I got the idea of making this thread after reading the many stories of people trying to build up their stocks of SOX lamps.
I have been keeping and building stockpiles of lamps, ballasts and spare fixture parts so I have enough stuff to keep my lights going long after the items become unobtainuim.
Has anyone else been doing the same thing?

Already done that and regretted it!
But I would say for anyone planning this, have a sit down and think is it really worth wasting money on before you go ahead?
When I moved into my own house I was like most people on LG, I was going to have my dream lighting set up, and long story short, over the years I spent hundreds on HID lamps, gear and fittings thinking I would be using them forever!
Now here I am in 2022 and I don’t use one HID lamp anywhere in my lighting!, so now I have hundreds of pounds of lamps and gear as ‘spares’ sat in boxes up the loft that will never be used!

Think carefully people before you spend loads, especially on things like SOX that are ridiculous prices, as your lighting interests may change as you get older! 

Sammi and I have pretty much completed our 'bucket list' now, so I'm guessing we won't be buying much more, but never say never 

Most of my stuff is free as it's been salvaged form scrapped fixtures or found in the trash. My collection is also fairly small and I'm trying to expand it. Once I get more space, I'll have more of it set up and in use

Most of my stuff is free aswell.

@angryhorse why did your interest in HID die?

You may find it does as you get older, I don’t even light them at home anymore, something I once did nightly!
That and the cost of energy going up constantly, you find better, more efficient ways of lighting your yard and house the longer you live there!
I’ve also always over lit things at home to, at one point my yard lighting was a 250 watt HPS, with 2 x 50 watt HPS on the fence! , 27,000 lumens way over lit, @ 350 watts JUST at the back of the house!

I now light the same space with a one 13 watt LED and 2 x 8 watt CFL on the fence, and the back garden is still adequately lit, for a massive reduction in electricity use!

   I mainly been stockpiling fluorescents.   For me
 I only have one 180 watt sox fixture that get fired
 Up about 4 0r 5 times a year.   So
 I plan on 2 or 3 spare lamps is all I
 Need.  Being 42 years old i just plan
 For 40 years..   let take a westinghouse
 Life gaurd for Example 175 watt MV
 Last way too long 20 plus years so that
 Means 1 or two more lamp changes.
   
    What i am  saying is some lamps like this
 1 or two spares seen resonble.  At one point
 I gave away a whole case of 175 watt MV
 To a younger collector and.  Im like there
 Is no way I am going use all those lamps in
 My life time.  Yes I recomend quailty lamps
  And dont buy junk lighting unless it free to
Take. 

Already done that and regretted it!
But I would say for anyone planning this, have a sit down and think is it really worth wasting money on before you go ahead?
When I moved into my own house I was like most people on LG, I was going to have my dream lighting set up, and long story short, over the years I spent hundreds on HID lamps, gear and fittings thinking I would be using them forever!
Now here I am in 2022 and I don’t use one HID lamp anywhere in my lighting!, so now I have hundreds of pounds of lamps and gear as ‘spares’ sat in boxes up the loft that will never be used!

Think carefully people before you spend loads, especially on things like SOX that are ridiculous prices, as your lighting interests may change as you get older! 

I have quite similar mindset. Once you start paying your own bills you usually start to think is spending x amount of money just for this a wise thing or would you rather spent it in some other way. Storage space isn't free nor is the electricity either. As much as I would fancy the idea of having MV lamp as a yard light, with the amount of electricity it uses makes it just not feelin sensible choice.

I've also started thinking what am I going to really use rather than hoardingup everything I can get.

I was combing though some stuff and I discovered a mostly full case of Philips F32T8/TL850 lamps I bought around a decade ago when I had a few fixtures using that type of lamp. Perhaps unsurprisingly my preferences have changed before my lamp supply ran out. I still have most of those fixtures in use but changing preferences meant I swapped most of the TL850 lamps out with TL841 tubes.

Ironically I wasn't even planning on stocking up for bans when I got the case, I only got it since it was cheaper than buying them individually.

Another thing to consider is how long modern fluorescent and HID lamps last if they're not frequently used. Half of the fluorescent lights I installed in the late 2000s are still using the original lamps I put in them, same goes for HID too. The frequently used fluorescent fixtures have gotten a couple of lamp changes over the same period. As for SOX, the only fixtures I have for those are 18w and I've been picking up bulbs if I find them for a few dollars. I have a bunch of them now and yet I run my light so infrequently I haven't had one burn out yet.

The most extent of my stock pile is probably one case worth for some frequently used types, with the infrequently used types getting one or two spare lamps. I also now prefer getting the lower wattage stuff of 100w or less since I'm more likely to use them compared to say a case of 400w or 1000w HID lamps.

I suppose stocking up does let you give younger collectors a good start at collecting years down the line when this stuff is no longer made.       

I have quite similar mindset. Once you start paying your own bills you usually start to think is spending x amount of money just for this a wise thing or would you rather spent it in some other way. Storage space isn't free nor is the electricity either. As much as I would fancy the idea of having MV lamp as a yard light, with the amount of electricity it uses makes it just not feelin sensible choice.

I've also started thinking what am I going to really use rather than hoardingup everything I can get.

This is also another reason I’ve switched back to using my CFLs again, I also hoarded these back in the day and it’s a shame to have them sitting in a box doing nothing!
Fortunately I haven’t hoarded the same amount of LED lamps and I’m not going to carry loads of ‘spares’ in LED like I did with everything else! 

To our way of thinking, while the electricity costs are something to be borne in mind. they are part of what is involved in collecting lamps. If you are a car or motorcycle enthusiast, you accept the cost of fuel, oil etc. so I don't see it as any different to the cost of running lamps. Apart from the two SOX lanterns we have on daily, the rest are only lit for a few hours at a time, so it's not really a major cost.

To our way of thinking, while the electricity costs are something to be borne in mind. they are part of what is involved in collecting lamps. If you are a car or motorcycle enthusiast, you accept the cost of fuel, oil etc. so I don't see it as any different to the cost of running lamps. Apart from the two SOX lanterns we have on daily, the rest are only lit for a few hours at a time, so it's not really a major cost.

Well that's the thing. I can have a nice old classic car but do I wanna use it daily for driving to work or do I wanna get something other for that which uses way less and cheaper fuel and use fancy car on special occasions.

I've seen some really fantastic, museum quality collections here which are put on nice displays and then when I compared it to my stuff that just mostly sits in a boxes stored away I just feel that I'm not that much of a collector that I could invest that much time or money for this.

Then there is the quantity thing. In recent years I have just realized that the "lifetime supply" of lamps I'm really going to use isn't really that much. For example, 10 000hrs conservative lifetime estimation for fluorescent lamp is actually pretty long time in home use. I feel like there is no point hoarding hundreds fluorescent lamps even if I would get them free.

This is also another reason I’ve switched back to using my CFLs again, I also hoarded these back in the day and it’s a shame to have them sitting in a box doing nothing!
Fortunately I haven’t hoarded the same amount of LED lamps and I’m not going to carry loads of ‘spares’ in LED like I did with everything else! 

I have some CFLs which most of them I would say are not worth of collecting. The problem with CFL is that the electronic ages even if not used. I'm thinking selecting best technology examples and maybe getting rid of the rest. I tried to sell some of the NOS stuff for marginall price but there just does not seem to be any demand for CFLs. Also I really cant say how long a CFL that had sat 10 or 15 years in a storage will last.

@ Roi_hartmann - We have all the lamps we're ever going to need for daily service, so I'm just talking about the collection here. We just light various lamps most evenings and let them run for an hour or two. They're never going to get anywhere near EOL, and the cost of running them doesn't add up to much over the course of a year.

I don't see the point of collecting lamps and just putting them in boxes or cupboards, they need to be used now and then, so if I have to spend money on electricity to do that, then so be it. It's cheaper than smoking 

I suppose stocking up does let you give younger collectors a good start at collecting years down the line when this stuff is no longer made.     

This is one of the biggest reasons I like to stock up on the slightly more common stuff when I get the chance.

Solar panels and batteries can reduce energy costs quite a bit. If I ever get the country property I want I will definitly be taking advantage of some solar power to reduce the costs of running things.

Only lamps I need to stock up on now are a case or two of 100, 150 and 70 watt HPS. After that I'm done collecting up burner lamps.

I'd like to be able to run low wattage lamps for a while. 175 watt mercury vapor I have plenty of. 35 watt HPS I also have plenty of. Same with 70 watt metal halide and 55 watt LPS. I got all the corners covered for each technology prettymuch. But I'd like atleast 70 or 100 watt HPS burner lamps. 35 watt is a little dim. Might aswell use a CFL. Lol.

I don't get burner lamps for 250, 400 and 1000 watt. I can never see myself running those for a long time. I have enough bulbs for those.