Drivinglight HID vs Handheld HID, For longest Throw?

[lightt]

Hi everyone!

Been lurking here for a while. I am looking for the furthest narrow throw around 0,8 -1 mile (or whatever is possible for the money I have of course). It will be a 9" 100w HID to be used as a hunting/outside spotlight/search spotlight, i.e. not as a driving light.

After lots of research I am now in a dilemma of whether it is best to either buy one of these typical HID 9" handheld on ebay or some
9" driving light hid of the same power?. I am confused and want thus to ask a general question regarding the throw.

Generally speaking, If both the drivinglight and handheld light have identical wattage and reflector diameters of 9", would there be generally a difference in terms of throw between the two, in general that is? Would the typical 240mm handheld HID throw further/better(perhaps because of some possible special shaped-reflector incorporated into the handheld one) ? Or, as long as the reflector diameter is equal on the two, they will throw roughly the same? If I could a direction towards one of the two options, that would be really thank full. Dealers either wont talk or they just don´t know.


Thanks for your help
Regards
Karl

 

[NoNotAgain]

Hi everyone!

Been lurking here for a while. I am looking for the furthest narrow throw around 0,8 -1 mile (or whatever is possible for the money I have of course). It will be a 9" 100w HID to be used as a hunting/outside spotlight/search spotlight, i.e. not as a driving light.

After lots of research I am now in a dilemma of whether it is best to either buy one of these typical HID 9" handheld on ebay or some
9" driving light hid of the same power?. I am confused and want thus to ask a general question regarding the throw.

Generally speaking, If both the drivinglight and handheld light have identical wattage and reflector diameters of 9", would there be generally a difference in terms of throw between the two, in general that is? Would the typical 240mm handheld HID throw further/better(perhaps because of some possible special shaped-reflector incorporated into the handheld one) ? Or, as long as the reflector diameter is equal on the two, they will throw roughly the same? If I could a direction towards one of the two options, that would be really thank full. Dealers either wont talk or they just don´t know.


Thanks for your help
Regards
Karl

Karl, I'm far from being an expert, however I own close to 10 HID lights.

For most hand held lights, it's not the diameter of the reflector that effects the beam width, but the shape and where exactly in the reflector the HID bulb is placed.

The central portion of the HID arc has to be adjusted to achieve optimum focus.

I've got no idea how much you want to spend on a light, but the more you're willing to spend the tighter the focus and brighter the light is going to be.

I own a few Maxa Beams, Nighthunter One's, Nighthunter II's and Hellfighter's . The first three allow for focusing, the Hellfighter is factory focused.

 

[lightt]

Karl, I'm far from being an expert, however I own close to 10 HID lights.

For most hand held lights, it's not the diameter of the reflector that effects the beam width, but the shape and where exactly in the reflector the HID bulb is placed.

The central portion of the HID arc has to be adjusted to achieve optimum focus.

I've got no idea how much you want to spend on a light, but the more you're willing to spend the tighter the focus and brighter the light is going to be.

I own a few Maxa Beams, Nighthunter One's, Nighthunter II's and Hellfighter's . The first three allow for focusing, the Hellfighter is factory focused.

Thank you for the fast reply!

Nice collection of lights there, and a maxa beam, not bad .

I was thinking something cheap/on budget(yep I will get what I pay for hehe). By the handheld HID lights, I didnt actually the nice ones like the ones you showed(which are surely better in all aspects). I was referring to those 240mm BLITZ handheld HID knockoffs you find everywhere on ebay, alibaba. if you type 240mm blitz handheld hid in google images you will see what I mean.

I wanted to know which light would generally give a tighter longer beam, these 240mm handhelds vs ebay hid drivinglights of the same real output power and diameter. Basically, it feels like driving lights -even ones with spot beam pattern- are more flood than other lights? or am I wrong?
Since other things than diameter matters it gets complicated I guess but maybe some true hard experience from the experts may "illuminate" this issue ?

 

[Polarion-Sparetech2]

A driving light is designed to light the road in front of you. The reflector and lens are designed to flood the area in front of the car. They are not suitable for long throw.

Portable searchlights have a different reflector design (shape and finish) that conditions the light to give a tight beam, usable at long distances (1 to 1.5 km if you can see that far with naked eye).

Good quality HID searchlights cost money.

 

[bulbmogul]

Check out the lovely new Surefire Arc2-8C HID 4500 Lumen Handheld Searchlight as it also is quite nice..