Actually I think that is a normal lifetime for a metal halide

Metal Halides that are burned horizontally only to explode after a few hundred hours of operation
Ballasts with PCB's left running even after the cap has vented
Dirty fluorescent tubes that dont start right
Preheat fixtures that are left to blink or glow dim orange which overheats and burns out the ballast
Ballasts with end of life protection
Fluorescents that are so frequently started that they die very quickly
Vintage bulbs that are priced way to high on E-bay
Ecojunk and ALTO lamps
People who shake mercury street lights just to make the people that fix them have to repair it
CFL's that have the ballast melt when run for the first time
Having my circuit breaker blow when running a fluorescent on 120V without limiting the current
CFLs that were designed for normal temprature operation being run in a walk in freezer
Metal halides that explode without any warning
Deformed arc tubes
Noisy outdoor ballasts being used indoors only to drive people crazy
3500K fluorescents because the color is ugly
Bulbs that are left to rectify which is not good for the ballast
Halogen capsules that are not fused that arc when burnt out only to have explode which sent a piece of very hot quartz into me it was a chinese lamp  but whoever replaced it touched it
Fingerprints on a MV arc tube
Fake Westinghouse fluorescents
Fluorescents that have no label printed on them
Fluorescents that have the ends crack because they get so hot when you take the cover off the fixture the tube falls out and makes a big mess
People who leave fluroescents on the floor only to have me come in not see it and crush it with my crutch this has happened at my house by me and when we clean the reflectors on the HO fixtures someone left a tube on the floor and it was crushed by my crutch
Streetlight vandals
Old westinghouse lamps that have broken electrodes that don't work on a magnetic rapid start

Mr_Big: Don't forget the Philips-made Westinghouse fluorescent tubes. They look almost real ;-)

Yeah they do almost look real except for the fact that they don't have enough mercury in them now

1. Burnt out preheat fluorescent tubes,turning the fixtures into discolights
2. Buzzing ballasts
3. Vandalism
4. When someone turns off indoor merc lamps just for fun in a room with NO windows leaving the room pitch dark in a few minutes

I agree with you I HATE when people people turn off the lights and leave the room dark

I agree with you I HATE when people people turn off the lights and leave the room dark

Especially with H.I.D lamps because they need to cool down before they want to re-strike!

Yeah unless they are designed for hot restrike

Yeah unless they are designed for hot restrike

In my case the lamps wasn't designed for hot restrike!

1. A F96T12 single pin installed in a RDC lampholder. (actually was lit)
2. The Outlawing of F40 and F96T12/CW in USA.
3. Low mercury lamps.
4. GE outsourcing lamps to Philips & Sylvania.
5. Philips doing away with the black end caps, orange on SHO.
6. Westinghouse selling to Philips.
7. No F48T8 singlpin lamp is offered.
8. Poor maintanance. (In all regards)
9. Sylvania doing away with the lifeline etch.
10. F34 & F96T12ES now being called standard

EDIT
11.Outlawing the manufacture of MV ballast

Seeing newer mercury vapor fixtures scrapped by electric companies and not being able to get one. Ugh that really irritates me because they're not gonna make them like that anymore after January 1, 2008.

not ig i have anything to say about it ill be a last hold out

I have a few more:



1. Off-standard lamps.
2. Crazy use of lamps/fixtures, such as a streetlight on pole UNDER a bridge and LPS in a traincar.
3. Poor maintanance.
4. Poor quality lamps and fixtures.
5. When parts of neonsigns not works making the words look crazy.

1. When Energy Saving lamps are used in MV lanterns
2. When MV lanterns replaced to HPS lanterns

I agree with most of what you guys have said. But here's some more...

The fact that yard lights and many residential floodlights just HAVE to come with junk lamps so they can be sold at a higher price. "FREE LAMP INCLUDED!" Too bad it's literally worth nothing.

Then there's the fact that clear A19 incands cost more (usually four times more) than soft white A19's. There's no reason for that. They're just A19's WITHOUT a white coating.

And the word "lightbulbs." They're LAMPS!