So, I've been ranting out here that the Figo headlamps are mere candlesticks enclosed in clear plastic. I've had a difficult time driving at night due to two reasons
1. I have something called a blue-dot cataract which creates a burst / halo around oncoming headlights (especially on high beam)
2. Bangalore trucks and lorries have decided that they'll go ninja i.e. they shall have no lights or reflectors in the back and shall move along stealthily at 20kmph in the NICE corridor.
So, having to drive a 100kms each day for the better part of the week, I decided to change the headlights. Parthasarathig, who's a member here, was quite helpful in providing some valuable information. We exchanged PMs and I got hooked.
Product chosen - Genome Projector lights - 2.8 inches with Demon eyes - Red color with white Angel Eyes. Also, blacked out headlights.
Step 1 - Went to visit the Reliance Autozone in HSR Layout and they had the Genome branded lights that I wanted. Gave me a small discount but I was anyways going to do it.
Step 2 - Blackmail the SO to part with some cash. So, this came across as a Valentine's day present!
(yeah.. don't start there!)
Step 3 - Asked a whole lot of questions to both the Reliance guy as well as the installer. Wanted to do this Wednesday and couldn't as he didn't get the black spray. So fixed it for Saturday.
Saturday was busy as usual but I pretty much dived out of the house (and the responsibilities) for about 4 hours. The install itself was quite smooth. They got the lights fitted. I also blacked out my headlights and so that took an additional 45 minutes. Here are the pictures:
The car prior to the modification - regular headlights
Left headlight
Right headlight
Low beam
High beam
First impressions Product
Quite bright but takes about 30 seconds to warm up to temperature. The Angel eyes with the Demon eyes are surely a show-stopper.
The low beam and the high beam are a good switch over i.e. its not an incremental light up. The high beam pretty much blasts the dark road ahead with a clear ray of light. The low beams are more the enough for driving on our roads. The lights retain their levelling feature and so I kept the focus on 0 so that I don't irritate oncoming vehicles. But the ones who decided to light my car got lighted instead. (sorry, I get quite angry about cars with high-beams).
Store
Reliance Autozone, HSR layout has some good guys. Though my installer came from somewhere else, the store guys were quire professional and helped me through the process. They just didn't leave the installer to do his job but kept a close eye on the proceedings which I liked. The slight negatives - the minimal parking area in front of store. They have a basement parking where most of the work gets done. But sometimes, it can get crowded in there. Yesterday, when they were working on mine, we had a Ford Ikon, a Ford Fiesta, a Quanto and a City which stopped by for nitrogen. So, its a tight squeeze. Especially, weekends would be busy, I assume. Would go there again.
Installation
The guy, Ijaz, is pretty good. He did the installation patiently and didn't hurry. Even when sometimes I asked him if something was enough (like the paint drying), he'd wait a bit more to make sure everything was sorted. And he keeps checking with you to make sure you're happy with how its shaping up. So, that's a definite plus.
Cost
Genome Kit - 15k
Spray painting headlights - 2.5k (thought this was way too steep)
If you want to do this yourself or buy directly from Genome, the price is 12.5k for the same and they'll send an installer to your place for the work. That's my understanding. I didn't want to take the risk of some random guy doing the work and then disappearing and hence went through Reliance Autozone. 1 year complete warranty is provided for the product including bulbs.
Overall, very happy with the product, the installation and the service. Hope this helps me see better at night. Thanks to Parthasarathig for the valuable help and pointers. And keeping my fingers crossed that the Ford service guys won't raise a stink regarding warranty when I visit next.