Ikelite PCa bulb results

I ordered 2 of these bulbs from mantaraydive.com for $8 apiece.

This bulb is crap and weak in a 3x123 setup, 6AA NiMH and 7AA NiMH.

It appears as if this company potted the bulbs themselves. A child could have put it in more straight than they did. The first bulb looked a little crooked and produced an UGLY beam that wasn't as bright as the GH24 and focused like junk! The second bulb was put in the base at a 30 degree angle and stuck out really far. I actually laughed when I saw it! Must I even comment on the beamshot?!?!?!

Don't ever waste your money on these bulbs.

Wow. Not the results I have had. I have 5 of them, and none are potted terribly off-center. I wonder if I've been lucky, or you got unlucky.

As for not being as bright as the GH24; well they draw only around half the current so I would think that would be expected. However, my experience has been the the Ike6 lamps focus tighter than the GH24 and throw further.

I guess quality control on these is somewhat spotty. Sorry you had such poor results.

King Kamehameha did not smile upon me when I ordered these.

[ QUOTE ]
xpitxbullx said:
I ordered 2 of these bulbs from mantaraydive.com for $8 apiece.

This bulb is crap and weak in a 3x123 setup, 6AA NiMH and 7AA NiMH.

It appears as if this company potted the bulbs themselves. A child could have put it in more straight than they did. The first bulb looked a little crooked and produced an UGLY beam that wasn't as bright as the GH24 and focused like junk! The second bulb was put in the base at a 30 degree angle and stuck out really far. I actually laughed when I saw it! Must I even comment on the beamshot?!?!?!

Don't ever waste your money on these bulbs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dang-it!

I was hoping to find a readily available PR base bulb that had better performance than the stock ones. Even if it meant they weren't quite on par with the WA or Carley bulbs, that would be fine. Just ones that didn't require being specially ordered in bulk. Maybe I won't bother with the other 10.4 volt Ikelite bulb if this one was so poor.

All the reviews of the Ikelite PCA 6AA were so glowing. Maybe it's the reflector and how the bulb sits in it. It might just not be all that compatible with what we are trying to do. Or, maybe these guys have no idea what a good light looks like and would be impressed by nearly anything.

Man, that's just a big disapointment. I'm sorry you wasted your money on this. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

It looks like the GH24 is the winner.