I have tried the HIR's and i wasn't all that impressed with them. And as far as light output, i think i get more with this setup, plus the numbers stated by Cary in the faq section support it. "Low beam new: HIR2, 12.8V, 55W, 1875 lumens" vs. "9005(tweaked to 9006) 100 watt- 2540 Lumens" ...