In the next sunday (4.sep.2011) i going with my father and my brother to vacation at Ein-Gev resort village in the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret), so i probably returns from there with many pictures.
I have noted last year that they replacing all of their old 125W MV white globes to clear globes with Eurolux 32W 840 CFLs, instead of remaining the white globes and upgrading them to 70W HPS internal ignitor or 110W HPS retrofit for MV lamps.

If replacing, they'd better leave it MV and replace to a more efficient fixture, not one that throws 60% of the light output upwards

And the old white mercury globes, like the Ben Hur and Steinitz originals, are very reliable and well made. Unlike the modern clear ones, where the plastic deteriorates after few years and becomes greenish, and reduces light output. Only problem with them is bad light distribution

The old 125W MV globes, also made from plastic and yellowed sometimes.
Fixtures with any means of cutoff optics are much more expensive, and Ein-Gev wanted to save energy and maintenance cost (Ballasts), so they found the cheapest solution to do so: Replacing the 125W MV white globes with clear globes with Eurolux 32W 840 tubular CFLs, because there is no any remote ballast, so only the lamps needs replacements. But the lamps life are accordingly.

The white globes re polyethilene. They take ages to deteriorate, and lose some transparency on the top half from dirt getting embedded into the plastic, and become brittle after many years, but thats about it. A 20 year old globe is mostly still in good sahape

Ben Hur's "Universe" and "Ellipse" models are semi-cutoff (with much better light distribution), but are in fact just a different shell installed on the same base as the standard white globe. They are an upgrade option which can be considered for globe installations. http://benhurl.com/default.asp?iID=EFJLKG

There used to be other versions using the same base as the globes (not the newer Ben Hur base), shaped as cube (rare but still exists here and there), and ultra rare hexagon (model name "Carmel", appeared in Ben Hur's older website)



If it would be me : HPS is inappropriate for such installastions since it would give awful visibility. I would leave the 125W globes and just switch off some of the fixtures where there is sufficient light from adjacent sources, or change them to 80W mercury

I have some globe gear myself, so i can experiment (1x complete Steinitz 125W mercury with internal gear, 1x complete Ben Hur incandescent with same size gobe as the Steinitz - not the smaller globe used normally for gearless versions, other bases with various setups which i found destroyed and combined into more or less complete bases)

BTW, i am looking to find some 18L jars from mineral water for water dispensers. They will fit nicely on the other bases to form complete fixtures (though look very odd with the transparent plastic and handle in the side )

I returned from our vacation in Ein-Gev resort village with a lot of pictures and two videos.