dust devil
Observer
Been running a pair of 8" KC 130 watt halogens for years. They are a very effective set of lights. While not as bright as a similarly sized quality HID, they are still brighter than your average WalMart off road light.
Whether 130W KC's are brighter than the HID's you have depends on many things. Brightness is measurable if you can settle on a standard, but for most of us, it is simply a subjective matter. If the beam patterns are the same, you should be able to make a reasonable comparison, light for light, in relative brightness by using them side by side. If one is a spread beam and the other a spot, they won't look the same no matter what, and no direct comparison can be made. Spots invariably look "brighter" than floods or drivers.
For example, the 8" KC HiLite 130W halogen comes in two beam patterns, long range and driving. KC rates their lights in "beam candle power" whatever that is (it has something to do with the amount of light measured in the very brightest part of a light pattern, so you can't expect the measure to represent the entire beam spread, only the hottest spot). As long as it is uniformly applied as a standard, however, it at least gives a basis for comparison of relative "brightness" between otherwise similar units.
The 8" halogen KC produces 375,000 bcp at 130 watts. The same unit with the same reflector but with a different lens producing a driving beam produces 170,000 bcp, which would perhaps appear less bright in a side-by-side comparison. Yet, they use the same 130 watt lamp.
The same basic 8" KC unit with an HID (35watt) light source produces 740,000 bcp and 350,000 bcp respectively for long range and driving units. If the standard of measurement also equates to relative brightness, the HID driving unit would make just a smidge less light than the halogen long range, so if compared side by side, one might think the HID is not as "bright" as the halogen. It wouldn't be true because the pattern of light dispersion is distinctly different light to light, but at a glance, the halogen might appear to make more light.
Showing that size matters, as does the lens pattern, the 5" KC HID Flood light produces only 55,000 bcp, using the exact same lamp as the 8" HID long range. Even though the light source is identical, the lens size and pattern reduces effective brightness from a high of 740,000 bcp to only 55,000, and yes the smaller unit does appear "less bright" (until you stare straight into it).
The variables are many. Bottom line is, if the lights you have make light you can use and look good to you, they are doing the job.
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