Ushio Vs XM

[marine134]

hi im in a process of buying a new 250 watts 10k MH bulbs to replace my radium bulbs.Im thinking of either go with Ushio or XM and not sure which one is the best to go with my icecap ballast.Any suggestions anyone?.thanks.

 

[drives300]

depends if you want yellow(xm) or white light(ushio)

 

[jag1979]

I have the ushio's and like the way they look, but if you going for par then the xm's are much better

 

[Creetin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8577462#post8577462 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drives300
depends if you want yellow(xm) or white light(ushio)

Funny you say that, I run both on a mag ballast and cant tell the difference. Only price,

 

[DrBDC]

My experience w/XM's is on the 175 w ones. Some online would say they're yellow. I thought they were nuts. Then I got those new Iwasaki's on the display and rotated the XM's to a pendant over a frag tank run by a magnetic ballast and it was yellow. So I went to Sanjays site and you can enter the combo and see what ccrt (color) it will be and it was about 11,300K on the aro electronic but only 10100K on a magnetic ballast. Big difference depending on ballast.

 

[spongebobby]

I have run both Ushio first then XM both 250w SE. One of the Ushio blew out about 2-3 months in and I purchased the XM bulbs. The Ushio were bright and had a crisp white light. The XM starts out yellow when it turns on but after about 5 mins. it is extremely bright. I would have to say that on my light(Aquactinics) the XM is brighter,more white,cost less. Go with XM you will definately be satisfied. HTH

 

[vin]

I run 2-10k 250w.xm's on a pfo ballast.No yellow only a bright crisp white light.

 

[skriz]

I run 4 250w xm 10k. They are bright white. NO Yellow at all. If you want yellow, go Iwasaki. I haven't used uisho, so can't comment on them.

Why not check out the pics of each bulb?
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=254667

 

[Justjoe]

Sometimes the XM's will burn a bit yellow if they're run on an older capacitor. Even though the capacitor still works as in firing the bulb, they seem a bit sensitive to older capacitors. I have corrected some yellowing bulbs by simply replacing 6 year old capacitors. Thanks to some guy named Sanjay, aka Photon Man for the suggestion.
Joe

 

[Shadowramy]

2 x 250 XM on an ARO ballast. Looks perfectly white to me. I will be replacing them this fall with more XM 10Ks

 

[AZDesertRat]

I used Ushios for my first 2 years, 2 sets of 250w 10Ks and last year switched to XM 10 K. The XM is much whiter than the Ushio on my Coralvue E Ballasts. My only complaint and its the only one is they have never lit on the first strike since new and the Ushios lit first time every time.

 

[Yinger]

agreed. XM is a nice white IMO

 

[pheel]

Ushio are meant to be use with Pulse start ballast (at least with 175W, I may be wrong with 250 bulb) so if you have probe start go with XM.

 

[pheel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8580547#post8580547 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pheel
Ushio are meant to be use with Pulse start ballast (at least with 175W, I may be wrong with 250 bulb) so if you have probe start go with XM.

well, the 250 seem to use a probe start M58, sorry aout that

http://www.ushio.com/Files/Aqualite.pdf