Got my Ebay MH Bulbs - Wow!!! I am happy

[cwatkins]

I'm chalking my ebay bulb experience up to be a failure.

I bought two of the 250W DE bulbs. One died after a couple weeks (a piece inside the glass broke off and was loose in there). Then the replacement that arrived wasn't the same colour temperature, so both sides of the tank looked different. As for different burn in times, one bulb only had a few weeks on the other one. Even after a couple months they still didn't match colour.

Also around the same time as getting the new ebay bulbs my (dual) Galaxy ballast tripped my GFCI almost daily. It would only trip when the ebay bulbs were in the fixture. The Pheonix 14k's wouldn't trip it!! (The GFCI tripping then apparently toasted an IC inside my Apex controller the day before I went on vacation, requiring me to reconfigure it in a very short time to using the old school timers). Then when I got back from Hawaii I had to send in my controller for repair (thankfully under warranty). <-- Lesson #1, use a dedicated DC wall wart power supply for the Apex base module and ensure it's on a different power bar/circuit. This will prevent damage when the GFCI or breaker trips.

Eventually my ballast deteriorated to the point that one lamp wouldn't ignite (it was the ballast for sure because switching the power leads around would cause the opposite lamp to ignite). Bad luck?

So the ballast was under a 5 year warranty, so Jeff @ JL replaced it. (THANKS!!!) I decided at that time to just go with new bulbs, so I bought some Hamilton 14K's to use, and put this bad experience behind me.

[badAZZlars]

I just got 3 of the 250w 14k bulbs. Two of the three have the expected spectrum but one is yellow. Like 6500k yellow. Vendor is going to exchange it but can't say I'm too impressed right now.

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by badAZZlars

I just got 3 of the 250w 14k bulbs. Two of the three have the expected spectrum but one is yellow. Like 6500k yellow. Vendor is going to exchange it but can't say I'm too impressed right now.

The fact he will replace says something... Standing by product is a sign of good service to come, at least one would hope.

I think all bulbs can have variances. I am happy with mine. And biggest benefit is the cost. Even if the bulb only lasts half as long, replacing it every 6 months is still cheaper than the major brands. Time will tell, but I have had mine running for 3 months now, with no variances, from start to now perfect light without any change.

[Douglas]

I'm running the same ebay bulbs, but 250w 20k. When I got my first set, they were different colored. A quick e-mail back to the supplier, and he traded them, with no problem, and no questions. For the price, and service, I'll buy them again. And they look quite nice, if I do say so, for a quarter of the cost.

[megs_clark]

I thought Id chim in with my recent purchase from Hobbylighting on ebay.

I bought two bulbs. He didnt have the exact 14k de bulbs listed so I emailed him. He said he has some in stock and sent a direct invoice from paypal. Got the bulbs and one didnt work. I messaged him, sent the deffective bulb back and waited for the replacement. It didnt come so I messaged him and he asked if I had a tracking number which I didnt for the return. He then refused to answer my emails. Even though I have the postal slip showing the return AND a slip from HIS post office saying my returned package was being held for him at HIS local post office till march 3rd. He just chose not to pick it up.

[pterfloth]

I bought four 14k single-ended 250w and I have to say I am very happy with them after 6 weeks. The all match color very closely and my SPS and LPS have responded well to them. At 20% of the cost of what I was using before, I am pretty delighted.