# 3W or 5W HID Flashlight



## maxilux (Sep 2, 2007)

I am thinking about a Flashlight with 3 Watt or 5 Watt HID.
A small Flashlight with 2 or 3 CR 123 or recharable.
200- 250 Lumen, 2 h runtime.
What do you think? is such a light in the market.
Not at every time you need 500Lumen or more
What can be the drawback ?
Can it be an alternative to LED ?


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## Ra (Sep 2, 2007)

Yep.. would be nice!!

But with the ongoing revolution in the led-world, quite soon, the led's will surpass the small HID's on the perhaps the only field on which they are not yet surpassed: Surface-brightness (needed for throw)

Furthermore: Up to this moment (and beond..??), Welch Allyn is the only brand that could make a 10watt HID work without problems!
HID's need power to evaporate the ingredients inside the bulb. 

Lower then 10watt would not compensate enough for the heat-dissipation to the outside air: The bulb needs to reach high temperatures to operate, if power is too low, the outside air would cool the bulb too much to operate without problems.

That is propably why those cheap chinese 10watt HID-clones do absolutely not reach the specs of the WA-bulbs !

For me, led's just have too much advantages over HID in the lower wattage region to ever want a 5watt HID.. Ok, the HID would have better throw, but how much? and for how long??


Regards,

Ra.


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## BB (Sep 2, 2007)

Yea, a 3W HID bulb is probably not feasible. The "high" surface area to arc volume ratio of the small bulb would probably quench the arc (or require too much power to keep the arc hot).

Otherwise, the Fenix lights with the newest LEDs are almost at the 200 Lumen / 2 hour point with 2x CR123 batteries today. Plus the LEDs are much more rugged than HID.

LED "color" is probably not as nice as the HID--but for what you get (small package, lots of light, long battery life, plus variable output--same light will last 60+ hours on low)--the LED is hard to beat with a small HID.

-Bill


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## maxilux (Sep 2, 2007)

BB said:


> Yea, a 3W HID bulb is probably not feasible. The "high" surface area to arc volume ratio of the small bulb would probably quench the arc (or require too much power to keep the arc hot).
> 
> Otherwise, the Fenix lights with the newest LEDs are almost at the 200 Lumen / 2 hour point with 2x CR123 batteries today. Plus the LEDs are much more rugged than HID.
> 
> ...



I dont trust, that this are real 200 lumen, compare this lights to an SL PP4AA with only 42 Lumen, you will see wich light has more power.
To the 5 Watt HID, it is only a daydream, but i like HID


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## 65535 (Sep 2, 2007)

I think HID and LED's are the best light sources, LED is good for low levels and HID takes the cake for high levels.


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## 270winchester (Sep 3, 2007)

BB said:


> Otherwise, the Fenix lights with the newest LEDs are almost at the 200 Lumen / 2 hour point with 2x CR123 batteries today. Plus the LEDs are much more rugged than HID.



200 lumens? is that LED lumen or torch lumen?


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## BB (Sep 3, 2007)

Last July (2007), 4Sevens posted:



4sevens said:


> I sent some proto P3D Q5's to chevrofreak and he measured 190 lumens out the front (40% increase)...



Granted, this is a home Lumen test, but this is getting pretty close to 200 Lumen out the front. Overall, this just about meets Maxilux's request for a 2-3x CR123 powered light with 200-250 Lumen output and 2 hour runtime.

-Bill


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## effulgentOne (Sep 12, 2007)

maxilux said:


> I dont trust, that this are real 200 lumen, compare this lights to an SL PP4AA with only 42 Lumen, you will see wich light has more power.



The fenix would blow the SL out of the water. It has more power and a more efficient LED.

I wholeheartedly agree with the other posts above, LED is the way to go for powers under 10W.

BTW Fenix will typically overestimate their torch lumen figures by no more than 25%, and it's often much less.


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## maxilux (Sep 14, 2007)

effulgentOne said:


> The fenix would blow the SL out of the water. It has more power and a more efficient LED.
> 
> I wholeheartedly agree with the other posts above, LED is the way to go for powers under 10W.
> 
> BTW Fenix will typically overestimate their torch lumen figures by no more than 25%, and it's often much less.



I have not seen a Fenix, wich has more throw as an SL PP4AA Luxeon, and i have all !


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## mdocod (Sep 14, 2007)

> I have not seen a Fenix, wich has more throw as an SL PP4AA Luxeon, and i have all !



I have also never seen a $60,000 300HP Cadillac perform as well off-road as my old beater SUV. The SL, like my old beater SUV, is purpose built to achieve certain functions. Compare the SL to a Tiablo or a MRV and you'll see that the SL is beat when compared to a light that is purpose built with the same function (throw) in mind.


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## maxilux (Sep 15, 2007)

Yes, i know, but this was not the question.
the SLPP4AA is lower price as the fenix lights and i found no fenix wich has much throw (when you respect the high lumens), but i like the fenix lights for pocket and the PP4AA for throw for this price.


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## yellow (Sep 15, 2007)

time for that one year old, boring pic: 







WA is the *ONLY ONE *who was able to produce steady working 10 W HIDs - no lower power possible imho, 
and, as the pic shows, that HID gives a way worse light color and almost looses against single Led @ 800 mAh in pure output.

in that power range it was a step in the wrong direction and now is corrected with multiemitters 
(3 Led runs on the same current and voltage and eat the HID)


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