# Question About HID Headlamps

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-hid-headlamps/428554>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 2, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-hid-headlamps/428554 "2007-12-02T14:31:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-hid-headlamps/428554/1 "2007-12-02T14:31:42Z")

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Man, these HID headlamps get brighter and brighter! It seesm to me, that when they firstappeared, they had a distinctly violet hue-now, they seem greenish. Also, they keep getting brighter-I have a self-darkening rear view mirror, and even with that, they really burn your eyeballs. I wonder if the US DOT has been testing these things-perhaps they are too bright?

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-hid-headlamps/428554/2 "2007-12-02T15:35:12Z")

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Are they the things that in the dark , from the wrong angle, appear in your rear vision mirror to be about the size of golf balls and make the other car seem much further away than it is?

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**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-hid-headlamps/428554/3 "2007-12-02T15:36:28Z")

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More info and answers [here.](http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/tech.html)