[hahnmeister]

Lol, all you guys are too funny. All we need to add is a 6-pack per person to turn this thread into a full blown roast!

Things have changed... in a turn of luck, it turns out that I will be getting that 'testbed' sample from AI after all. It was mentioned that since I asked to test it first, I would get it first after all, and then perhaps send it directly to Sanjay (or back and then to Sanjay, either way). Anyways, Its pretty nuts for me until about the 19th, but as of that night, I will have the lumenarc all polished up and the grid dusted off & ready to go for some PAR testing. So look for some hard data to get posted around the 21st.

As per email from Dana:
"Aloha Jonathan,

Here's the scoop:

XM 20K lamp, with 100 hour burn-in

Coralife ballast, an old one but used only for lamp testing (stad. coil and capacitor ballast)

The reflector is polished aluminum - don't remember where I got this (picked it up during the last 20 years somewhere ;-). It is a standard shape - like any of Coralife's, Hamilton's, PFOs earlier models.

Dana"

Now, to me, thats not the best of each technology being compared... thats the best of LED vs. perhaps the most common in halide (or best from 8 years ago). A lumenarc will shred a hammy reefsun, spider, etc... The bulb was a good pick, esp with regards to being a comparable spectrum, for SE at least, but the M58, well... hey, not knocking Dana one bit, but its not exactly 'top shelf'. Its good that he can give that kind of data, and its not like he's getting sent equipment from PGS to test out, you know? But I happen to have what I would consider 'the best of the best' for halide... M80 ballast, lumenarc mini DE, and a pheonix bulb with 100-150 hours on it (or a brand new one that I can 'burn in' to match Sanjay's tests perhaps). To me, this is the benchmark that when beaten, the benefits of LED's will be front & center, since this is a very blue bulb vs. a very blue LED system (but not alot of 420nm), and best of the best vs. best of the best. I mean really, if you are looking at putting down $1500-3000 on a LED system, you are not going to be comparing to a mogul system with probe-start ballasts and spider reflectors... you are going to compare with a $1500-3000 halide system perhaps.