Whilst I don't personally know much specifically about the Golight's, I am definitely a HID convert as I now have around 10 of them and I really don't think that I would ever go back to a halogen. For a given wattage they are far far brighter and they also throw a much further distance. As long as you don't mind the rather brief start up period I am quite certain that once you have actually tried or owned a HID you would feel the same way that I do. Also the start up times are becoming much shorter, and as a matter of fact several of mine are either instant start or at full brightness within a second or two. I hope that this information/opinion may be of some assistance to you, even though it is slightly generic!
Sincerely Yours
Phil Ament :wave:
P.S. One further suggestion though, and that is if you are planning on mostly using them around water I would highly reccommend that whatever light it is that you eventually decide to purchase that it should have the least amount of side spill that is possible, so that it would help to minimise the reflection on the water surface, which when it occurs it very often makes it more difficult to see because it can sort of reflect back at you and therefore really play havoc with your adjusted night vision. I also believe that HID's are not quite as easily damaged by a knock as there is no rather fragile filament in their bulbs/lamps, and if there is one thing that I really know about, it is a filament!