I’m just curious about the specialty T12 fluorescent bulbs like VHO for aquarium use or HO for signs, or tanning bed bulbs….i noticed most have Hungary stamped on them. I am taking a very uneducated guess that there is an oldschool factory over there that is still chugging away and once made standard bulbs but adapted to specialty bulbs to keep going? Sort of how I saw on Science Channel a European vinyl record factory did the same and now makes custom records for artists with the vinyl music resurgence. There one of the few, largest and most respected vinyl producers but I can’t recall the name or where other than they rose from just another vinyl producer to king status due to the elderly owners fanaticism and perseverance. I could be totally ignorant and it’s actually a long-standing specialty manufacturer that hasn’t changed one bit. So I’d like to be schooled on this and any history and how many factories are actually doing this. I know what the vinyl records they print for a whole bunch of different labels so unless you did your homework, average consumer would not realize that it’s one super factory doing their thing with brand new equipment, doing retro technology. As always, thanks guys. I just like to be a geek for this kind of stuff and I’m curious where these specialty bulbs are coming from as they seem to be very high-quality and old-school.

Yes indeed there is an old small fluorescent factory still making T12 and other specialities in Hungary.  The company is called LightTech Kft., its factory is at Dunakeszi just a few km north of the vast GE-Tungsram complex that was recently bankrupted.  Several ex-Tungsram people work there of course!  Their fluorescent machinery came from Sylvania Brazil and DuroTest USA - incidentally they still manufacture the Power-Twist spiral tubes, but now only for UV suntanning applications.

Update-  James thanks so much for confirming my suspicions!! That’s awesome!! So I just did Google Earth and found that little factory. What a beautiful country as well! I am now 7/8 out of 10 confidence scale that this is where they come from, the Aquarium T12 VHO That struck my interest most. The company used to be called URI in the 1980s and 90s. Now it is called UV Lighting and seems like now only offers five flavors of color spectrum for the saltwater tanks T12 VHO. I don’t have any use for them now, but when I inquired, I saw that the address of the company is an office complex in Ohio. They also said you can only order full cases and the wait time is multiple weeks to months if they are “running low”….. All evidence seems like this would be the very place since they put the custom order into since their stamped Hungary and the style of the endcap reminds me of old school DuroTest, USA! i’m guessing that UV simply distributes these, but they are custom-made based on the old phosphor recipes as there are no reported changes since the name change that I could find online or any complaints they seem to be the same bulb that the hobbyist knew for the past three decades. Makes me wonder how long though they will be available since LED has taken over the hobby. There is a certain beauty (to me at least) about fluorescent lit tanks as I grew up seeing them at the local saltwater shops.