Wow... great write up.
Thanks for putting in the effort.
Post some links if you can?
By the way thanks for posting this info Ice!!
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I guess it's my time to chirp in.
I bought a 4300K kit from Keyser. I like his communication. But unfortunately it's his friend Cliff to decide the price. I wanted to buy 2 set and Cliff said no any shipping discount. So I thought I can definitely buy one later if I really like the $205 kit, since there is no discount on more unit.
When I received my unit, I do like it so I am thinking to get one more set. Just for curiosity, I browsed ebay and found thousands of kit. I found one almost identical to the one I have in hand but for $102 shipped. I sent the link to Keyser and he forwarded it to Cliff, who claimed the kit "inferiorly made". I know this kit doesn't have the harness, but it comes with 2 power cable that connects to the original head light harness. I was thinking, for 1/2 the price, maybe I should give it a try, so I ordered. The kit came in 3 days.
I compared two kits side by side. Keyser's kit is better packaged with a very nice looking box. Also Keyser kit ballast has a sticker for 'DAX35DKE' mark. But the other side of the ballast is just a film, that I realized was to protect the shiny surface of the ballast. The ebay unit, has two side of the film. Other than these, there are no difference between the kits. They even have the same sticker with bar codes that's the serial number of the ballast. They are only different in the last 5 digits and the rest is the same. Even the location of the stickers are the same. Then I realized they were from the same place. Every details are identical, like the plastic cup of the lamp, the length, the colors of cables, the brackets. I didn't want to open up the ballasts to compare but I know they will be the same.
So now I understand why this ebay kit has two side of films on the ballast. The reseller can peel it off and put their own sticker/mark and sell as their brand.
The ebay ad says only quality ballasts do not need a harness. Cliff obviously disagreed so I took his expert's opinion. Cliff stated he needs at least $30 shipped for the harness. Well, this time another ebay seller has it (tons of) for $20 shipped. And what do you know, it is identical to Cliff's kit.
So now I have two kits on our cars. One is $205 and the other is $122. They are the same units and I am equally impressed with either kit. I think Keyser does our community a big favor by letting people understand HID is no longer a luxury. He spent a lot of time explaining the difference and tried to help our members. Therefore, I did not want to get into his thread and ruin his GB, and only left good comments on his service and the kit. Now that the GB is close to an end, and other member has already posted link/store for alternative, I guess it's ok to jump in with what I know now.
BTW, the ebay seller I bought the kit from, is not the one Icefury posted. There are just too many of them out there and they can be found with no effort. The place I ordered the harness, is another different one. So far I haven't put the harness on the CSVT, but with the original lamp harness cable, I have no problem with so far. And, the cable does come with fuse.