BrightStar vs Welch-Allyn

[aquaregia]

I'm looking at HID lamps. It seems that the difference between a used light with a WA bulb is about 2 bulbs cheaper than a new light with a BS bulb. However, I've heard that the BS bulbs are much more robust than the WA bulbs. I'm curious about how much more abuse the BS bulbs can take. Lets assume that I'm less careful than I'd like to think I am, and consider that I might drop the head once or twice when I'm getting used to it on my rig, and that tanks sometimes roll around in my car and might bang it. Is is likely to be false economy to be buying a used BS bulbs?
Also, are the BS bulbs the most common bulbs these days? In other words, if I blow mine and need to beg a buddy for his spare bulb, will I be better served by a BS than a WA?

 

[TSandM]

Well, here's my take. We have four lights with Brightstar bulbs. They get thrown in the gear tub, and bang around on our harnesses when we load rigs in and out of the truck. We've had one BS bulb fail, and that was a five year old light which was used constantly.

I bought a light with a WA bulb in it. I knew they were fragile, so I was VERY careful with the light. It was never transported with the gear, and always handled with care. It made, IIRC, four dives before the bulb was toast.

Brightstar, grasshopper . . .

 

[divad]

OK, I also have both. Here's my story. The Welch-Allyn bulb held up fine for many dives over many moons as long as I put it in its "Storm Case", assiduously, after the last dive of the day and removed it from my rig (I hate that term) between dives. The One time I decided to treat it like an adult and leave it attached to my er.......getup/outfit/costume, put it in the car and drive home, the bulb broke.
My LM with the Brightstar bulb, on the other hand travels very well (planes and cars)without the cumbersome "Storm Case" which is bigger than the LM light.

The only benefit with the
Welch-Allyn bulb is that you can get one from a lot of diveshops for about sixty bucks. I bought two bulbs and a back-up 15 watt ballast from WA for about $100.00 and I think you can still get that deal from the new owners of WA.

 

[Mtbr]

Not long ago, one could order Welch-Allyn bulbs from the web directly through Welch-Allyn. That was before they sold off their HID business unit. The price was ridiculously low, like $39 for a 10 watt bulb. Does anyone know where to pick up cheap WA bulbs these days?

 

[lucca brassi]

best direct way

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