Value of aftermarket Xenon Headlamps

Are you talking Xenon lamps, or are you talking HID lamps?

Most if not all the kits that merely replace the bulb with a cobbled-together HID source provide worse (though possibly brighter) illumination. Pattern control is pretty much guaranteed to be worse than the factory lights, with poor cutoff and hot spots and possibly more light leakage near the vehicle. It's doubtful in many cases they actually enable one to see things down the road much better. I don't think any are DOT approved.

There are some normal incandescent headlight bulbs marketed as xenon bulbs because they're filled with that gas (as, I think, is not at all unusual for halogen bulbs). These are just fine, since they're nothing more or less than rather standard headlight bulbs—they don't offer a marked improvement in lighting, but they are DOT approved and provide reasonable light.

I'm not suggesting this is necessarily you, or that your RV lights are good or poor, but many people don't really understand what "good" headlights should do. Having the road immediately in front of the vehicle brightly lit up is not good, as the extra light tends to make the eyes' irises contract, and also tends to focus one's attention too close to the vehicle. Having a sharp (and properly-aligned) cutoff for low beam lights is good, as it gives you the best illumination without blinding oncoming drivers.

I settled on a plan to mount a 30" 240 watt CREE LED lightbar.

And unless you speak MOO there is no reason to challenge the idea. Utterly deserted roads here.

I encounter these type of lights both on county roads and on state roads and they are hard on these old eyes of mine. I hate them in all forms for that reason.

Having lots of free-time on my hand and out here asphalt tinted cattle try to mimic the Rockettes on the centerline - I decided to online investigate. Perhaps thirty hours worth...

The only comments I trust come from owners of a product so I sought out forums.

And I read and I read...

What I read bothered me - a lot. Almost no attaboy's for any of the aftermarket conversions and stacks and piles of complaints, curses and wails. Most about unreliability, extremely short lifespans, instant and constant failure in high humidity in the rain and possibly returning home using the auxilliary driving lights.

The issue seems to be with generation of very high voltage needed to drive this kind of light. The cheap kits to not heat sink the amplifiers and their design is faulty with leakage between the amplifier and the bulb. According to the forum gurus a close look between OEM and the aftermarket "garbage" will show instantly why OEM costs so much more. Everything from hear-sinking to massive difference in insulation.

This isn't what I wanted to read. But the number of forums, the number of responses and the weight of the evidence sent me whimpering with my tail between my legs. Dang!