[Frick-n-Frags]

Hey guys (n'gals), here's a big part of the Iwasaki confusion: The Iwasaki 250w bulb is technically a mercury vapor bulb. That's why they are only $55 bucks. The "eye guy" told you that now, and a few weeks ago, a reefer in Hong Kong, in a post here, gave us direct quotes from the Japanese Iwasaki catalog also explaining that the 150w Iwasaki is a metal halide bulb and the 250w is a mercury vapor bulb and they are from two different lamp series. That is why Iwasaki (in the US, Eye Corp.) consistently recommends the mv ballast for the 250watter. The big confusion happens because mercury vapor lamps can run on metal halide ballasts (but oh how darned unfortunate, not vice-versa) but not exactly right. That's the way that mess sorted out when a few of us thrashed through it. The upshot of it for me was, I traded the Iwasaki 150w which I never fired up, in on a 250w 12k sunburst(which I have a 250w MH ballast for, already). because I was looking for a mercury vapor cheap ballast solution, and the perfect setup for $80 total could be at hand.
When I eventually do actually get my hands on that elusive 250w MV ballast, I will start getting the 250 watters too.