ChrisInVT
Adventurer
After searching and searching I couldn't find a direct comparison between the Hella & CA 4" HID light. Well I purchased a pair of The Hellas and a pair of the CAs and directly compared them to eachother. IMO the Hellas look better, but the CAs outperform the Hellas.
I'm using these lights as an auxiliary high beam/driving lights and they're mounted on the pushbumper of my car nearly the same height as my headlights. They're wired into a relay to be switched on whenever I turn on my highbeams like my Hella 500's.
So, for my purpose the Hella 500's performed about 500 times better than the Hellas as a driving light. The beam was brighter, further away from the vehicle; just like a driving light is supposed to be. This Hellas have a fog beam pattern, which projects light off to the sides and close in front of the vehicle. These are like low-beams on steroids, might be good for a slow-moving vehicle like a go-kart or lawn tractor but it's not even CLOSE to being a driving light.
The Custom Accessory light seems to fair much better than the Hella with it's Euro beam pattern. It reminds me of my IPF lights with it's center spot and side dispersion, but the CA light seems to do it a bit differently then the IPFs. There is sufficient light off to both sides of the vehicle, almost the same amount that the Hella puts out, but it's slightly wider and higher than the Hella. The center spot in the CA light helps illuminate the road ahead of the high beams, and also as close to the front of the car as the lows - which seem to offer MUCH more visibility then the Hella could even dream of.
On both lights, the mounts use a groove-like system, so you can adjust it a few "clicks" up or down. Unfortunately the optimum adjustment for mounting on a flat level surface is between two of the grooves, so a "click" down puts the beam too close to the vehicle, and a "click" up puts the beam into the trees. I simply shimmed the front of the mount to get the lights into the proper adjustment, but it was still a pain to do.
The biggest drawback to using these as I do is the warmup time. The very first time I use them, you get the high-intense flash, then they warm up from a dim blue to a bright white (about 10 seconds until full power I'd guesstimate). After turning them off for a few seconds, when turning them back on the warmup time is much shorter but there's still the initial high-intense blue flash at startup. These would be better suited for their initial design as something that's turned on and left on, not high beams which you need to turn off/on sometimes several times.
My biggest gripe is the fact that they illuminate road signs with a retinal-burning intensity. At times I've turned off my high beams because the glare from the roadsigns was so intense that I couldn't stand it. I'm assuming these would be excellent for high-beaming back the jerk on the road that refuses to turn off his high beams... "Hey, why is THE FREAKING SUN getting so close?!?!?!" :Wow1:
Now, for what you're all waiting for. Pictures and video:
VIDEO (WATCH IT IN 720p): [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nTZu2K8cwo"]YouTube- Hella Optilux & Custom Accessories 4" HID light beam pattern comparison[/ame]
DIRECT COMPARISON:
FF REFLECTOR COMPARISON:
MOUNTED:
CA:
HELLA:
I'm using these lights as an auxiliary high beam/driving lights and they're mounted on the pushbumper of my car nearly the same height as my headlights. They're wired into a relay to be switched on whenever I turn on my highbeams like my Hella 500's.
So, for my purpose the Hella 500's performed about 500 times better than the Hellas as a driving light. The beam was brighter, further away from the vehicle; just like a driving light is supposed to be. This Hellas have a fog beam pattern, which projects light off to the sides and close in front of the vehicle. These are like low-beams on steroids, might be good for a slow-moving vehicle like a go-kart or lawn tractor but it's not even CLOSE to being a driving light.
The Custom Accessory light seems to fair much better than the Hella with it's Euro beam pattern. It reminds me of my IPF lights with it's center spot and side dispersion, but the CA light seems to do it a bit differently then the IPFs. There is sufficient light off to both sides of the vehicle, almost the same amount that the Hella puts out, but it's slightly wider and higher than the Hella. The center spot in the CA light helps illuminate the road ahead of the high beams, and also as close to the front of the car as the lows - which seem to offer MUCH more visibility then the Hella could even dream of.
On both lights, the mounts use a groove-like system, so you can adjust it a few "clicks" up or down. Unfortunately the optimum adjustment for mounting on a flat level surface is between two of the grooves, so a "click" down puts the beam too close to the vehicle, and a "click" up puts the beam into the trees. I simply shimmed the front of the mount to get the lights into the proper adjustment, but it was still a pain to do.
The biggest drawback to using these as I do is the warmup time. The very first time I use them, you get the high-intense flash, then they warm up from a dim blue to a bright white (about 10 seconds until full power I'd guesstimate). After turning them off for a few seconds, when turning them back on the warmup time is much shorter but there's still the initial high-intense blue flash at startup. These would be better suited for their initial design as something that's turned on and left on, not high beams which you need to turn off/on sometimes several times.
My biggest gripe is the fact that they illuminate road signs with a retinal-burning intensity. At times I've turned off my high beams because the glare from the roadsigns was so intense that I couldn't stand it. I'm assuming these would be excellent for high-beaming back the jerk on the road that refuses to turn off his high beams... "Hey, why is THE FREAKING SUN getting so close?!?!?!" :Wow1:
Now, for what you're all waiting for. Pictures and video:
VIDEO (WATCH IT IN 720p): [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nTZu2K8cwo"]YouTube- Hella Optilux & Custom Accessories 4" HID light beam pattern comparison[/ame]
DIRECT COMPARISON:
FF REFLECTOR COMPARISON:
MOUNTED:
CA:
HELLA:
