AlzoVideo cheap HMI setup

Saw this in DV magazine, and it caught my interest, too. Looks like they're out of stock, or maybe not yet in stock. But it looks like they also have a more mature HMI light with a built in ballast and pretty reasonable price. Anybody tried that one?
 
I know. Everything on their site looks pretty good for the price. I may have to take the plunge and see what they're like.
 
At these prices, they cost less than the daily rental of most HMIs. Might make an interesting project to stuff one of these into a Baby fixture and see how well it works. Might also make a great practical. No mention of the spectral characteristics of the globe, but for the price, I am interested.
 
It's not a true HMI (even though they use the term several times on the site) but it does look useful. They are really Metal Halide lights, not HMIs but they do put out 5200K and have an electronic ballast. I would also like to know

The Alzo 800 with the built in ballast looks pretty cool. The Alzo 2000 looks cool at first galnce but it has a cooling fan, meaning not good for using in situations where you are recording dialogue. I like the fact that you can turn an practical (or a home depot clip light) into a daylight source.

Since these lights are not lensed they probably have some pretty major falloff, a problem if you are trying to use them over a large area for fill light out doors. Personally I'd like to try they for indoor use to mix with sunlight. For example if you are shooting in a living room with a big picture window you wouldn't have to frame it out of shot and cover it up so it doesn't go blue after you whitebalance to tungsten lights.
 
What does this mean, in HMI terms? (what stupid way of puting it)

"The output intensity is equivalent to
800 watts of tungsten light"
 
It means that an HMI (much like flos) gives you a lot more light per watt than tungsten light does. Meaning that if you were to take that same fixture and put a tungsten bulb in it you would need an 800 watt bult to equel the amount of light you get from the 150 watt metal halide bulb.
 
Thought I would chime in on this old thread. I was on a couple low budget shoots where these where used. They were pretty handy for the money, and had quite a bit of punch, but definatley had a touch of magenta in them. Nothing a little plus green could not take care of, but you do lose a little output and geling is not always feesible. Still, I would not mind a having a few. YMMV.
 
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