I know there are lots of threads on these and I know that most of them turn into a debate about their legality.

Putting this aside, if I wanted to buy the highest quality aftermarket HID kit where should I be looking?

Can anyone confirm if the genuine Skoda xenon / bi-xenon headlights are 35W 4300K?

From all the discussions, 35w 4300k was commonly cited are OEM,

However, it was also most commonly noted noted that 55w 5000k was the top-end of "best" before getting into stupid colours.

(Legality aside, I can't see how having blue or purple headlights helps you see at night.)

Interesting thanks.

Some of the eBay sellers offer an upgrade from 35W to 55W for a little extra cost.

There are so many sellers, all claiming to be the best its really hard to work out which really are the best.

I'm guessing the more expensive ones are better but then again this isn't always the case...

lol, everyone claims to be the best, just like everything else in life ;)

Mine originally came from LondonColour. £30 at the time. (35w 4300k) I think quite a few people have got theirs from there.

Great, I'll go take a look!

Did you go for CANBUS friendly or non-CANBUS with some VCDS tweaking?

I went for the non-CANBus ones and set using VCDS

I bought the 35 quid ones off eBay and they've lasted nearly a year now. Had my mate set the headlight beam up and it passed MOT

I've read that it's better for the car to buy the non-CANBUS ones and code out the cold start diagnostic check rather than buy the CANBUS friendly version.

I think for ease I'll try the CANBUS friendly ones as I don't have VCDS.

HID-direct are pretty good

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/categories/hid-kits/hid-kits-by-bulb-type/h7

I've read that it's better for the car to buy the non-CANBUS ones and code out the cold start diagnostic check rather than buy the CANBUS friendly version.

I think for ease I'll try the CANBUS friendly ones as I don't have VCDS.

Don't you have anyone near-by with VCDS?

From all the discussions, 35w 4300k was commonly cited are OEM,

However, it was also most commonly noted noted that 55w 5000k was the top-end of "best" before getting into stupid colours.

(Legality aside, I can't see how having blue or purple headlights helps you see at night.)

its not so much about being able to help you see, its that the perfect crisp white 4300k are so much brighter than regular headlamps that some people don't mind sacrificing a bit of that brightness to get a slightly coloured tint because it will still be a massive improvement over standard.

I picked some 6000k ones, I quite like them though

I'm after a solution thats as close to OEM as possible so I'll be after 4300K.

This seems to be what most of the HID sellers recommend too.

There was talk of the Canbus friendly ones not being very friendly and potentially blowing up some parts of the electronics.

I got scared and opted for the non canbus types and used VCDS to code them. Also got them from LondonColour

I'm happy with them 35w (5000k) as the tint is very limited and doesn't look stupid in my opinion. Also the whole kit fits inside the lamp unit so it looks very OEM