Cool Lights
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Yes they're all low CRI at this point. For car headlights, they just don't care. What they want is good and bright and 6000K to 8000K will give you that. But the CDM bulbs we use in our CDM 150 fresnel are part of the generally large HID family so there are some parts of the HID world that are usable without going into the stratospheric HMI bulb area. That's what we've been exploring a lot. These bulbs are in the class of "retail", "commercial" and "architectural" lighting. There are some quality things there to be found and adapted.
I think what needs to happen that more people will want to use these where they use small halogens right now in retail sales situations primarily. Its already happening to a certain extent. As I mentioned, we can get an MR11 HID 35w right now with low CRI. We can get a 35w or 70w Xenon with a G12 base, but low CRI. These are all obviously aimed straight at the retail sales market that is using halogen MR11s and other similar types now. As these things infilitrate into places and the users compare, they'll notice the differences, try to understand what's causing the differences, finally be able to put it into words (bring the CRI up please!) and demand better. Just as happened with fluorescent over its life and maturing. Osram and Philips have been leaders in bringing some of these CDM bulbs to the market place, but in the higher CRI types, they haven't really produced anything over 4200K even though they're capable of it. We have to special order our bulbs because most factories think since Osram and Philips have standardized on 4200K thats all they need to do. Iwasaki Electric has been doing some great stuff in higher color temperatures but as far as I can tell, its not generally available in the USA now.
People like me are pushing them too. Making them try harder. A lot of LED and HID suppliers don't even know what CRI is. They have the testers that are capable of that but many haven't even delved into what that special "CRI" or "Ra Factor" category is on the test results. They think color temperature and lumen output is enough to know about. Just something they've not learned about or cared about yet. So, the learning process is seeping in little by little on HID and LEDs and they will advance as customers demand better.
I think what needs to happen that more people will want to use these where they use small halogens right now in retail sales situations primarily. Its already happening to a certain extent. As I mentioned, we can get an MR11 HID 35w right now with low CRI. We can get a 35w or 70w Xenon with a G12 base, but low CRI. These are all obviously aimed straight at the retail sales market that is using halogen MR11s and other similar types now. As these things infilitrate into places and the users compare, they'll notice the differences, try to understand what's causing the differences, finally be able to put it into words (bring the CRI up please!) and demand better. Just as happened with fluorescent over its life and maturing. Osram and Philips have been leaders in bringing some of these CDM bulbs to the market place, but in the higher CRI types, they haven't really produced anything over 4200K even though they're capable of it. We have to special order our bulbs because most factories think since Osram and Philips have standardized on 4200K thats all they need to do. Iwasaki Electric has been doing some great stuff in higher color temperatures but as far as I can tell, its not generally available in the USA now.
People like me are pushing them too. Making them try harder. A lot of LED and HID suppliers don't even know what CRI is. They have the testers that are capable of that but many haven't even delved into what that special "CRI" or "Ra Factor" category is on the test results. They think color temperature and lumen output is enough to know about. Just something they've not learned about or cared about yet. So, the learning process is seeping in little by little on HID and LEDs and they will advance as customers demand better.
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