While photo floods can be hot, the big advantage of them or other incandescent or florescent light systems is that you can see how your lighting is affecting the object. You can see the shadows and reflective hot spots before you take the shot. You can move the lights around and see when the lighting is hitting the object the way you want. For those that haven't worked with flash enough to be able visualize how it's going to look, hot or cool lights can be very beneficial in this way and is better than trying to shoot with one flash... unless you know how to use one flash to minimize hot spots and bounce the light around. The mistake most people make with incandescent or florescent lights is, they don't use enough of them, since photographically, they are not that bright (the lights, not the photographer
) and you need several of them to bring the light level up enough to be able to get good depth of field. Unless you are shooting long exposures on a tri-pod to minimize camera movement.
One kind of light I would recommend staying away from is Halogen. Now those are dangerously hot, too much of a bright pin point light source and very difficult to use in a small area around a light tent or other small area that most people shoot jewelry and beads in.
Mike