ADJ, Elation, Chauvet, professional use moving profile heads

[John Noah]

In the market for some moving lights. These wont be toured and only in a theatrical environment. Here are the few lights that caught my eye:

ADJ Focus Profile (looks the best & brightest for what I'd like to do but herd some reliability issues with the brand, and some their moving lights and I'm wondering if its true)
Elation Fuze Profile (not to far off in price but led is about 100w lower)
Chauvet Pro Maverick Force S profile (decent)
Artfox Profile H350 (looks to be a "budget" light, but 3 of these is about the cost of 1 of the others)

All seem to have close to the same feature set. Is there any reason I should stay away from a certain brand? If I go the way of Artfox, I do realize that I may have to buy more of them to possibly equal the longevity of the others. We usually dont have any outside lighting boards come in.

 

[JohnD]

Check with several dealers and try to get a shoot-out in your space with those fixtures.

 

[Ford]

John is on-point.
Whoever you purchase from, go through a dealer that will support you.
I (of course) am partial to the Maverick units.
That said, your best bet is to get them in to your space, and see how they work for you.

 

[MNicolai]

I would probably add High End's Lonestar and Hyperstar fixtures to your list. Similar price points and output and pretty quiet in terms of noise. Primary difference between the two -- Lonestar has shutters, Hyperstar doesn't. Production Advantage currently has Hyperstar posted for $5076. Though for a similar price point that Maverick has framing shutters whereas getting that from Lonestar is going to cost you more.

I'd be careful of the ADJ and Artfox. Typically when you get into the less reputable stuff, you get more noise out of the fixtures that could be a problem if you're using these for actual theater as opposed to live music. Being able to afford more fixtures if you go that route doesn't help you much if those fixtures end up being so loud you can't use them as often. For reference, the ADJ is listed at 49 dB @ 3ft compared to 35 dBA @ 1m of the Lonestar (Hyperstar is unlisted, but I assume it's the similar since the fixtures are basically the same except for the framing shutters). That 14 dB difference equates to the ADJ being roughly 3x louder. (+10dB is generally perceived to be twice as loud). The Artfox is probably worse -- and also very important to note -- the Artfox doesn't look like it has color mixing -- just a color wheel.

Whatever you do, don't pay retail prices by ordering online. Talk to a dealer and get actual quotes. You will save some money and they can set you up with demos.

 

[TimMc]

The Maverick family of fixtures is pretty darn solid. No experience with ArtFox. ADJ? I'd get the Chauvet Pro.

 

[soundlight]

The Force S Profile, Fuze Profile, and Focus Profile are all pretty good units, but of those 3 I'd pick the Force S Profile every time personally. ADJ quality has been getting a lot better, I put 6 of those Focus Profiles in the booth design I did at LDI for them this year and it's a solid unit - I'm just very partial to the Force S both spot and profile. Great lights. Definitely get a demo though.

 

[jglodeklights]

ADJ, Elation and ChauvetPro have both been making strides in the past few years with improving their QA and overall quality. That said- it’s important to look at some other specs and information rather than pure price/output/features. For example- life rating of the source LEDs. ADJ Focus Profile is 20,000 hours versus 50,000 on the Force S. Still is probably going to last over a decade with normal use, but if both use L70 the latter will keep peak output levels longer. Additionally, Chauvet provides a 3 year bumper to bumper and 5 year engine warranty whereas ADJ is two years for everything (Elation is the same as ADJ). Just additional points to consider when purchasing any fixture for long haul use.

 

[Rainmaker]

I have both Mavericks and Fuze Profiles in my theatre, I love them both. For what it's worth, they're both rock solid. I'd give the edge to the fuze profiles because I prefer working in RGB and the Mavs are cmy but that's a me preference...

 

[Kelite]

As you consider using those three fixtures for custom corporate gobos, be aware the image area size should be considered for best detail and highest resolution projection.
Force S Profile (17mm), Fuze Profile (25mm), and Focus Profile (13mm)

 

[rsmentele]

What Kelite means to say is... I dont believe gobos can be made easily for the Focus Profile, or the Force S Profile...
I should also mention the warranty. Fuze Series, and a number of other Elation LED products, offer an extended 3 year/ 5 Year warranty if registered.

 

[Kelite]

What Kelite means to say is... I dont believe gobos can be made easily for the Focus Profile, or the Force S Profile...
I should also mention the warranty. Fuze Series, and a number of other Elation LED products, offer an extended 3 year/ 5 Year warranty if registered.

Hi Bob!

Apollo will make custom and stock glass gobos down to 15mm image area, but no smaller. The lining up of color plates is somewhat problematic and life expectancy diminishes with the small size.