Here’s my 55w bulb with 12-24V 100W ballasted HID, driven at probably around 80-90W only as the battery is only a very small 12V 4AH SLA if i remember correctly.
55w bulb coz it has a shorter arc gap than 100w bulbs, the 55W bulb has an approx 3mm arc gap. 4300K, as bulbs at this colour are brighter than 3000K/6500K etc.
So you can imagine, 3mm to 4mm max gap, approx 8000 lumens on the ceiling bounce with lux meter, 30cm head. I am not sure what is the surface brightness intensity, but i don’t think it’d lose to current LED capable technologies.
I measured the hotspot to be nearly 3 million lux on my lux meter, at a measuring distance of 50 metres which is about the best that i can do at a relatively dark place.
Unfortunately like JasonWW said, it’s very impractical to be using a host with a 12” head, though it’s not really heavy at 2kg.
I can hit nearly 2km targets in a city urban setting which is very bright (it’s one of the most light polluted cities in the world), which is a difficult environment to play in regarding throw.
Even the forested parks are relatively bright, especially since you’d need 3km targets to hit it with if you wanna do that “NEMA FL-1 0.25 lux on target thingy”.
And since we are in BLF, budget is always impt.
I can get the Mateminco MT35Plus with XHP-35 HI (Astrolux MF04) at rmb 888 (usd 129), the head-only option costs rmb 788.
Shipping is usd 7 via “4-day sensitive air”.
The 12” HID 55W host + extra 100W car HID ballast purchase (you will get 2 ballast though) shipped would come in at just under usd 70, shipping via “4-day sensitive air” at usd 14. Maybe a bit lower if i search harder.
At least that makes up a little bit for the extra large proportions for the hobbyist’s very occasional fun use.