First off, let's not worry about the marketing and worry more about real world application and performance.
No, it's not either/or. We have here a company engaging in arguably deceptive marketing of a headlamp optic that is neither type-approved to international regulations nor certified to US regulations. Therefore we have no indication or assurance, none at all, that its performance is even minimally acceptable. Satisfied customers don't count; even those who spend their whole professional lives engineering, making, testing, or regulating headlamps don't put much weight on their subjective naked-eye evaluations of beam patterns. Until there's a beam isoplot
and a photometric compliance report
and data on how well or poorly the "Morimoto" projectors do on the various other mechanical and performance tests required of headlamp optics on road-going vehicles, the only safe assumption (and the most likely correct one) is that they are inadequate, substandard, and unsafe.
In the retro forums, there haven't been many complaints about quality at all
I doubt if very many people in the retro forums are really qualified or equipped to judge the quality.
the company itself is constantly revising and improving on the design
...which means they are using customers as their beta testers...
As for legality, I would say that DOT requirements really don't mean much
That is an uninformed statement not in line with reality. Believing this is certainly more convenient than acknowledging the reality of the situation, though.
The factory Galant lights are legal. So what?
Please either give a couple of sentences about the reason why vehicle safety equipment has to be scrutinized under one or another recognized technical standard, or if you cannot, please explain what makes your advice on automotive headlamps at all sound.
Maintaining a good seal isn't difficult at all
It is much more difficult than you seem to think. That's how this sort of thing works; those who say "Aw, it's a cinch!" generally say so because they do not really understand what they are talking about.
I guess there are two problems upon further thought. One is that getting the proper rotational alignment of the projector is difficult...but again it just means test-fitting and re-aligning until it's right. And the second problem as you pointed out, is that retros do rely upon non-optical lens...which I have no idea if the Galant has.
Again, the Galant's headlamp lenses are fluted.
he can always send his housings off to the professionals to retrofit for him too.
With all due respect to whatever fine, experienced, equipped professional engineers might be doing projector retrofits, I have encountered only one --
this guy -- in all my many inquiries and investigations. All the other "professional" retrofitters I've talked with have been very enthusiastic but woefully ignorant and ill-equipped kids, completely unqualified to do the kind of work they are accepting. Their work, when scrutinized and evaluated according to the relevant technical standards (any of them! DOT, ECE, SAE...) is not even marginally acceptable.
Seriously, dood, tuners will be tuners, but headlamps are not toys. They're safety devices. They have to be right -- they have to be
all the way right. "Looks good" doesn't get the job done. "Everyone on the retro forum thinks it's great" doesn't cut it. Guesses and assumptions and dismissals of centrally important engineering and performance factors don't cut it, either. And the relevant technical standards and requirements of performance, construction, and design do not cease to exist simply because you don't understand them or you find them inconvenient to think about.
It'll cost a bit more, but still way less than 4 Hella lamps
Hella modules can be bought for $65 apiece, see
here. That's $260 worth of self-housed, well-sealed, high-performing, legally certified headlamps. What does $260 buy in the "professional" retrofits you have in mind?
better protected by being mounted higher
Huh? The idea was to mount the Hella modules in place of the factory headlamps.
and within a factory lens.
Optic lenses and sealing concerns mean that's a bad thing, not a good thing.