What’s your favorite cobra head model? What’s your favorite type of lamp (HPS, MH, MV, CFL, induction, incandescent, LED) in a cobra head. Do you like the GE, Westinghouse, Line Materials, Cooper Lighting, or American Electric cobra heads the most?

Do you prefer drop lens or full cutoff fixtures? Glass refractor, acrylic, or polycarbonate when a refractor is used? What’s your favorite wattage of cobra head or color temperature of LED cobra head (if you prefer LED)?

The Westinghouse OV-14B, in original mercury vapor with a Westinghouse mercury bulb. Otherwise, 1960s cobras in their original configuration.

My favorite North American cobra would probably be the first generation OV-15, in 175w clear MV.

MV has always been my favorite lamp type, and for proper cobras, I prefer drop lens (SCO) glass. Though for lanterns here in Australia, I prefer Acrylic bowls, as glass bowls were never really offered.

My all time favorite cobrahead is the Raymond Industries Wyt-Ray UV-KSC/68, which is an Australian made version of the Japanese Iwasaki KSC-4. I'm lucky enough to have one!

https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=search&cat=0&pos=8&pid=259923

I prefer metal halide and mercury vapor (with coated lamps) cobra heads over HPS ones. Never was a fan of clear mercury vapor lights due to their poor color rendering. My favorite cobra head light source would probably be coated mercury vapor paired with an FCO fixture. Light quality is way better than the clear ones without the color shifting issues or short lifespan of metal halide (initially, MH’s color rendering is better than coated MV (65 CRI vs 50 CRI) but it’s not better than coated MV for too long). MH lamp CRI can drop as the lamp gets older.

I prefer the full cutoff cobra heads because they cast more light on the road and less light up and sideways, though a semi cutoff spreads more of the light on the road (though not as much light as an FCO on one spot), but you still need less fixtures so technically you save energy as the refractor is supposed to shine light at a wider beam requiring less street lights which is why semi cutoff fixtures were more common than full cutoff fixtures before LEDs were around. As for SCO fixtures, I prefer glass and acrylic refractors over polycarbonate, as polycarbonate refractors yellow out badly and eventually they get brittle. So, cities technically saved energy if they used the semi cutoff fixtures as it required less fixtures but I still prefer FCO fixtures, but the issue with SCO’s is that the light they put out was dimmer because the refractor reduced brightness. My favorite cobra head is probably the M400, followed by the M250. Honestly I prefer modern cobra heads over vintage ones but there are exceptions (like honestly I prefer the look of the 113 over the 115). The best looking semi cutoff small cobra head fixture in my opinion is probably the M250R2, the best looking larger semi cutoff cobra head is probably the M400A2/M400R2. Honestly the M400A2 and M400R2 is one of the few cobra heads in my opinion that ACTUALLY looks better with a drop lens. As for the best looking vintage cobra heads I also think the GE’s looked the best. Most Cooper and Westinghouse cobra heads in general don’t look very good.

The reason why the old cobra heads look dimmer than the LEDs is because the refractor reduces its raw lumen output, but most cities install LEDs of a similar brightness (like a 40W LED fixture to replace a 175W MV/100W HPS). FCO HID cobra heads and equivalent LEDs are usually the same brightness just different colors.

As for wattages, I like 175-250W MV (100-175W for HPS or MH) for residential streets and 400W MV (200-400W HPS or 250-400W MH) for major streets. Anything under 70 watts for HPS, under 100 watts for MH, or under 175 watts for MV is a bit too dim for street lighting to be honest. Any lamp over 150 watt HPS, 250 watt MV, or 175 watt MH is just TOO much for a residential street. My favorite era for cobra heads is probably 90s or 2000s for looks, as for reliability, probably 1960s through 80s.

Even though the old cobra heads are built like tanks, I always thought they looked kind of ugly, I never really liked the look of the vintage Westinghouses for example even though they were very well built.

I'm not super knowledgeable about specific lighting fixtures, but I've always loved mercury vapors, and I prefer the flat lenses over bulgy refractors, just makes an overall slimmer profile to the light which I like. I'll always choose a metal fixture housing and glass lens (though acrylic is also acceptbale if its high quality) and a BT28 clear bulb in it.

I prefer the look of FCO’s in most fixtures. The M400A, M400 (newer models), as well as the AEL 115, 125, OVZ, OVX, M250R2, and M250A2, all look better in FCO in my opinion. I also prefer the light FCO fixtures put off as the most light gets on the road and they’re also brighter because there is no refractor that reduces lumen output.

I don’t even know why the drop lens refractors existed, I honestly wish all street lights were FCO. I’d still MUCH rather see drop lens cobra heads than those stupid globe or acorn post top fixtures that cast the LEAST amount of light down and emit a horrendous amount of glare, or flood lights that point directly into people’s houses (that’s horrible). I’m honestly not a huge fan of drop lenses on cobra heads but that’s what they normally used. FCO HID fixtures weren’t rare but they were significantly less common than the drop lens versions. I’m glad all LEDs are full cutoff. A semi cutoff LED would emit a horrible amount of glare and wouldn’t solve the light pollution caused by semi cutoff cobra heads. Some of the AEL Autobahns (which is what they use around me) habe a surprisingly good light beam. The original ones were from 2019-2021 and have been turning purple and they’ve been getting replaced with new ones. I believe in some countries, FCO was the standard for a long time, but it wasn’t in the U.S.

If I collected a street light (which I never have) I’d probably remove the refractor and put a flat lens on it. If I was installing street lights and was a company, I’d probably only install the full cutoff version.