I did a night ride the other evening and came across 3 older riders who had yellow HID helmet lights that were 2-3 years old per them.

It was kind of sad in that my measly $28 Terralux 2xAA flashlight had a better color, brightness, and equal spill as their light. And I even had a 2nd one on my bars to their single one.

They told me their light costed over $200 (2 years ago) - and the helmet mount alone was close to $30. My helmet flashlight was stably mounted with a rubber band (to their horror.)

So my primary light costed less than their helmet mount. Yikes.

HIDs can't compete anymore, unfortunately.