[long time lurker coming out of the woodwork]
I don't think so. *I have the following low power HIDs
Diverite - Can't believe I paid that kind of money for something no brighter.
Trailtech 10 watt
Trailtech 30 watt - Two of these
The DiveRite and the Trailtech 10 watt units both use the Welch-Allyn 10-watt MR11 integral reflector lamps. The 30 watt uses the W-A 30 watt MR16 lamp.
Frankly, I'm underwhelmed with the 10 watt units. The DiveRite uses the capsule bulb while the TrailTech uses the 5 deg PAR11 integral reflector lamp. The light pattern is similar for both lights and is fairly irregular and the color is non-uniform. The mostly bluish light is speckled with pink areas. There is a large return conductor shadow and more shadowing probably caused by the distal pinch seal.
The performance is so underwhelming that DiveRite discontinued the HID light and replaced it with an LED head. *They offered to replace mine if I was dissatisfied with it.
The 30 watt HID is pretty nice. *Much better beam pattern, intensity and color fidelity. There is still some return conductor shadowing but it's tolerable. This is what I expect a hand-held HID to be like. In fact, I like it so well that I've converted a DeWalt 18 volt work light to HID by simply making a mount for the DeWalt handle to accept the TrailTech light.
I'm cautiously running it directly on the 18 volt battery. Trailtech says that voids my warranty but W-A specs it to more than that voltage.
Something important to understand is that the W-A 10 watt ballast is completely unregulated. The output intensity varies directly with input voltage. That means that I cannot use NiMH batteries in my DiveRite light. At least, not and get much light out of it. Or have it ignite reliably once the batteries are somewhat used. I've been feeding it Energizer lithiums which means that it doesn't get used much.
If the light you're interested in uses the W-A ballast (both of mine do) then it is going to behave the same way. Unless you just want bragging rights, I advise against anything less than 30 watts. It just isn't worth the money, IMO. My homemade slightly over-driven 5-watt-Luxeon-LED containing light is brighter and easier on batteries.
John
[back to lurking]
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