Bell 407 Nightscanner Plus vs HID Nightscanner Plus

[olymbec]

I recently purchased a Bell 407 which I am upgrading from a Bell 206B3. I am looking to install either Super Nightscanner®, totally controllable lights offering the pilot a 800,000 candlepower illumination at 450 watts. OR The new HID Nightscanner® lights, High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting, offer all you can ask for in a light. They are up to 25% brighter, the bulbs last 40–80 times longer, and are powered at a fraction of the normal amps required for traditional lighting accessories. The HID Nightscanner® Plus has a candlepower of 700,000.

Nightscanner® Lighting Comparison Table

New HID Nightscanner® Plus uses 4 amps, lamp life 1000 hours beam width Beam Width (degrees) 9X9


Super Nightscanner® uses 21 amps, lamp life 25 hours beam width (degrees) 13X14

the cost premium for the HID system is approximately $1300.00 It seems like a no brainer to choose the new HID technology, however I am curious if any pilot used to new HID and what was their opinion on the difference in the quality of light emitted and if the colour of the light was whiter?
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

[HeloDrvr]

We installed the very first HID Nighscanner delivered from AAI on a Bell 407 that I used to operate.

I found the key difference from a pilot's perspective was the "whiteness" of the light. Smarter people than me will tell you that the whiter light more closely resembles natural daylight and therefore is more efficient (better) for the human eye, but to me it was just a clearer beam.

That said, on the downside, I thought its beam was smaller at any given distance and the HID doesn't appear to be brighter in terms of casting more overall light so to speak.

Interstingly, HID and LED technology has still not caught up to more conventional Halogen's in simple terms of brightness. It's not accurate to compare candlepower of an HID light vs. Halogen, or LED for that matter.

Ultimately, we chose the HID (and LED for other applications) for the reliability and weight savings, even in instances where a conventional filament bulb may still be a bit "stronger." - and were glad we did.

[olymbec]

Thank you for your very informative response. I think I needed that little "push" to guide me towards the HID unit.

Out of curiosity what are you using the Nightscanner for during your night flights? Was it simply to light up your landing area or was it used for more commercial applications like search and rescue or other activities?
Also did you go with standard HID Nightscanner or did you choose stronger Nightscanner PLUS?