[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Invigor

ah, my mistake -- hqi does include bulbs...I guess it's the way they're assembled inside the glass.

however, probe start ballasts still suck, and a good electronic ballast is still the best for lumen maintenance.

and the slim bulbs are double ended, not mogul.

good luck on your search for a used aqualight pro.

I'll agree with Bob on this one. just because you have an electronic ballast doesn't mean it will last longer. the part that ages a bulb is the actual starting of the bulb if you start it hard it will get "old" faster and have a sooner color shift and intensity decrease. if you start it nice this will be nice for the bulb. now seeing as an electronic ballast is pretty much the same type as start as either a pulse start and a HQI there is no benefit in bulb life. also a lot of electronic ballasts will run a bulb but not properly or to what the bulbs was designed for so sure you might make it last longer by under driving it a bit but compared to the aging starting does on a bulb that is nothing.

as far as power consumption not to much difference between a 250 watt HQI and a normal 250 watt, maybe .5 of an amp if you are lucky. looking at power savings with a electronic ballast is a waist of time unless you are going to run that ballast for 5 years before even hoping to see a savings due to the increased purchase price.

HQI is not a name for any bulb we use in this hobby, it is a name for a film making bulb made by Sylvana (we do use there ballasts though ) a true HQI bulb is normally about 4500K and only has a life of about 50 hours.

what we keep calling HQI bulbs are simply double ended bulbs.

Probe starts don't suck if you are using a northamerican designed bulb, just so happens that the bulb we use in the hobby are based of German design.

Did I miss anything?

Steve