Are those Sams clubs HID lights worth it?

[batvette]

Nice light -- Really bright BUT I can only run it for 10 seconds -:mecry::mecry::mecry:
Then I'm covered with BUGS

Mike

Ah, summertime (almost) in the midwest. I spent a summer in Memphis at the NAS there when I was in the Navy, bugsaplenty.
Fireflies everywhere. Here in San Diego it's technically near-desert, not many bugs outside those flying water beetles and cockroaches.
At least you're not in the tropics where they get BIG, like big enough where you can see their eyes looking at you.

So this being an HID, are there certain things we should or shouldn't do to make the bulb last longer, like no quick turnoff/on cycles, or what?

 

[Hemlock Mike]

Batvette --

I let it cool down real good before turning it on again.
Also -- look at the laser portion of this site -- Too bright is just a good start on these forums !!

Mike

 

[java_man]

Totally worth every penny

Last weekend we had a solid overcast at about 5,000 feet ... I pointed this thing up at the clouds and drove 1/2 mile ... I looked up and saw the big white circle on the clouds

 

[Bravo25]

I picked up 2 of them because I thought it was worth it. But now I am thinking I might need to put a secondary switch on them to prevent accidental power on because of where the switch is located.

 

[ooopretty]

You guys are just killing me here, I WANT MY LIGHT :mecry:

I ordered it on the 1st from a reputable seller, but im still waiting for my tracking number....

Golly i hope it gets here soon

Thanks for the replys so far, you've all been very helpful!

 

[davenlei]

I received my SC-HID (Sam's Club HID) light from Christoph today and fired it up. Crap, it's bright! It has such an intense large spot and tons of spill.

I shined it up at the sky and all I saw was a fat bright beam cutting through the night.

I am very impressed. I don't have any real need for it but I am going to keep it anyway! Now I must say this is the brightest light I have by a long shot, period.

 

[Hemlock Mike]

I don't mind a little spill but can the beam be tightened up a bit ?? Maybe a shim under the reflector to move it forward a pinch ??

Mike

 

[fletch31]

I cracked mine open(you need a triangle shaped security bit) to look at tightening up the beam myself. I mean it throws a tremendous distance as it is but I thought perhaps I could focus more of the spill and get even more concentrated throw. The bulb is attached to the reflector at the rear by a spring clip. There is a socket or pocket that the bulb sits in on the back that has two 1 mm shim rings between the bulb and the reflector. A spring clip holds the bulb tightly in place. I fabbed up another 2 mm shim and stuck it in there but it was a major pain to get that clip back on. With some tweaking I got it on but the bulb was not centered as it appeared to be going in at an angle. The bulb has a rubber disk at the base that is the same size as the inside diameter of the socket and it should be self leveling but I was not able to get it to sit straight. Needless to say my tight spot went out the window during testing and manually holding the bulb centered in place while I had it lit demonstrated to me that I gained nothing with my shim and had actually widened the hotspot. I took out my shim and bent my spring clip back into proper shape and my light's performance returned to normal. Perhaps someone more inventive than me could do something more but I think my shim caused the hotspot to close in on itself at about a 10 feet distance. It seemed to get wider from there and significantly decreased the effectiveness of this light as a thrower. I'm sticking with the stock setup myself.

 

[Niteowl]

I cracked mine open(you need a triangle shaped security bit) to look at tightening up the beam myself. I mean it throws a tremendous distance as it is but I thought perhaps I could focus more of the spill and get even more concentrated throw. The bulb is attached to the reflector at the rear by a spring clip. There is a socket or pocket that the bulb sits in on the back that has two 1 mm shim rings between the bulb and the reflector. A spring clip holds the bulb tightly in place...............
.................Perhaps someone more inventive than me could do something more but I think my shim caused the hotspot to close in on itself at about a 10 feet distance. It seemed to get wider from there and significantly decreased the effectiveness of this light as a thrower. I'm sticking with the stock setup myself.

Have you any idea if the parts could be switched to a THOR 15MCP housing with it's much larger reflector? I haven't found the appropriate security bit locally yet to find out myself. IIRC, the THOR's reflector should give a tighter beam at the expense of size.

Last weekend I had mine sitting in the yard lighting up the sky when it poked a hole in a cloud and large raindrops began to fall from the sky. The sight of very large drops falling high in the beam was very cool.

 

[Bravo25]

I don't think you are going to a much tighter beam. While these do have a wide side spill the spot coming out this thing is literally a beam that goes on for what seems forever. I personally wouldn't even consider it as the light is fairly compact (for what it is), and the stock setup seems to work. The only glitch (as posted before) is the switch, and how easy it is to accidentally turn it on.

But having said that I am not a modder, and if someone does do this I would be interested in seeing some comparissons.

 

[ooopretty]

I got my light today and..............

DAMN! Insane!

I just cant believe the brightness and focus, its amazing for the price!

Thanks to everyone who pushed my into buying it :twothumbs

 

[BSBG]

Just to pile on, these things are too much fun for what they cost. I paid $46 delivered for mine. The first time I turned it on outside at night I burst out laughing.

 

[fletch31]

"Have you any idea if the parts could be switched to a THOR 15MCP housing with it's much larger reflector? I haven't found the appropriate security bit locally yet to find out myself. IIRC, the THOR's reflector should give a tighter beam at the expense of size.

Last weekend I had mine sitting in the yard lighting up the sky when it poked a hole in a cloud and large raindrops began to fall from the sky. The sight of very large drops falling high in the beam was very cool."

I don't have a Thor so I don't know how the stock halogen bulb mounts in it. This HID bulb in the Sam's light has a hard rubber disk that is about 1/8" thick and about an inch and a quarter wide that is integrated into base of the bulb. The glass bulb with quartz protector just sticks out of it in the middle. If you can come up with a way to secure the bulb in the Thor reflector in such a way that the bulb is straight (and without bending the insulated stiff wire that leads to the top of the bulb) then it should work out for you. The trick will be to find out how deep you need to seat the bulb in the Thor reflector to get the best performance in columnating the beam and to do so without shocking yourself. The ballast is relatively small as the majority of the lights internals are filled up with the battery. I'd say the ballast was smaller than 4" square and maybe an inch thick from memory. It could have been 3" square. It shouldn't be a problem to make it fit. They made good use of this form factor and the only real spare space is the bit of empty room behind the reflector.

 

[Ottawa411]

Thanks to fletch31 I am now suitably impressed with this light. I haven't completely tested it out yet, but it is really awesome.

 

[knot]

Sam's club HID video (with some background music and musicians) http://dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=693634&postcount=2

Direct to video: http://www.witzke-studio.com/hd/dyingindiana.html

 

[StainlessSteel]

I am not trying to start a fight, or troll, but I had a completely different opinion of the Sams Club HID.

First off... allow me to say... if you spent LESS than $50 for the thing, (including tax or shipping) you got a deal. I would be HAPPY to own this light at $30 plus tax. BUT:

I bought one for $107, and used it for one night, and then re packaged it, and took it back.

The 6,000K bulb was, to MY eyes, horrible. There IS a shear VOLUME of light... but it is PURPLE, to me.

I own an Elektro Lumens Tri star phaser, and the tint is a perfect HID blueish. BUT when compared to the SC HID... it actually, (and i am not exaggerating) looks YELLOW.

"Regular" incan lights... look orange compared to this thing.

I know that most people talk about the LEDs lack of color rendition... but the SC HID is much MUCH worse. I took my surefire L4, my Phazer, the SC HID and the thor out to the woods, and tested all of them. The leds looked GOOD in terms of color, compared to the SC HID, and the thor, although not as bright, had MUCH better color in the woods.

so. I want a lower CCT HID light.