SiliconAngel
1 AYC Bar
Actually not quite Hoff - HID headlamps DO produce more light, as Carsten's table shows around 4000k globes produce the most light, which is around three times as much as standard halogen headlamps. More light is a good thing, especially as they're more efficient so produce more light for less draw on your battery. But if it's not focused light you're quite right - they end up providing substantially less useful light, which is a big fricken waste of everyone's time.It's just a marketing hype that makes u think with HID is brighter and much better than the stock one.
Just to touch on the topic of show cars, some people go for the 10 to 12,000k globes because they look cool for a show car. If you are the sort to enter your car in shows or enjoy car photo opportunities, what you're MUCH better off doing is finding LED globes that produce the same colour temperature light but at around a tenth the brightness. Just swap them over for your photo session or competition - it will give your headlamps that awesome glow but without the intense glare, so they'll be easy to look at and photograph