Just got back from a dive trip with the 21-watt EE HID light. For what's
worth, here it is...

It worked perfectly during the 3-day trip. I dove on numerous dives with
different buddies who have the EE Pro14 with the 50-watt halogen lightheads.
I assume the standard halogen bulb which everybody use for wreck/deep diving
is the 50-watt bulb for a 14-amp canister light, so I didn't compared the
HID against a lower wattage bulb. The dives were ranging from penetrations
of a supertanker at 45m (150ft) to the bottom of an abandoned oil rig at 93m
(300ft). 

May be it was just my uncalibrated eyes, but I wouldn't say that the HID
light is 2-3X brighter than a fully charged halogen light. We have shined
both lights side-by-side on a wall 20 yards away inside the wreck, and we
didn't think one was significantly brighter than another.

Having said that, the HID color seems to be much *whiter* when compared to
the *yellowish* BRL 50-watt halogen bulb. We also have shined both lights
down a long corridor (50-yard) inside the wreck to another diver, and he
definitely confirmed that the color of the HID was easy to notice.

My HID came with the E/O connector. So during the dive, I pulled slightly on
the connector until the light went off a few times. It didn't take much
pulling for the light to stop working. It is not a big deal to flip the
switch off, plug the connector back, wait a few seconds and flip the switch
back on. The light would start up immediately, but will take ~5 seconds
until fully bright.

Since Sar-Tek advertises that the HID could be used on surface (Immersed -
Fall 1999), I tried it as well (for a few minutes). On surface, it lit up
objects which were ~100 yards away easily, and the test tube just got barely
warm. I didn't tried with the halogen bulb.

All and all, I still like the HID very much and am saving to get another for
my EE dual-head video light... :-)

-Phi
> ----------
> From: 	Phi Le[SMTP:PLe@Se*.co*]
> Sent: 	Wednesday, September 22, 1999 5:14 PM
> To: 	'List - Rebreather'; 'List - Technical Diver'
> Subject: 	Extreme Exposure HID light (first look)
> 
> Just received my Extreme Exposure HID light conversion kit today, I must
> say
> it looks every bit as good as everything else from EE.
> 
> The ballast is about the size of a cigarette box and weighs less than 1lb.
> The ballast fits behind the Goodman handle just like a normal halogen
> light
> head. There is a slot for the light head to slide in-and-out for focusing
> just like a normal halogen light head without rotating along the cord
> axis.
> This allows the ballast to sit firmly on top of the wrist.
> 
> As I am retrofitting and planning to use the same HID head with all my EE
> lights (6, 14 and 24) as well as having a halogen head back-up, I have E/O
> cord on both light heads. The E/O cord comes out of the ballast with an
> indestructible-looking metal stress-relief spring. In addition, I ordered
> new lids with E/O for each light sizes. I guess if one lives in the US,
> one
> could just send the existing lid back to have the E/O installed as well.
> 
> Effectively, I could use this same HID head with any size light canister,
> and have a back-up halogen head in my pocket. BTW, Ted Cole recommended
> that
> if one carries the back-up halogen head in the pocket, s/he should put it
> inside a section of PVC to protect it.
> 
> I will be testing the HID light on a live-aboard trip next week, and will
> post the comparison against my buddies' EE halogen lights.
> 
> -Phi
> 
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