More people who are blind sighted by trying to fix something with the wrong solution. anyways...

  Mercury vapor if made the right way can last years and years longer than the other 2.

Buddy MV from the 70s would last 15 years in full brightness and still light well 10 years after and can actually continue as long as 30 years! I have some MV lamps that actually had 40 years of service, works but really dim!

100 watt and 175 watt tend to last the longest...175 the longest....

They removed a feature on MV which Westinghouse had which was called "LifeGuard"   GE called Bonusline and Sylvania called "Banner".....actually Westinghouse never removed that feature, but Philips removed it about 1990...but had continued a hidden lifeguard in 50 watt MV......

They removed it cuz they lasted TOO long for THEM that bulb production were losing money on MV lamps in early days when MV was SOOO GOOD!.......

I guess money talks, everything else walks. That's how most companies are today.

Yup, I am fully aware of the lifeguard, Bonusline Banner. The lifeguards were the best! The emitter used causeing whitening instead of blackening! Man, If they still made lamps the right way like this it would out perform even Induction!

Yup, I am fully aware of the lifeguard, Bonusline Banner. The lifeguards were the best! The emitter used causeing whitening instead of blackening! Man, If they still made lamps the right way like this it would out perform even Induction!

i wish i was around..when they made these Wonderful lamps!!..i know of several Nema Heads in my area that have BT Lamps in them...old ones at that..and they still burn bright every night!

I think if enough people came to together and have a petition we can send it to our government and show them that the higher maintenance cost of HPS and MH out do the mercury vapor or probe start MH power consumption. MHPS requires an ignitor which means more production energy to make. Also the fixture prices are still very high and no where near mercury vapor's price meaning the consumer has to pay a premium to own a security light now, Not only that but my experience with MHPS the bulbs explode left and right so they are way more unreliable than MV meaning relamping way more often and here again more production energy is needed to make more bulbs and using more mercury and disposal of more mercury in both MH and HPS, Not to mention the dramatic increase in maintenance cost, With MHPS if the bulb is left burned out for to long will also fry the ignitor, This is the case for my fixtures I work with anyway, MH bulb exploded, Within a week the ignitor was shot as well cause it kept on trying to ignite a bad bulb. With HPS this is decreased some what due to it being able to cycle and give the ignitor a break for a minute or two, With MH pulse start they is no cycling meaning the ignitor will continously run. I have read the power companys are looseing money on the dramatic increases of fixture maintenace since the introduction of HPS and MH. This will also affect the consumer as they will need to spend more money for a more expensive bulb and have to replace it more often.  Mercury vapor if made the right way can last years and years longer than the other 2.

BTW, I forgot to mention I am only speaking on Magnetic low wattage MHPS not higher wattages as I don't know anything about them I never worked with them.

Seconded. We all need to work together and do what we can. I already saw MV go away, at least for the time being. We need to work together, garner up the info. I compiled some documents in my coated bulb comments special thread. If we can get some letters written and make a presentation, we will be good to go. On a side note, I think we should also start doing photo albums called "The Folly of T8" and show every burned out F32T8 lamp in an instant start electronic ballast, since they all seem to have holes or cracks in them, meaning mercury leakage. If handled properly, a dim flickery burned out T12 lamp can be sent to the recycling plant without getting broken.