Another Headlight Question

I hear lots of talk of Hella, IPF, Silverstar.... no one ever mentions the headlights that are "crystal clear". Are these a bad design idea, poorly lit, or just too "rice". A friend of mine is trying to pawn them off on me for a decent price ( I guess), as he recently sold his XJ. I'm not sure of the brand on these though...thanks for any comments.....

The brand has alot do to with the quality, Hella, IPF, CIBIE, Bosch, etc all supply alot of euro factory OEM European code headlights. As equipped most US OEM lighting systems are poor to say the least, basically just flood lights on high beam and 'keep it out of the oncoming traffics eyes' on low beam, that seems to be the main consideration. The E codes take it a bit futher and design a lense that lights up what it is supposed to in both low and high. Alot of them also have what are called 'city lights', some european cities don't allow headlights and require a kind of glorified parking light. I have run both Hella and CIBIE for years and with the correct bulb and good alignment the nite driving is improved 100%, add in a set of good fogs down low and a set of good driving lights tied in so they are legal makes nite driving a pleasure. If the ones you are talking about are the ones I'm thinking of they are nothing more than a clear lense with a light behind it and maybe some focusing using the reflector. Somewhere there is a site that has a comparison between E codes and OEM factory lights shining across a street onto a garage I think, once you see that you get an idea of the difference between quality lights and $12 sealed beams..

if you want a light to replace the stock head lights then get some silver stars. those things are great i like to run a fog with them too, because the low beems have a very sharp cut off pattern that i find anoying but other than that they are very good. ive also tried a H4 conversion system that had 65/100w bulbs in them and thought they sucked compared to my silver stars. allthough they were kind of cheepies that may have ben the reason.

Here's a link to one write up comparing stock to IPF H-4 upgrades.
http://jeepin.com/features/ipf/index.asp
I personally, am running the Hella H-4's and, i must say, you do get what you pay for. Silver star's are great if your budget is tight, but, if you can spend the extra, i think it was $80 total for the Hella's, i suggest doing it.