Come across any HID lanterns?

mudmojo

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Anyone come across any production HID lanterns in their travels?

I would think that the fact that they are efficient and can be made relatively small makes them good competition for the camping crowd.

Maybe a system of mirrors would compensate for the small HID bulb/arc surface area?

Was also thinking there might be a safety issue with water dunking as can happen in a camping trip.

Non dimmability is the really one sore point as far as I can see.
 

mudmojo

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Sorry, by lantern I mean area effect lamp like a worklamp or walking lantern as opposed to a flashlight.

Just realized that the terms might be interchangeable depending on where one is in this wonderful world of ours. :)
 

SATURN

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For portable, battery-powered area lighting, fluorescent is the most cost effective. The efficiency of fluorescent lights is similar to that of HID. In addition, fluorescent lights are much less expensive than HID. The main advantage of HID over fluorescent is its ability to be focused, which is an advantage for flashlights/spotlights, but not for an area light.
 

Geologist

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What about total output though? Seems for a portable unit, a diffused HID in "lantern" mode would produce a lot more light than fluorescent....

I remember andrewwynn has a great pic of an X990 being diffused into a while umbrella for area lighting....
 

idleprocess

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HID is best suited for when you need something that's close to a point source for ease of focusing into a beam. Given that florescent is already diffused by its very nature and much simpler and less expensive than HID, I expect that there's little interest in producing a portable HID area light.
 

bfg9000

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For camping, the most efficient choice would be a gasoline burning mantle lantern--or if only diesel is available, a kerosene lantern. Far more energy density than any battery so you'd probably already be carrying a year's supply of fuel in the car, and they're dimmable too. The dual-mantle models can put out a lot of light.
 

mudmojo

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Sure the gas powered lanterns are bright but I was after something I might be able to, say, take into a tent and not Darwinize myself.

Also not quite sure what to make of the radioactive nature of mantles.

I actually just went camping and ended up purchasing a 15W flourescent from Coleman to keep me company. It was quite bright but the battery life from the suggested alkalines was disappointing.
 

idleprocess

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Almost any florescent lantern will be about as efficient as HID and much cheaper.

Drawing 15W from a handful of alkalines will drain them in short order. Imagine what 24 or 35W would do. Even a 10W HID would be rather tough on alkalines due to the startup pulse requirements.
 
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