Sadly, it's what happens when you put financial people in charge of lighting companies instead of lighting engineers 

Sadly, it's what happens when you put financial people in charge of lighting companies instead of lighting engineers 

We may not like it, but the primary reason any commercial company exist is to make money.
To do that by making these MV's, there should be enough people buying them so the maker may collect enough money to pay the cost of the production plus get some extra profit. Here apparently the number of customers was not sufficient for that, so they choose to stop that production and likely used the resources (the facility, workers,...) to make something else, which they hope provides better revenue.

This is completely normal life of a product and should not be interfered with by anything external. Nor any "synchronization" among manufacturers.

Actually, I would suggest the reason for any company to exist is to supply what its customers want.

Take Thorn as an example. When Jules Thorn was alive and in charge, the company was profitable, made what people wanted to buy and was in good health. No sooner was he in his grave than the bean counters moved in to all the top management positions and the company went downhill very fast. Same thing happened when Philips sold its lighting division to an investment bank.

Thorn lighting died as a lighting company when they closed the Melton Road Works, Philips probably held on the longest, but Thorn must be the saddest story for the lighting world!

Back when I was buying lighting like mad, you could always rely on Thorns Spennymoor warehouse for spares, anything you wanted, bowls, gear, fittings the lot!
I dare not think what old stuff was just skipped out of Spennymoor!, or even if they still have any of it?

They were still making Leopard 2D fittings at Spennymoor in 2019, don't know if they still are or not, we can only hope.

The sad thing is, I’m sure someone once told me that all the spare parts/bowls for all the Alpha and Beta series lanterns got skipped when they ended the SOX line?, probably most of the gear trays too!
A good 90% of my HID ballasts came out of Spennymoor!

And what of Thorn today?, putting Thorn badges on bought in cheap made crap!

Yeah, possibly, but the Leopard fixtures I have seem reasonably well made, although the gear trays on the 28W ones do feel a bit flimsy, I must admit 

Actually, I would suggest the reason for any company to exist is to supply what its customers want.

Take Thorn as an example. When Jules Thorn was alive and in charge, the company was profitable, made what people wanted to buy and was in good health. No sooner was he in his grave than the bean counters moved in to all the top management positions and the company went downhill very fast. Same thing happened when Philips sold its lighting division to an investment bank.

Making what people wanted is the means to make the money, but the goal is alwayst to make the money. But it works only if enough people really want it, so are willing to pay the cost to develop, make them to be enough of such people to pay for keeping the production profitable.
With MV there are just not enough people wanting to buy these, so it did not make sense to continue making them anymore.
A decission to stop producing something not much customers need anymore is normal, healthy decission.
What would be worse decission is e.g. attempting to make the MV profitable by cutting production costs deeper than to the bone so to convince few more people to still conti ue buying it for a while. But that way the quality of these lamps would be gone, taking the whole company reputation with it...

The reason why Thorn did well early (when still he was in charge personally) was, he knew what his customers want so was able to offer that to them, so they were willing to pay so he has made the profit, that profit why he had founded the company in the first place. And I'm sure he made that decission to kill a product that wasn't making any money anymore quite a few times.
 
The problem is the beancounters see the "cost cutting" as the "cure it all" measure to solve the profitability. Short term it appears to work, so they pat on their backs "how sucessful they are", but they loose touch with what people need and want to pay for, so long term they end up making something nobody wants to pay for, without realizing it in time to be able to actually do something about it, and then are surprised people don't want to pay for the cut-corners product what they were used to before their arrival, leading to even less profit.

In fact it is the reluctance to step away from long term nonprofitable business or product before the "cost cutting to maintain its profitability" habit takes the company reputation with it, what is killing businesses led by those beancounters. They think they may get away on cutting development or new product introduction costs by just essentially stopping any reasonable development and just continue cashing on what has been developed in the past.

What would be worse decission is e.g. attempting to make the MV profitable by cutting production costs deeper than to the bone so to convince few more people to still conti ue buying it for a while. But that way the quality of these lamps would be gone, taking the whole company reputation with it...

The thing is that, discharge lamps costs cannot be cut down past the bone, otherwise it wouldn't be able to run a single hour to tell you that it works. And not only in the current niche condition, but in its "glory days" too, and that's one factor of the LED market dominance, the costs of LEDs can be cut way past the bone, and still remaining kind of working.

The problem is the beancounters see the "cost cutting" as the "cure it all" measure to solve the profitability. Short term it appears to work, so they pat on their backs "how sucessful they are", but they loose touch with what people need and want to pay for, so long term they end up making something nobody wants to pay for, without realizing it in time to be able to actually do something about it, and then are surprised people don't want to pay for the cut-corners product what they were used to before their arrival, leading to even less profit.

Actually,  the cost cutting cure is quite used in long term, product being niche or seller, it is quite widespread and seems to give quite a lot of profit. You don't have to touch the production, it will be always cheap, so even if the product becomes niche, some profit is guaranteed. Take as an example kids toys, "as seen on TV" products, game consoles and LEDs.

Toys are not complicated pieces of plastic and sometimes metal parts together, rather cheap and simple to make. As seen on TV products are as easy as sitting in the computer searching Alibaba, picking the most convenient product and stamping a name in it, you do nothing other than printing the name and the advertising. Game consoles are middle spec computers with a fancy case, controls and OS, and a library of games around it, you just need to modify a computer and manage all the software part. The technology made LEDs way cheaper to make than discharge lamps, yet they're sold at the same or higher price as the discharge one.

But the design, it can take half to a million bucks to design it, but that cost is quickly completely covered with 100k units sold.

These are corner cutted products, yet people are whiling to buy.

They were pretty much the only company that made self ballasted MV lamps.

An interesting collector’s item.

Shame.

This was a matter of time, unfortunately. Realistically I wouldn't give the remaining production more than 5 years left or so.

As many people here mentioned, it's not necessarily comfortable to watch the things we're used to going away, but this change in technology is also a normal part of our lives. I don't think we're making ourselves justice by fulminating against it.

Collecting things is probably something we do as an answer to some survival instinct. But I realized at some point the enjoyment out of it, especially if said collection just gathers dust in a box, is quite limited. You're basically just left with the hassle of managing it, worrying about preserving it, reel off swears one after the other about that eBay buyer who sniped that one item you need to complete collection XYZ, etc.

All those things made me redefine what that lighting hobby was about to me. Collecting? Reduced to strictly valuable and small items, and probably no additional items from now on. Basically I want this hobby to produce enjoyable results, things I can then use. And to be perfectly honest, while I do have memories of mercury lamps being used here and there on private properties, they were already mostly gone by the time I started to be aware of the world around me (late 90s), so they don't mean THAT much to me, not to the point of reacting like  every time it gets closer to total extinction. So MV? No, they weren't a huge part of my memories to begin with. HPS? Why yes, those were everywhere around year 2000, and it's their turn to disappear. Sure it sucks, but I'm pretty sure lighting enthusiasts who will read this twenty years from now will feel the same way about HPS as I do about MV today. Yes, even this community will change eventually.

To clarify even more my point, I now have almost a decade to look behind and remember my early days in this hobby. And what do I remember? Mostly the moments I had all that stuff on my workbench (or on the basement floor LOL) and USED it. The moments it worked (or maybe, MAYBE the moments it failed  ). And the only thing I keep saying to myself is "man, those were the days!" As an example, one of my coloured fluorescent tubes (a Sylvania pre-Lifeline F40/R) didn't survive its time in storage. The glass seal failed around one of the endcaps... But hey, I still remember the moments I lit it up and the light it gave. That's the real enjoyment, not the rest of the time when it just sit in a box!

Anyway, back to the original topic, post is already longer than I anticipated. EYE no longer makes mercury lamps, they were the best out here, it sucks.

I've always said that Iwasaki/Eye made the best lamps on the market, of any variety come to that, not just MV. I have a couple of MH lamps of theirs that are works of art in terms of the build quality, that's before you even switch them on to see the excellent light they produce.

But you're right, sadly even I have to admit that the dreaded over-excited semiconductor seems to have taken over, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. As my username suggests, my favourite light source is the low pressure sodium lamp, I don't think Iwasaki ever made those, it's rather a pity really 

I do mourn the loss of the production of these excellent lamps, but at least we can still enjoy them in our collections, along with SOX and all the other varieties out there 

This was a matter of time, unfortunately. Realistically I wouldn't give the remaining production more than 5 years left or so.

As many people here mentioned, it's not necessarily comfortable to watch the things we're used to going away, but this change in technology is also a normal part of our lives. I don't think we're making ourselves justice by fulminating against it.

Collecting things is probably something we do as an answer to some survival instinct. But I realized at some point the enjoyment out of it, especially if said collection just gathers dust in a box, is quite limited. You're basically just left with the hassle of managing it, worrying about preserving it, reel off swears one after the other about that eBay buyer who sniped that one item you need to complete collection XYZ, etc.

All those things made me redefine what that lighting hobby was about to me. Collecting? Reduced to strictly valuable and small items, and probably no additional items from now on. Basically I want this hobby to produce enjoyable results, things I can then use. And to be perfectly honest, while I do have memories of mercury lamps being used here and there on private properties, they were already mostly gone by the time I started to be aware of the world around me (late 90s), so they don't mean THAT much to me, not to the point of reacting like  every time it gets closer to total extinction. So MV? No, they weren't a huge part of my memories to begin with. HPS? Why yes, those were everywhere around year 2000, and it's their turn to disappear. Sure it sucks, but I'm pretty sure lighting enthusiasts who will read this twenty years from now will feel the same way about HPS as I do about MV today. Yes, even this community will change eventually.

To clarify even more my point, I now have almost a decade to look behind and remember my early days in this hobby. And what do I remember? Mostly the moments I had all that stuff on my workbench (or on the basement floor LOL) and USED it. The moments it worked (or maybe, MAYBE the moments it failed  ). And the only thing I keep saying to myself is "man, those were the days!" As an example, one of my coloured fluorescent tubes (a Sylvania pre-Lifeline F40/R) didn't survive its time in storage. The glass seal failed around one of the endcaps... But hey, I still remember the moments I lit it up and the light it gave. That's the real enjoyment, not the rest of the time when it just sit in a box!

Anyway, back to the original topic, post is already longer than I anticipated. EYE no longer makes mercury lamps, they were the best out here, it sucks.

Indeed I feel the same about combustion engines too. They won't really go away per se, but they will definitely be dethroned in the coming times.

We shall see how the bulb phenomenon plays out I guess. I'm hoping to buy or build my own fixture and use a MV lamp. Should start collecting those


I'm an old soul trapped in a young person's body, the world is changing too fast for me 

I'm an old soul trapped in a young person's body, the world is changing too fast for me 

Hey, I'm a young soul trapped in an old person's body, how do you think I feel 

Now if you were a drop-dead-gorgeous 25 year old girl, I'd offer to swap bodies with you, but as you're not, we'll both have to stay as we are 

Sorry, I get silly sometimes, take no notice. It's really sad I agree that the world is changing so fast. I'm just glad that I have my memories, an incredible partner to share my life with, and last but not least lots of lamps 

Indeed I feel the same about combustion engines too. They won't really go away per se, but they will definitely be dethroned in the coming times.

We shall see how the bulb phenomenon plays out I guess. I'm hoping to buy or build my own fixture and use a MV lamp. Should start collecting those


I'm an old soul trapped in a young person's body, the world is changing too fast for me 

Also being aware that even the stuff we're collecting or using isn't eternal can be a great opportunity to truly enjoy it while it lasts. Your average vintage lamp is the perfect example.

Hey, I'm a young soul trapped in an old person's body, how do you think I feel 

Now if you were a drop-dead-gorgeous 25 year old girl, I'd offer to swap bodies with you, but as you're not, we'll both have to stay as we are 

Sorry, I get silly sometimes, take no notice. It's really sad I agree that the world is changing so fast. I'm just glad that I have my memories, an incredible partner to share my life with, and last but not least lots of lamps 

Well... I'm 27, that's close enough