Found this interesting article. The city of Compton considers HPS lighting to be awful in regards to color, etc and even considers it outdated! BTW Compton is full of bad neighrhoods so be careful there!

http://www.thecomptonbulletin.com/news02_070506/index.html

I believe current HPS technology will eventually become obsolete because people will get sick of the lousy color rendering and dingy atmosphere created by these lights as well as the fact that our vision doesn't respond well to this spectrum at night.

As more infrastructures get updated, more alternatives will be available as opposed to the 1980-90's when HPS seemed the most economical option.

High pressure sodium is also a maintenance nightmare since most of those lamps made today are junk. I've noticed lamps that started cycling at only 3 years old.

I can't stand the color rendering or the nasty glare from those high pressure sodium lights. Those 400-1000 watt lights hurt my eyes too.

Well Alex......according to Steve....some Merc bulbs from China Philips have even lasted like 2 months....I have one VERY DEAD MV bulb given to me from him that only lasted 2 months! Maybe LESS!!!!

Also Cooper Cobraheads make HPS bulbs not last as long.....I have noticed GE fixture HPS seems to do pretty well lasting 5 years............while Coopers last a lot shorter.....

Yeah those Phillips mercs are also poor quality ever since they started making them in China. I think they starting doing that around late 2005.

The only good mercs I know not made in China are the GEs. Those are now made in Hungary.

It seems like the only thing these companies care about is making money, I guess money talks and quality walks or something like that.

I believe current HPS technology will eventually become obsolete because people will get sick of the lousy color rendering and dingy atmosphere created by these lights as well as the fact that our vision doesn't respond well to this spectrum at night.

As more infrastructures get updated, more alternatives will be available as opposed to the 1980-90's when HPS seemed the most economical option.

I dread the day when/if that comes to my city... not only will my childhood memory of orange streets be taken, but my night vision aswell... I HATE white light at night... and I'm sure the wildlife does too....

The more Amber and worse color rendering the better imho. I can stare straight into a sox 180w floodlight and it not hurt. Try doing that with any white light source. And yes the lower cri is better for wildlife as well.
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I believe current HPS technology will eventually become obsolete because people will get sick of the lousy color rendering and dingy atmosphere created by these lights as well as the fact that our vision doesn't respond well to this spectrum at night.

As more infrastructures get updated, more alternatives will be available as opposed to the 1980-90's when HPS seemed the most economical option.

On the contrary, the human eyes respond best to the yellow light from SOX and HPS lighting, hence professional drivers and marksmen having yellow tinted glasses.

I HATE white light at night...

Me too  

This isn't a direct attack on LED by the way, it's an attack on any white street lighting. MH is the same in many places, although LED is the worst regarding glare as far as I'm concerned.

The more Amber and worse color rendering the better imho. I can stare straight into a sox 180w floodlight and it not hurt. Try doing that with any white light source. And yes the lower cri is better for wildlife as well.
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Yes, totally agreeable
But what about red streetlights

If some places would be lit with them and some with other stuff, it won't be bad (this holds for any color, not necessarily Red)

If the question is whether its ok as an only light source, it might be too far off, and it might cause some eye strain for the same reason LEDs do with the Blue : The Red will disproportionally affect the L (Red) cone cells compared to the overall visible brightness (so size of the pupil of the eye, that adapts to it). The overloaded cells will cause increased eye strain. While the L cone cells are not as few as the S (Blue) cells, and have less of other problems related with them, we are talking about pure Red light here vs. LED White in which Blue is only a part

Also, there is no sense from the energy saving point of view in using Red light : Red is way off the main part of the spectrum we can see brightly, i.e. it takes putting out more light power (and respectivey electrical power input to the lamp) in Red to make the lighting appear as bright, compared to something we preceive better like Orange of SON