo x's.

 

on cars that didn't have HIDs from factory, of course it looks brighter - the light scatters everywhere in the housing. it produces a lot of useless light and also a lot of glare as well. if you look at it directly standing up or just out the seats from the inside, it looks brighter because it scatters over a huge area, when in fact you get less focused light in areas that are truly important - that is, where you're driving.

optimal lighting is actually 5400k - where the light matches a "bright white" tone, whereas 4500k matches indoor lighting "soft white" tone. while softer tones will put less strain on your eyes, 5400k is really the best balance between visibility and eye strain. at 6000k you're already pushing it by increasing the blue, and beyond that i just don't understand why they're even produced.

quality of the bulbs make a difference as well. although OEM ballasts does a really good job, it's the bulbs you really have to look out for. cheap bulbs will not produce as bright a light, and also burn out as well, when HIDs are supposed to last at least several years. don't go for some no-name ebay brand when you get something as critical as seeing where you're driving at night. fork down the cash for the good stuff.

 

I plan to swap out the bulbs for my X as well. Even a decent set of quality bulbs don't cost that much. At least you have the SSS package so you don't need to get ballasts again.