Rmagic vs. hotwaterlabs headlights
 

Other than the r magic stamp, is there any difference between the two and is there any benefit to one over the other? The price difference between the two isnt enough to sway me one way or the other. Since they look 99% the same, im just looking for something to help me decide which set to go with.

I'm pretty sure the hot water labs are just a relatively high quality replica because there was quite a bit of demand for the r-magics but they weren't very "available". If you can find r-magics then get them but it doesn't sound like you'd be disappointed with the hot water labs ones either. Just my .02. They're nice headlights and the only aftermarket ones that I like.

I am actually curious about this as well. I have never seen a Hot Water Labs set in person but all the pictures I have seen look like there is no actual lens covering the head lights (completely open) where the R-Magic head lights are completely enclosed.

I'd go r-magic. I'd rather support the people that went to the effort to make the original moulds and thought up the design than a company that's copied it.

Cr-rex

i have been doing some homework on this subject as well and what i see from pictures. The kit is totally different, if you look at the Rmagic kit - as seen here. ( http://www.rmagic.net/parts/aero/img/fd_aero_56.jpg ) the Bucket it self has a couple things going on here. the bucket is molded around the light, and there is a divider from one light to the other. along with the obvious lens cover.

Now the hotwater labs have the " look a like " feel to them, but the bucket for the lights is totally different. their bucket is not molded to the light ( it is completely open in the back ) , does not have the light covers, and there is no separation from one light to the other.
HWL FD001 Sleek HID Headlight kit (United States) / HotWater Labs

you can compare the lights your self to see this. but my question is if there is no cover and the bucket isnt molded to the light... how does it do in the rain? i wouldn't want rain water going all inside my engine bay and possibly frying anything.

I guess vented hoods are a huge problem with water "frying" everything, too. Right?

thats why they make rain plates? :scratch:

If you have exposed wires in your bay, you have bigger problems.

i am more worried about the projector lamps. are they water proof, or even the ballast ( if there is one. ) that stuff i am sure isnt water proof.

Ask R Magic for price, they are on the vendor section.

The HWL lights are NOT replicas. Although they look similar, they are a completely different design. Compare them side by side and you'll see the only thing that's even close to the same is the design angle of the cut in the "light cover" ( which isn't even a cover on the HWL lights, since theirs is a 1 piece full bucket ).
If you're worried about water getting in there, as mentioned, you have bigger problems. Re Amemiya makes a ducted headlight, but nobody complains about that. I'm sure water can get in those too.

Although the HWL may not be direct copies no one can deny they got a LOT of their "inspiration" from the Rmagic kit. To me the HWL just looks like an RE style bucket (with a lot cut out in the rear portion) with a Rmagic style lid and without the lens cover.

Which it probably is just a mold of.

You guys are all wrong. lol

Looks like this...looks like that.

No.

HWL have similarities to other designs, but are in fact, not copies or replicas of any of the aforementioned lights.

^ R-magic disagrees with you.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

Can't deny they're so similar to the re with oem cut covers like curacaos headlight.
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3...t/IMAG1914.jpg

I don't know why.

They're not the same.

I don't really think any of this matters lol. If you like 1 over the other you should narrow you're option down like this. Do I like A or B. Do I want have to deal with shipping from japan ? How do they compare with light out put ? Are their any complaints and how is the customer service from company A or B. I personally don't like anything but pop up head lights on the FD lol but if was shopping around I be thinking along those lines. Especially since 99% Can't tell the difference.

This is a perfect picture. You can look at and tell the difference. The HWL lights are cut so they line up with the hood, the R Magic are not.

From my experience:

I went a little different so I had HWL just mod my lids for me and I'm using evo-r buckets

I happened to know the HWL guys quite well and all they're doing is filling an accessibility void. Real r-magic headlight are also a bit different, but sure it's a slightly modified version.

The best part though is actual customer service and turn around time. I like the idea of being able to talk to the person who's taking my moneys loll and the quality is top notch...Also the lighting component's they use in their complete kits are very high quality

No complaints at all from a customer with a great experience

Of course they are a copy of the original Japanese Tuner part—like half the stuff sold in the U.S. and on everybody's cars on the forum.

It's a little silly to say otherwise, and equally silly to make a big deal about it at this point.

HWL has great customer service, if you aren't happy they will do what they can to make you happy. And they are in the good old US of A

i think this picture explains it all. Everything can be compared to look similar to something else, but these are not the same.

Top is pic from Hot Water Labs, bottom is R Magic

does anyone have a photo of the light projection on the ground? Im interested in the Hotwater Labs

^ I'm also interested in this. The couple guys I've talked to on here about HWL love them but I've never seen a light output or comparison pic

Hot water labs looks like those Ferrari kits you put over Toyota Mr2 .

They ARE .... R Magic rip offs.

:lol::lol:

how does the light output of either of these kits compare to the sakebomb hid projector lights?

Yeah. Because they don't even look alike.

I really like BOTH setups.... However..... paying $900 for a set of lights when my pop ups with HID's work just fine is something that I just CAN NOT justify spending my money on....there are ALOT of other things that would get my greenbacks....

Just my personal opinion...

:lol: I didn't even know they were anything BUT R Magic knockoffs until this thread... I just thought the company ripping them off hadn't finished copying the lenses yet. Trying to pass them off as a unique/original design is absurd

Hwl looks way better bc of how it's cut and ligns up with the edge of hood and there's no lens on it.. but like nopis said can't justify paying $900 for them lights...

Guys, they are R-Magic inspired, but different...
HWL are one piece, No lens cover, the bottom bucket portion has different curvature/shape, the cut angle and shape are different, lights are different, etc, etc.....

Just like how the 99 spec bumper and gp sports are different
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Just like how garage kagotani front bumper and Mazdaspeed bumper are different
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Just like how all these dual round headlights are different
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Remember, R-magic didnt invent they wheel, they pulled different styles from different things that inspired them to design these, they just made it main stream. Everything is inspired by something or "stolen"

Many of my designs are heavily influenced by R-Magic and Re-Amemiya but in no way will they be replicas or "knock offs" They are just certain design ques I like, and some that I don't. It's simply stuff I saw that I liked, remixed into my own design. EX my front bumper base will be a 99 spec front end, with design ques from RE-Amemiyas bumper as well as from other GT style cars.

Now some quotes from some successful people
"Art is theft" Pablo Picasso
"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that which it was torn" T.S. Eliot
"The only art I'll ever study is stuff that i can steal from"- David Bowie
"I've stolen all of these moves from these great players. I just try to do them proud, the guys who came before, because i learned so much from them. It's all in the name of the game. It's a lot bigger than me." Kobe Bryant

NOTE: Stolen/theft is use in the sense of inspiration. And last time I checked, inspiration is not illegal....

Design is much like genetics. The end product comes from two or more sources. You have a mother and father, both which you posses features from. You are a remix of your parents along with your ancestors

If these are "knock offs" then google's search engine is a knock off of yahoo.
yahoo mail is a knock off of AOL
firefox is a knock off of IE
Apple is a knock off of PC
etc etc etc.
All design is stolen from somewhere and modified to make their own.

P.S. If you going to claim how these are replicas or knock offs and you are using ANY Shine auto part, your opinion is not valid in here since those parts are a DIRECT replica of the original.

^dude I wanna buy you're door panels thingy! You know my friend has a 32b....yes 32b! So if I rock your sticker will you give me a discount? You probably copied the design somewhere anyway... Let me know cupcake

Copy? No, all our stuff is hand made from scratched. Inspired from other designs? yes. GT Cars have been around for longer then I have been alive, so I am not the first one who invented or designed flat door panels. I simply took inspiration from Japanese tuner cars like Craft company's RX7 and refined the design, cleaned up a few things i didnt like and made them my own. Just like HWL did with these headlights

And Deesan, keep your comments in Canada you troll! -_-

Just wanted to bump the tbread for anyone with more relevant input as pertaining to the op

lol HWL HID lights are 850.00 Rmagic are like 2k
Their normal HALOGEN is under 1k plus shipping i believe.


What exactly are you trying to compare?

Have you gone to their page and compare or look at their lights and such?

I have the R-Magics, the location of the holes and alignment of the covers weren't nearly as good out of the box as I expected. Also the lighting does suck compared to RE-A's which I also had (not as bad as OEM though).
Kyle

(edit:the alignment wasn't miles off, but enough that a lot massaging had to be done for both the covers and lenses, which I did not expect for something so expensive.)

You have any pictures of the light spread?

Sorry I don't, I'm in AZ and the car is in CA still :(

So which do I get?
I can get the R Magic ones for about $1k new
And the HWL are brighter and have a more aggressive look.
But again the hwl don't have covers.

As long as you dont mind replicas buy the hwl. I bought rmagic. There is currently a one month wait for them.

HWL is not a replica headlight.

Other than visually being about the same the construction of them is clearly different, i agree. Would you agree that rota wheels are replicas of popular japanese wheels even when rotas are cast while their japanese counterparts are normally forged? Visually theyre about the same but their construction is different.

If not a replica what would you call them? An original design? Is there somewhere about the word replica that is causing an issue?

The only direct "replication" is the style, but they are not the same.

Rota makes poor quality replicas of brand name wheels, so the comparison is moot. HWL is a good quality different look (pay attention now) in regards to the buckets, lack of lexan cover, and light output.

If you want to call something a direct replica, take a look at the EVO-R replica r-magic lights. They are identical in looks all the way down to bracketry.

Brand whores will call HWL replicas for some reason and I'll never understand why. But, to each their own, I guess.

Agreed, rota wheels are of low quality. No real discussion needed there. I wasnt using them as a comparison in terms of quality as i know the hwl lights are of excellent quality. I was using them in the sense that their construction is different but the styling the pretty much the same.

I understand what youre saying about the HWL lights only being similar in the sense of the styling but going back to the rotas, they offer their wheels in bolt patters, offsets, sizes and colors that the original wheel didnt offer. Even though the styling of the wheel is very similar, they are clearly different in quite a few aspects to include differences in design/styling. Would it be acceptable for them to call their wheels original designs?

All i want to know is why there is a fuss over using the word replica in tandem with the hwl lights. I also fully understand the argument between the bumper design example earlier. Yes there are slight differences between the two but i feel as though it would be safe to say that one would not exist without the other.

Also yes, i agree the evo r lights are 100% straight up replicas of the r magic. I cant comment on their quality since they haven't really been around long enough for anyone to mention it. People have been buying them though and i havent seen anything negative about them yet.

If we followed your reasoning as to the use of the term "replica", EVERYTHING on this planet that has been produced or manufactured is a replica of something else.

The FD is a replica of the FC. It's the same, but different.

-____-

I wouldnt say that the re amemiya light output is better. I have had both sets and they are about the same. The rmagic PIAA hid light output is too concentrated. Adjustment option is poor on both