Hella Micro DE model lights Xeon vrs Halagon

[randy]

I am been looking for some auxilary lights. I am not sure I understand why the Xeon is 600.00 and the Halagon are around 140.00.

 

I am guessing I am very uninformed on what Xeon does. I am looking for driving lights to actually use at night. Something to light up the road

 

I do plan on keeping them on during the day, and plan on mounting them on the caliper's

 

I have done a search on this board and there were some older posts, but now that the lights have been out for some time, I was wondering about getting an update on these units.

[velomoto]

The Micro DE Xenon lights are a high end H.I.D. light system. By comparison, Touratech markets a single Micro DE HID light with their bracket for about $485: linky

 

HID bulbs will out last a halogen - that is unless the bulb is hit by a rock

 

For the same amount of electrical energy (Watts), the HID bulb will put out many times more light (lumens) than a halogen bulb. In other words, a singls 60W HID lamp should put out as much light as several 60W halogen bulbs.

 

HID's take time to warm up and reach full intensity and thus may not be ideal for use as a high beams replacement, but their extremely intense light output make them ideal for use as an auxiliary light.

 

The very hot light (white to blue) of HID's makes them easy to identify on the road. It also makes them especially bad for use in fog and snow which causes the light to be reflected back to the driver. Ideal lights for fog are yellow.

 

Here's a much less expensive HID light from Trailtech. I don't have any personal experience with these and have read mixed reviews: linky Note that the price is for a single light without a switch or relay.

 

Hope this helps.

Greg

[fastzeat]

I too am looking for lights. The more I search, the more confusing. I see Piaa, Hella,combo of both,Solkek,Protocol and Motolight. All for $20 to $500. I hope we get more help.

[DR Major]

HID is wonderful and bright. I went for the lower K value as I don't like BLUE to Purple lights.

 

The Hella Micro-DE halogen is a FOG light in the truest form- a very wide but flat beam- only about 20 degrees vertical and 110 degrees wide. Hella web site used to have a pattern page.

 

The Micro-DE HID is a driving light and very bright.

 

If you need to save dollars, try the Hella FF50 for a driving light.

 

The PIAA 1100 is a wonderful but expensive light. It has about a 25 degree light pattern. Good to fill in between the high and low beams. They put out a lot of light, but $235+ is a lot.

 

Moto Lights are also good & expensive. However,I feel they save lives with the lower pattern/light as cars are not used to seeing one upper and two lower lights- the light triangle. It is a true attention getter. Our police use them for safty. They are OK for light pattern.

[loflyby]

 

I've got both. The Xeon's are the ones on the bottom there, and I use them in conjunction w/ the High beam. They take a moment to warm up, but once up to temperature... they'll burn holes through walls. When you're running backroads @ night, you SEE the deer... in fact... you see their skeletons!

 

The Halogens are on top, in a fog reflector, w/a very sharp horizontal cutoff, such that I run them w/ the low beam. Makes the bike MUCH more visible in the day, and they're angled slightly to provide better side illumination than the factory headlamp. Again, w/ the interest in seeing a grey/brown flash a millisecond sooner... that might make all the difference.

 

Cheap? No... but neither was the bike. I don't regret either purchase.

[moshe_levy]

I've got some Micro DE Halogens as well - I made my own brackets to mount them on the unused aluminum boss on the R1150RT's lower fork leg. They work well and are relatively cheap.

 

-MKL