# Any Budget HID's under $500 worth considering?



## DayofReckoning (Jun 12, 2020)

Guys, I'm bored to death with LED's and traditional incan throwers, and am considering finally getting an HID for the first time, to round out my collection of throwers (K75, Leef 3X18650+ LF Head+SMO Reflector+IMR-M6). Of course, I've waited too long, and now stock is dried up, the lights are obsolete, the batteries and bulbs are scarce, no warranty or parts, I know, I know.

Are there any HID's left under $500 that fit the following criteria

(1.) replacement Batteries are actually available
(2.) Replacement Bulbs are actually available
(3.) Not being utter garbage, Ebay 200,000,000 lumen ultra zooming mega bright trash
(4.) Not the traditional, handle grip, Walmart/Basspro/Stanley type spot lights (ex. Stanley Fatmax). I don't like the style of feel of these types of lights

Truth be told, I'm really clueless on HID's, and from searching around, I'm not sure there's much left out there to choose from. And I understand my budget doesn't allow for much at all, and I can't expect much.

The closest thing I could find is the Streamlight HID lightbox, but it has some caveats.

Can any HID guys give any input? Much appreciated.


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## sledhead (Jun 12, 2020)

Battery Junction still has the 20W AE HID listed for sale. Comes in at your price point.


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## archimedes (Jun 12, 2020)

I realize that HID is now completely outclassed by LEP, and even mostly by plain LED at this point, but I still enjoy the few I have.

The Fire-Foxes, Macs Mini, and JiLlite EZNite HIDs were all (originally) roughly under that budget, though of course all now out-of-production too 

It took me a while to find the last of those around here on the MarketPlace.

Good luck, they are fun little torches for sure


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## archimedes (Jun 12, 2020)

I'll guess I'll bump this with a couple photos too ...[emoji317]


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## id30209 (Jun 13, 2020)

I was also looking for HID’s recently and i found FireFoxes to be back in production again[emoji15][emoji15]

US $249.00 | New 65W Xenon flashlight HID FIRE-FOXES4 FF4 long-range high lighting hunting 6500lumen Mountaineering Exploration strong
https://a.aliexpress.com/_dTKhNKQ


US $259.00 | New 40W HID FIRE-FOXES2 FF2Xenon Flashlight Long Range High Illumination Hunting 4000 Lumen Mountaineering Scan Strong
https://a.aliexpress.com/_dUquc0e


Sent from Tapatalk


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## archimedes (Jun 13, 2020)

id30209 said:


> I was also looking for HID’s recently and i found FireFoxes to be back in production again[emoji15][emoji15]
> 
> US $249.00 | New 65W Xenon flashlight HID FIRE-FOXES4 FF4 long-range high lighting hunting 6500lumen Mountaineering Exploration strong
> ....
> ...



Very interesting, thanks.

But we probably don't need the direct sales links posted


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## DayofReckoning (Jun 13, 2020)

Thanks for the responses and suggestions everyone.

Sledhead, I see it still listed on their site, but it is showing as out of stock and discontinued. 

A[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]rchimedes[/FONT], as usual, very nice. I love the Mag.

ID30209, thank you so much for pointing them out. Can't believe I overlooked those. They look incredibly impressive. My only concern is I cannot find any website or warranty info. That concerns me. I will have to dig a bit deeper on that. But the light itself, I'm sold on.


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## archimedes (Jun 13, 2020)

DayofReckoning said:


> Thanks for the responses and suggestions everyone....
> 
> Archimedes, as usual, very nice. I love the Mag....



Thanks, it is driving a W-A 10W Sõlarc lamp, I believe.


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## BVH (Jun 13, 2020)

IIRC, there was a very brief period when Mac offered the HID Mags with a 12 Watts power to the lamp option.


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## archimedes (Jun 13, 2020)

BVH said:


> IIRC, there was a very brief period when Mac offered the HID Mags with a 12 Watts power to the lamp option.


10W and 14W from Mac, at least as I remember ....

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...FS-Mac-s-Hid&p=3554018&viewfull=1#post3554018


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## DayofReckoning (Jun 13, 2020)

Some of those are nice lights, but I probably should have specified that I'm chasing lumen and candela numbers on this purchase. 

I wonder if there are any high end, premium searchlights (50W/65W,etc) worth keeping an eye out for on the used market at a discount? Seems those Polarion and European HID lights hold their value quite high on the marketplace, probably no chance of getting one of these at that budget price though.


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## archimedes (Jun 13, 2020)

Always wanted a Polarion ....


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## DayofReckoning (Jun 13, 2020)

archimedes said:


> Always wanted a Polarion ....



From all the digging around I've done looking at them, and the videos on youtube, it seems our member Patriot is kingpin when it come to them. Must be nice to have a collection of them :sigh:


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## ampdude (Jun 15, 2020)

DayofReckoning said:


> ID30209, thank you so much for pointing them out. Can't believe I overlooked those. They look incredibly impressive. My only concern is I cannot find any website or warranty info. That concerns me. I will have to dig a bit deeper on that. But the light itself, I'm sold on.



Yea, I don't understand. It shows 37 pieces of one and 40 pieces of the other available, but there is also no way that I can see to choose color temperature. I know the FF3 and FF4 were only available in 4300K. It lists 3000K/4300K/5500K, but no way to choose which one. And the battery options seem different for each one. Not sure what to think here.

The FF3 version they have on there seems to have a charging plug in on the back. I think I would prefer not to have that for weather durability, but that's just me. It would be great if we can get more spare battery carriers as well, especially for our old lights.


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## DayofReckoning (Jun 15, 2020)

ampdude said:


> Yea, I don't understand. It shows 37 pieces of one and 40 pieces of the other available, but there is also no way that I can see to choose color temperature. I know the FF3 and FF4 were only available in 4300K. It lists 3000K/4300K/5500K, but no way to choose which one. And the battery options seem different for each one. Not sure what to think here.
> 
> The FF3 version they have on there seems to have a charging plug in on the back. I think I would prefer not to have that for weather durability, but that's just me. It would be great if we can get more spare battery carriers as well, especially for our old lights.



Ampdude, I believe the color temp depends on whether you are driving the HID bulb on low, med, or high. O[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]bviously, the harder you drive the bulb, the higher the color temp. So the light actually has all three color temps in one, if you look at it that way.

I would have bought one of these already, but I just cant find any info on any kind of warranty or support. 

[/FONT]


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## cernobila (Jun 15, 2020)

What about the Wolf-Eyes Boxer 24W, are these still available?


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## ampdude (Jun 15, 2020)

DayofReckoning said:


> Ampdude, I believe the color temp depends on whether you are driving the HID bulb on low, med, or high. O[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]bviously, the harder you drive the bulb, the higher the color temp. So the light actually has all three color temps in one, if you look at it that way.
> 
> I would have bought one of these already, but I just cant find any info on any kind of warranty or support.
> 
> [/FONT]



The Firefoxes were all the same color temperature, 4300K. I have one of the original FF3's and two or three FF4's.


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## DayofReckoning (Jun 25, 2020)

DayofReckoning said:


> Some of those are nice lights, but I probably should have specified that I'm chasing lumen and candela numbers on this purchase.
> 
> I wonder if there are any high end, premium searchlights (50W/65W,etc) worth keeping an eye out for on the used market at a discount? _*Seems those Polarion and European HID lights hold their value quite high on the marketplace, probably no chance of getting one of these at that budget price though.*_



Never say never...………….


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## XeRay (Jun 26, 2020)

Xevision here in USA supports that product, we use the Lemax housings to install our own electronics.
We recently made a limited edition that is 40/85 Watts (output) "ULTRA".

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...ision-ULTRA-80-85W-Super-head-mod-SIGN-UP-NOW


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## DayofReckoning (Jun 26, 2020)

Thank you for sharing that. As someone new to HID's, the mindset of "HID's are obsolete" vanished quite quickly once that lamp heated up. I am quite impressed.

I imagine the first thing I will try to do is source a new battery as some point, but the one in this light is good and quite strong. I understand the LX50 II battery will work.

Do you carry bulbs for this model? Is there anything brighter than the stock bulb that's available?


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## sledhead (Jun 26, 2020)

"Thank you for sharing that. As someone new to HID's, the mindset of "HID's are obsolete" vanished quite quickly once that lamp heated up. I am quite impressed."

DayofReckoning: Welcome to the HID world! :thumbsup:


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## DayofReckoning (Jun 27, 2020)

sledhead said:


> "Thank you for sharing that. As someone new to HID's, the mindset of "HID's are obsolete" vanished quite quickly once that lamp heated up. I am quite impressed."
> 
> DayofReckoning: Welcome to the HID world! :thumbsup:



So happy to be here! 

Find of funny how that Acebeam K75 in the background there, which everyone raves about in the LED forum, and easily wins "on paper" pales in comparison to the Lemax


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## BVH (Jun 27, 2020)

HID's, Short Arcs are still my favorites by far. LEDs are fun and I carry and use them daily but just not the same.


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## Smood (Jun 28, 2020)

archimedes said:


> I realize that HID is now completely outclassed by LEP, and even mostly by plain LED at this point, but I still enjoy the few I have.
> 
> The Fire-Foxes, Macs Mini, and JiLlite EZNite HIDs were all (originally) roughly under that budget, though of course all now out-of-production too
> 
> ...



Is this really true? Can't high end HID portable lights still out throw even the best LED lights like the BLFgt90 ?


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## archimedes (Jun 28, 2020)

Smood said:


> Is this really true? Can't high end HID portable lights still out throw even the best LED lights like the BLFgt90 ?



Depends on the exact criteria and trade-offs you want to consider, as "comparables"

If you are including something like a Maxa Beam, well then that is a little different comparison


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## Polarion-Sparetech2 (Jun 29, 2020)

As others have noted, hand-held HID searchlights are still being made and sold. Polarion in particular is still very active in that space. HID outshine LED lights in >600 meter range (all brands). This has to do with LEDs being flat emitters that generate a lot of beam edge dispersion. Polarion lights come up for sale on eBay from time to time and the batteries are still being made. in fact, improvements in capacity are compatible with previous models. One final point: LED are basically monochromatic whereas HIDs are true white lights that can be filtered to different color (Red, green, amber, IR, deep IR etc.) for specialty applications.


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## XeRay (Jun 29, 2020)

Yes, we have the bulbs for *EVERY* "Lemax" / (XeVision) variant. The ballast controls bulb wattage. Unless your bulb is quite old, like maybe 750 to 1000+ hours on it, you would not see (visually) any improvement of brightness by changing bulbs.
*All* of the battery versions are 100% interchangeable for use with the standard charger as you would have. We have some of the (Green camo - your photo) Anodized color Batteries. Lemax only offers black anodized today.

*In fact we also have the bulbs for the Polarion HID's as well.*


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