Are hei distributors better than regular distributors?

HEI is not just the distributor, it's the entire ignition system and yes, they certainly are better. Plugs last longer, fuel burns better and there is quite a bit less maintenance.

The differences are that the coil of a HEI system has to run on a solid state module which is usually mounted somewhere outside of the distributor as opposed to the older style which runs on points that are INSIDE the distributor.