# difference between spot and flood



## bloominators (Mar 21, 2014)

Hello, ive been looking into halogen bulbs and everyone says use flood bulbs and not spots, i was wondering how to tell the difference? cheers


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

edit: didn't read your question properly lol


it will say on the box if its a flood or spot lamp (floods generally have frosted glass, spots clear, but this is not a safe assumption to make if you don't have the box and cant find out for certain what the bulb is, for eg by checking on the manufacturers website against a make number written on the bulb)


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## bloominators (Mar 21, 2014)

okay thanks, is there not anyway official way to tell by apperance?


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## frogworlduk (Mar 27, 2009)

I believe it's to do with the angle of light dispersion. Halogen wise though don't know if that makes a difference to the equation.


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

halogen lamps are a flood source of light with a range of beam widths  just to make it even more complicated

Halogen is great! it produces vast amounts of heat per watt in a very quick period of time and even tight beam ones emit over a fairly wide area.

there are differing grades however! you really do get what you pay for. for instance you can get china made halogens that emit heat and light but if you look the ignition system is thinner and the reflector is pained on. This is not efficient in terms of getting all the heat and light forward and they fail quickly.

or if you get European made lamps you will see a very robust ignition system and a thick, rolled metal reflector inside of the lamp. These lamps are much more efficient in terms of making the most of the energy that they use and they last and last and last. I know of many people that have had Arcadia halogens on dimming stats for over 3 years now......bad for business :-( but good for us keepers 

in terms of output, a good halogen will make the most of the energy that it uses, as such a 50w quality halogen will do a better job (that is produce more heat, quicker) than a 100w tungsten. so less wattage used over a shorter period. double savings.

hope this helps 

john


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

all good info /\

but not all halogens are safe to use for reptile basking spots...stick with ones which are specifically labelled "flood" _and_ wide angle (PAR30 or higher, definitely higher if the lamp is only 12inches from the basking area)

the difference in temps with halogen spots, can be 100f or more in the hot spots, if your average basking area temp is ~130f, that could mean small hotspots within that area of upto 230f! which you may not detect easily, and has the potential to burn horribly


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