Geoff they can't only count on how much each lamps are......you could actually save more money by getting better lamps by buying LESS lamps cuz the better lamps last longer meaning you dont buy as many lamps due to less failure rate meaning you'll actually save money...when will anybody that... recognize

Funny thing is I noticed BGE is mostly into the quality of arms and fixtures more than the lamps....because I have noticed they went to newer truss arms due to swaying problems and the newer ones had a feature on the bottom part of the bracket to withstand windy weather better and that your electric company uses GE fixtures cuz AE was JUNK

  Does Philips even offer warranty guarantee?  to promise the Philips MV can last 5 years or so? A Westy would guarantee 15 years dude...

Same thing here. We use GE fixtures mostly (good quality fixtures for sure) but they use Philips lamps (pure junk, they cycle in less than a year). Recently I saw another M400A2 Powr/Door, a 10 month old fixture, that began to cycle. The funny thing is that this streetlight is in front of another cycling stretlight LOL.

Further on the street, there are some streetlights (6 to be exact) that are cycling for the 1st time as far as I remember. They seem to have a GE lamp.

BTW I prefer clear HPS, but a coated HPS is cool!

In Europe, elliptical coated HPS lamps were traditionally used where the lamps were fitted inside mercury lanterns, so that the light distribution was not compromised by using an uncoated lamp. However, as the years went by, lanterns became purpose designed for clear tubular HPS, and so there was no longer the necessity to mimic elliptical coated mercury lamps for light distribution purposes. Furthermore, clear tubular HPS lamps in Europe are slightly more efficient at producing light than coated elliptical lamps. For example, comparing Philips 70w PiaPlus lamps, clear tubular produces 6000 lumens whilst coated elliptical produces 5600 lumens.

Does Philips even offer warranty guarantee?  to promise the Philips MV can last 5 years or so? A Westy would guarantee 15 years dude...
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 As far as I know they offer a warranty, hence the reason we send all the defective lamps back. In the end all I have to do is install them. If they want to send us out to keep changing the lamp then fine with me. All I can say is the lamps are junk, but I dont make the decision on who to buy from.

I like coated HPS because I think it is softer and does not glare as bad as clear bulbs do.

For me it depends on what type of fixture and optics the lamp is in:

I like using coated for FCO fixtures and low mounted wallpacks especially those residential tallpacks, and floodlights.

I like using clear for drop refractor fixtures, high mast fixtures, spotlights so the light is more sharp and focused, and high mounted wallpacks.