"Best" 1500 lumen bulb for regulated Mag?

[^^Nova^^]

Hiya,

Now that we have a few different regulators nearly available for Mags, I want to discuss bulb options.

I am looking for about 1500 lumens (Mag85 or a bit brighter) as for me this is the most useful amount of light that I will use regularly. I feel this is a good compromise of runtime, brightness and not being "too" bright to actually use. Also with a regulator I should be able to turn it down if needed. I plan to use 3x26500IMR's in a 2D mag (well probably more like 2.2D). I have a ROP hi running on 6x sub-c cells, so I am after something the next step (or maybe 2) brighter.

What bulbs options do I have? I have been looking through Lux's destructive testing and top 10 mag lists which gives me an idea of brightness, but not focus, whiteness, etc.

I know of the 5761 and 1185, and I am sure there are some more WA options (1164?). What is FM's 43W Carley like? How about the lower power Osram's, are they as good/better than the WA bulbs?

As I haven't seen any of these, I am after the opinions of people who have used them, what they like and why.

Cheers,
Nova

 

[ANDREAS FERRARI]

The first bulb I'm going to use is the Osram 64430.With a 3 stage regulated switch I should see 320lm.@ 6v,1000lm.@ 8.4v,and 1800lm.@ 9.9v.I will probably try and push it past 10v and 2000lm.!!!!

 

[^^Nova^^]

I am leaning towards the 5761, although I am still intrigued by the 43w bulb made for FM by Carley (a little on the exxy side though...).

The way I see it, with a regulator, we can push bulbs to a specific voltage/whiteness and closer to their flashpoint and still run them reliably. Plus extended run time never goes astray.

Cheers,
Nova