True light coverage of a hid light

So air cooled reflectors and the bulbs in them are placed elongated so my question is isnt the light coverage also elongated? Why do people always use a square(ie. 3x3, 5x5) if so? And also what is the actual ratio of coverage on a air cooled reflector?

Depends greatly on the reflector/hood you use.

coreywebster said:

Depends greatly on the reflector/hood you use.

Click to expand...

Yep, and the height of your light.

The magnum XXXL hoods are imo the best hoods you can get if you're looking to spread an HPS over a 4x4 square tent as best as possible. It's a fucking HUGE hood, but my friends love them and looking at PPFD charts they do seem to do a great job at spreading it out.

Ive even seen people use those super spreaders in combo with the magnum hood (super spreader is sort of like a diffuser underneath the hps bulb) and the spread is perfect! They obviously eat some of your photons though.