Daekar
Enlightened
Has anybody done a comparison of a decent 10W HID light like the 10W Boxer with some of the new lights like the Thunder or Storm? I was just thinking and it occurred to me:
Boxer10W..................................Storm
550 BL......................................570 BL
120min runtime...........................140 regulated, 40 diminishing
44mm body OD...........................46.4mm body OD
77mm bezel OD...........................62.2mm bezel OD
193mm length.............................151mm length
530g weight...............................not given
$329.95.....................................$299.99
I bet most of the weight in the boxer is the battery-pack and ballast. The Storm will have the same battery-pack, no ballast, but it will have a heat sink, so they're probably pretty even, with a slight theoretical advantage going to the Storm, because I'm pretty sure ballasts are heavy (correct me if I'm wrong here, please).
I think we should keep in mind that 570BL is probably assuming that the junction temperature of the emitters doesn't rise, which will make actual output somewhat less, since all of the graphs from which these emitter lumens are derived are held at a steady 25C. Even so... it would appear that from the numbers the 10W HID has been met or surpassed by the LEDs. The Storm is smaller, cheaper, probably just about as bright, probably weighs the same or less, no warm-up time or re-strike issues, and runs longer with no expensive HID bulbs to break/burn out. So... why bother with the HID?
I have a few theories, but I would really appreciate some confirmation of these points:
1) Color Rendering/Temperature - the Boxer10W lists a 5000K color temperature, which seems to be right around what everybody wants. I'd be willing to bet that the temperature of the Crees is higher than that and offers a less complete spectrum of emissions.
2) Beam - despite the unavoidable beam artifact created by the bulb-pin, the Boxer10W offers a 6°-16° focusable beam for a degree of versatility, and most likely better throw than the fixed-focus Crees.
3) The Mystique of HID - come on, lets face it, there's something really neat about knowing that in that little globe there's an arc of electricity with such ridiculously high voltage that it's vaporizing metal halides and making them emit light in a very efficient manner. Holding the stuff of expensive auto-headlights in your hand is pretty spiffy. The only thing cooler would be plasma lamps, but those are a long way away from flashlights.
So... anybody have anything else to add?
Boxer10W..................................Storm
550 BL......................................570 BL
120min runtime...........................140 regulated, 40 diminishing
44mm body OD...........................46.4mm body OD
77mm bezel OD...........................62.2mm bezel OD
193mm length.............................151mm length
530g weight...............................not given
$329.95.....................................$299.99
I bet most of the weight in the boxer is the battery-pack and ballast. The Storm will have the same battery-pack, no ballast, but it will have a heat sink, so they're probably pretty even, with a slight theoretical advantage going to the Storm, because I'm pretty sure ballasts are heavy (correct me if I'm wrong here, please).
I think we should keep in mind that 570BL is probably assuming that the junction temperature of the emitters doesn't rise, which will make actual output somewhat less, since all of the graphs from which these emitter lumens are derived are held at a steady 25C. Even so... it would appear that from the numbers the 10W HID has been met or surpassed by the LEDs. The Storm is smaller, cheaper, probably just about as bright, probably weighs the same or less, no warm-up time or re-strike issues, and runs longer with no expensive HID bulbs to break/burn out. So... why bother with the HID?
I have a few theories, but I would really appreciate some confirmation of these points:
1) Color Rendering/Temperature - the Boxer10W lists a 5000K color temperature, which seems to be right around what everybody wants. I'd be willing to bet that the temperature of the Crees is higher than that and offers a less complete spectrum of emissions.
2) Beam - despite the unavoidable beam artifact created by the bulb-pin, the Boxer10W offers a 6°-16° focusable beam for a degree of versatility, and most likely better throw than the fixed-focus Crees.
3) The Mystique of HID - come on, lets face it, there's something really neat about knowing that in that little globe there's an arc of electricity with such ridiculously high voltage that it's vaporizing metal halides and making them emit light in a very efficient manner. Holding the stuff of expensive auto-headlights in your hand is pretty spiffy. The only thing cooler would be plasma lamps, but those are a long way away from flashlights.
So... anybody have anything else to add?
And a 10W/24W HID just has me curious! How do they do that???
Sorry I couldn't help myself.
