HIDs or new bulbs

[ian e30 318is]

I recently bought a new set of euro ellips. I am new to all this lighting and have been reading quite a bit, but i don't understand why people buy the HID kits instead of just buying new bulbs. Can someone explain? thanks.

[Jordan]

New H1 bulbs... about 800-1000lumens.

HID 3800-5500 lumens.

[ian e30 318is]

do the new H1 bulbs look like shit or do they look alright?

[Jordan]

OSRAM Silverstars are what you want for H1's, and they look great... but they are no HID.

[ian e30 318is]

Thanks jordan. Are they pretty easy to install? Ive heard that for the HID kits you need to make a hole.

[Jordan]

H1 bulbs are stock.. and take about 2 minutes to install.

HID kit installation requirements vary greatly depending upon the quality and type of kit.

[Sean5294]

it all depends on how much you want to spend. i have silver stars on my e30 and they are pretty good but like Jordan said they can't compare to HID

[smonkbmw]

prolumens kit on GB on bimmerforums through Habbie is $255 shipped. you can cut a hole in the back of the caps for the low beams for a "professional" looking install, or leave the caps off. im assuming you have 9006 plugs that came with the elips, these plug right into the ballasts and the lights go in like normal. nothing difficult at all.