Basic Scanner Questions "MX 10 Extreme vs Technobeam"

V

VibeH

Member
Hi guys, I'm a newbie here and had a couple questions.

I'm looking to possibly purchase a couple higher end scanners. I was looking at the Martin MX10 Extreme or Technobeams. I have read different stuff on the web and it seemes like everyone points to the technobeams. I have read a lot on the web, and am leaning towards the technobeam side a little. I know a lot of you guys know your stuff, that is why I am here, any help is very much appreciated.

First, what do you guys recommend between the two? Or if you have any other recommendations, please let me know. They both seem like nice Scanners, and relatively powerful. Both 250 bulbs, and I believe at 4000 lumens for each fixture. The LED scanners so far just don't seem to be powerful enough. A lot of the cheaper brands seem to be using around a 50 watt led which doesn't seem to cut it in larger rooms.

A big plus with the technobeams is that I see they have built in movement macros, where the 10s only have prism macros and gobo macros. Movement macros are a big plus for me, I used to have SCX 700s and really liked the movement macro feature. Saves me a lot of time. I am a mobile DJ, weddings, dances, etc... I would be programming the lights, but I will not be using any crazy controller like a grandma or anything. I have a Freekie, which I want to upgrade from, but that is another story. If I get technobeams, I have to upgrade. I actually see they have a controller just for the technobeams, is it any good? I have never used it, but I'm guessing then it doesn't do anything for all the other DMX fixtures other than the Technobeam.

But one of my biggest concerns is : The technobeam is not made anymore. I have read that these are built very well, but a lot of the time when looking to purchase, no one puts the hours of use down on the units. When I sell any of my fixtures, if it has an hour counter on it, I always put down the hours. I just figure the buyer will want to know how much the unit has been used??? Is this anything to worry about when purchasing used if I can't get the hours? For example, I am talking with someone right now about MX 10 Extremes with 3500 hours on them. Is this a high number for this kind of fixture, what is a high number to start worrying about when purchasing used equipment? I know a lot has to do with how they have been cared for, but lets just say a general number of hours. I don't know, all my fixtures are relatively new with well under 1000 hours. But I do like the technobeams and I'm guessing a lot of them will have well over 1000 hours on them. What is it to look for when buying these?

One more question I have, and I have looked for an answer but kind really find it? What are the approx year the technobeams were made? I think the later years have an iris? In your eyes, are the technobeams or MX 10s obsolete? Worth the money, or will these still compete with the new?

Thanks for any info.

Adam
 
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Thanks Soundlight.

I was looking at the trackspot bolt. Looks like a nice fixture. I have never bought HES lights or Strong for that matter. Where is a good place lo look because I have done searches, and it seems like not to many places sell them.

You know what the price range for the trackspot bolt is?

Adam
 
So if that's MSRP, the MAP should be around $3,300 ish? Maybe $3,200? I don't know the High End pricing structure. For lights like that you'll want to contact a High End dealer in your area. There's a good chance that they won't have an online store, most of the dealers who work in higher-end lighting equipment won't have that kind of stuff on their website - it's on a quote-by-quote basis.
 
Yeah, we don't keep an online store because we prefer to be able to help clients get the gear they actually need.

One word though on the new trackspot. I have not had time to get a demo yet, but if it is anything like the old trackspot, then the dimming will be very rough (the video only shows quick dims and not a slow (greater than 10 sec) dim. There also is no remote focus ability.

The Technobeam will provide you with the features of the bolt with the addition of being able to change the lens angle, and remote focus.
 
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Esoteric said:
Yeah, we don't keep an online store because we prefer to be able to help clients get the gear they actually need.

One word though on the new trackspot. I have not had time to get a demo yet, but if it is anything like the old trackspot, then the dimming will be very rough (the video only shows quick dims and not a slow (greater than 10 sec) dim. There also is no remote focus ability.

The Technobeam will provide you with the features of the bolt with the addition of being able to change the lens angle, and remote focus.
Click to expand...

Read the specs for the new Trackspot Bolt. There is remote focus ability on the new Trackspot Bolt. The Bolt is pretty much a smaller version of the Technobeam with an LED source and a second gobo wheel instead of an effects wheel. Also, it's been quite a long time since the original Trackspot was released, so I suspect that High End will have done a good job on the dimming for this fixture.
 
Well, I'll be. I completely missed that. Great little unit.

Mike
 
But is it worth 4k when you can buy something like a Technobeam for 1.2k per fixture used? When you compare the fixtures, the Technobeam stands at 4000 lumens and the Bolt has 3000. The gobos are more or less the same between fixtures on the rotating wheel and the Bolt has an additional fixed wheel that has alot of great gobos- as well as the Bolt gobo...:rolleyes: The the Technobeam has more colors and effect wheel slots. The sizes aren't all that different . The Bolt has a 4 inch hieght difference and a slightly smaller width/lenth than the Technobeam.

Plus repairs on a technobeam are super simple and everyone knows how to do it and parts are cheap. In all honesty I don't see the new Trackspot taking off as much as I would hope- esspecially since I started off of the original Lightwave Research trackspots when I entered into lighting.

Oh. And the Technobeam looks like a space shuttle. Can't forget about that. Just needs cardboard wings.

But depending on what you are going to be using the fixtures for, I suggest for the money that you look into some used technobeams since they are a great work horse fixture and have great support to them.
 
Yeah, I have 2 for sale for $900 each over in the classifieds.

Mike
 
Personally, I like the MX-10 better. The mirror seems quicker to me. Maybe it isn't but is SEEMS that way. Never was a fan of HES gobos, either. But that's a personal choice.

Last time I used the MX-10 was in a newly built club. They installed the fixtures before the drywall, etc., and some of the focus motors got gunked up. Past that, they were fine and once we cleaned them, they were all good. Still there 4 years later and still working.
 
Stock gobos is something to think about. I like some of each - but I do love my gatlin gun gobo and some of the other nice lithos so I'd go for Bolt over MX-10 if new and Techno I over MX-10 if used. I also prefer to have an iris as I really like random iris chase effects (especially with the gatlin gun gobo inserted and rotating, that starts to make people wonder what's going on!), so gobos and features are anyone's choice. I do like the Entours though - there's a lot of breakups on the non-rotating wheel that are really nice.

The main reason that I was suggesting the Trackspot Bolt was instead of new Technobeams. If you're gonna end up buying used, used Techno I (iris included) fixtures are pretty cheap nowadays and parts should be fairly easy to find, along with technicians who are good at servicing them.
 
LightParts.com sells parts on Technobeams and you can call them at any time for support. And parts are much cheaper there than getting the parts at local stage lighting shops.

On that side note about the Entours, I really like some of the gobos in there. But some of them I just find to be useless for me. Like the yellow fan. I do nothing with that one. But I did make a nice iris chase with them by putting a pinspot gobo in my first gobo slot on the fixed wheel. Doing ramps on that is great.

Back to the High End gobos though... That Gatling gobo and the Technowedge one are pretty great. And the Technobeam had that lava gobo that had two dichros in it that rotated one and stayed stationary in the second. The high end gobos always looked great in haze and on scenery. While I've noticed it's kind of hit n miss with the Martin ones.
 
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soundlight said:
So if that's MSRP, the MAP should be around $3,300 ish? Maybe $3,200? I don't know the High End pricing structure. For lights like that you'll want to contact a High End dealer in your area. There's a good chance that they won't have an online store, most of the dealers who work in higher-end lighting equipment won't have that kind of stuff on their website - it's on a quote-by-quote basis.
Click to expand...

Still a rip-off as I've purchased Martin Mac 2k's back from tour @ $2,500 in roadcases.
 
Felix said:
Still a rip-off as I've purchased Martin Mac 2k's back from tour @ $2,500 in roadcases.
Click to expand...

On the other hand, not everyone can use a M2K regularly. Some people don't have that much power or rigging capacity.
 
Those are also probably magnetic ballast 2Ks and other than that a 2K is going to fail more often than an MX10 or a Techno simply because it has a lot more moving parts and a lot of them are more prone to failure (Martin color mixing system, anyone?). An MX10 or Techno or especially the Trackspot Bolt is gonna have a lot fewer moving parts. And with the Bolt, there's also no $150+ lamps and there's not a ballast and ignitor to go bad.

In short, why buy a massive, state-of-the-art-when-released Windows 2000 desktop machine when all you need is when all you need is an XP netbook? (Didn't realize the Windows 2000/MAC2000 number match until after I made the post!)
 
I think the price of the Bolt is WAY overpriced. Yes it has an LED engine but heck it's even more than the price of a Technobeam when it first debuted. Yes, I know the Technobeam has been around for a long time and prices have gone up. But when you look at the other scanner offerings from other manufacturers, including those with LED engines/sources I just don't get it.

I've been a long time HES fan and user (over 17 years now) and have worked with a lot of their instruments and I just don't get the pricing. I think this is Barco just overpricing the product. If they want to move it they need to make the pricing more competitive.

Very very dissapointing...
 
Lightguy48 said:
I think the price of the Bolt is WAY overpriced. Yes it has an LED engine but heck it's even more than the price of a Technobeam when it first debuted. Yes, I know the Technobeam has been around for a long time and prices have gone up. But when you look at the other scanner offerings from other manufacturers, including those with LED engines/sources I just don't get it.

I've been a long time HES fan and user (over 17 years now) and have worked with a lot of their instruments and I just don't get the pricing. I think this is Barco just overpricing the product. If they want to move it they need to make the pricing more competitive.

Very very dissapointing...
Click to expand...

I so agree with you!!!
 
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