Ushio HiLUX GRO MH 400W opti-blue Bulb (for HPS Ballast)

Broken glass in the bulb even on a replacement. After the replacement, still broken glass but it seemed to work fine so I kept it. Using it for a few weeks it dosn't fire right on a timer. The bulb just has a constant arc in the middle opaque thing (not sure what to call it). I'm using the exact ballast required (S51) and once you get it to fire right it will stay on fine but even allowing it to cool between firings for a half hour or so on an air cooled hood it required me to be there to shut it off and turn it on again until it fired right and went on. After about a month or so it wont turn on at all now. All I get is the aforementioned constant arc.I also bought the HPS 400w version of the same brand and it works flawlessly. No broken glass and so far it seems to fire right every time.Maybe I just got unlucky but the MH's seem to have some QA issues that they need to work out. The HPS turned up fined on the first go, no broken glass and is firing as it should be but with two shots on this bulb I basically got a dud and now I'm past the replacement warranty so out of luck as well.It works great, when it works, don't get me wrong. I ended up having to leave it on 24hrs though because I couldn't be there to make sure that it was working properly but vegetation was splendid using this bulb.

Ushio is the best, and their Hilux Gro opti-blue bulbs work great! My plants are through the veg stage looking healthy without any stretching or stress, and lots of preflowers. Now getting ready to switch in the Ushio Hilux Gro opti-red bulb for flowering.I've used Ushio bulbs for past grows, and always had success, but this is the first time I've used the Hilux Gro "opti" bulbs, tweaked for a spectrum which is intended to provide optimum light for growing plants. I really like Ushio, and recommend their bulbs to anyone wanting bountiful harvests.

Arrived broken!