Just found this thread. I posted similar questions (lumen rating really 70% increase?, etc) over in the
Aux. light thread before I read this thread. Looks like TT is going to get specifics from VisionX and post up, which will be nice.
To me the value in the D2/Solstice Prime over the D1/Solstice Solo is the dimming. That way they can be on low intensity and used as running lights when the bike is on lowbeam and then at 100% "I am on the sun" bright when the bike is on high beam. No need to reach for two switches when riding at night and changing back and forth between low and high beam and also flipping a on / off for the aux. lights. With none-dimmable, the work around is wiring them to only come on with your high beam, but that means they are paid for and hanging there off for most of your riding when they could be on 50% or so and being used as running lights.
True that these LED are nowhere as bright as HID, but they are still really bright and a focuses bean so you put the light where you want it (depending on which lens you get) which is nice. For reference, an HID light is about 3500 lumens for a 35 watts light vs. 900lumens for the 10 watt LED, so I guess you could line up three of them and be getting close to the lumens of one HID light.
If I had my druthers, I'd have three LED lined up out front. One beam shining straight ahead down the road and two medium angle shining at the right and left ditches. Might be able to accomplish the same with one wide angle fog and one spot, but the fog lens refracts a lot of light up into the sky and down on the road right in front of the bike compared to a more focused beam, so a lot of wasted light.
Honestly, I avoid riding at night like the plague, and so aux. lights are lower on my accessory wishlist. They would be really nice to have, but if funds get low, they will have to wait because the panniers, crashbars, skidplates, wiring harness, etc. are all in line before lights. Will be nice to see how the stock lights do, too, before I drop the coin.