Automated Fixtures Elation Platinum Spot 5R - Mounting question

hvolmer

Member
I've been looking for an inexpensive moving light. The Elation 5R looks decent, but I'm concerned about the mounting options in the manual. It says the fixture must only be mounted upright (in a standing or hanging position.) I really need something that can go on at least an angle. We are looking to mount several around a vertical semi-circle.

Has anyone had any experience mounting them as such? I don't plan to use them often and may wind up switching to something like a MAC101.

Thanks
 
The Platinum 5Rs and Platinum 5R Pros are unreliable lights in general - not just my experience but others' experiences as well. Nothing against Elation in general, a lot of their stuff is pretty decent, especially their LED line. However, the Platinum 5Rs are not their best fixtures. I wouldn't want to know what having them on an angle would do to pan/tilt. The gobos are also the size of a dime so if you ever need to get customs with detail it won't work out too well. What's the application? Venue size/throw distance? That'll help in fixture selection recommendations.
 
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The Platinum 5Rs and Platinum 5R Pros are unreliable lights in general - not just my experience but others' experiences as well. I wouldn't want to know what having them on an angle would do to pan/tilt. The gobos are also the size of a dime so if you ever need to get customs with detail it won't work out too well. What's the application? Venue size/throw distance? That'll help in fixture selection recommendations.

That's good to know. Even though I own several Elation LEDs, I'm pretty wary of rebranded Chinese import. Budget is driving this.

These will be in small, 500-1000 seat houses / clubs. 18-25' throw. We've used Mac250 Entours with good enough results, but I was really hoping to find something a bit smaller/lighter and the price tag is prohibitive. That's why I've been considering the MAC101. I'm not sure the wash-type beam of the 101 will be enough eye-candy though, but the size and complete lack of weight, low power usage are all very appealing.

Thanks
 
I have no experience with Elation fixtures, but have heard of an incident of burned pan motors in moving lights from a reputable manufacturer when hung "sideways." Therefore, I wouldn't take the risk. The 5R and MAC101 are significantly different fixtures. Tell us which you prefer and perhaps we can offer alternatives. I don't know about cost, but might suggest the GLP Impression Spot One or Impression 90.
 
This may sound like a step in the wrong direction in reliability, but trust me that it isn't compared to the 5Rs and a lot of other cheap movers out there. The Chauvet Q-spot 260 LED. The manual says that it can be mounted in "any safe position". I have seen this fixture in action and taken all of the covers off of it and examined it. It is well built inside, and seems like it would be able to handle being mounted sideways. I'd ask the manufacturer though. You can also look at the Q-Spot 560 LED, but I don't see a full user manual for that yet so I don't know if it has the same "any safe position" restriction. I also don't like the gobos in the 560 as much and there aren't as many of them, but the output is brighter and it has an iris. And at the price of the 260s you can have a spare fixture or two out on the road. It looks fairly simple inside and the parts should be relatively easy to swap out, especially compared to the Elation 5Rs. It also has direct drive on almost anything. That means minimal belts to slip and gears to strip and set screws to come loose. Again, I can't speak for the 560 because I haven't seen it or opened it up yet. But I have seen the 260 in operation and opened it up.

As for output, the Q-Spot 260 LED is pretty much spot on with an MSD250 in the middle of its life (when the output gets a tiny bit less but before the color temp goes down noticeably). The fixture used for the comparison was a Studio Spot 250, so not just any random DJ level fixture that doesn't use half of the output of the MSD due to inefficient optics (I have seen those and it makes me wonder why bother with the MSD if you aren't gonna use it's power). With gobos and colors in the Q-spot 260 still held its own.

Why yes, I did just recommend Chauvet over Elation.

EDIT: As a note, any fixture can burn out in the pan department due to being hung sidways - but with a lighter fixture like this there's less of a chance of it. Do so at your own risk. I've heard of reputable fixtures (in fact, I've even heard this about the 101s) having their pan motors burned out due to being hung sidways. I haven't experienced this personally or seen it in fixture that I've teched, but I do know that it happens.
 
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This may sound like a step in the wrong direction in reliability, but trust me that it isn't compared to the 5Rs and a lot of other cheap movers out there. The Chauvet Q-spot 260 LED. The manual says that it can be mounted in "any safe position". I have seen this fixture in action and taken all of the covers off of it and examined it. It is well built inside, and seems like it would be able to handle being mounted sideways. I'd ask the manufacturer though. You can also look at the Q-Spot 560 LED, but I don't see a full user manual for that yet so I don't know if it has the same "any safe position" restriction. I also don't like the gobos in the 560 as much and there aren't as many of them, but the output is brighter and it has an iris. And at the price of the 260s you can have a spare fixture or two out on the road. It looks fairly simple inside and the parts should be relatively easy to swap out, especially compared to the Elation 5Rs. It also has direct drive on almost anything. That means minimal belts to slip and gears to strip and set screws to come loose. Again, I can't speak for the 560 because I haven't seen it or opened it up yet. But I have seen the 260 in operation and opened it up.

As for output, the Q-Spot 260 LED is pretty much spot on with an MSD250 in the middle of its life (when the output gets a tiny bit less but before the color temp goes down noticeably). The fixture used for the comparison was a Studio Spot 250, so not just any random DJ level fixture that doesn't use half of the output of the MSD due to inefficient optics (I have seen those and it makes me wonder why bother with the MSD if you aren't gonna use it's power). With gobos and colors in the Q-spot 260 still held its own.

Why yes, I did just recommend Chauvet over Elation.

EDIT: As a note, any fixture can burn out in the pan department due to being hung sidways - but with a lighter fixture like this there's less of a chance of it. Do so at your own risk. I've heard of reputable fixtures (in fact, I've even heard this about the 101s) having their pan motors burned out due to being hung sidways. I haven't experienced this personally or seen it in fixture that I've teched, but I do know that it happens.

Personally, I have demoed the Q-Spot 260 in a venue where it was hung at roughly 20' in the air and it just wasn't bright enough. It also didn't handle slow movements very well at all, you can definately still see a stutter in the movement. I am not bashing the spot at all.... Im just saying that it is not the right fixture in a theatre venue but dont get me wrong, its a great dj light and it comes in at quite a killer price range. Just my 2 cents...
 
Almost all moving head units are made to be hung relatively vertical, we avoid it like the plague with our equipment. Throwing another wrench into the thread but oddly enough the HEW Studio Spots seem to not mind being hung horizontally, and they can be found for pretty cheap if memory serves. That's my two cents
 
Personally, I have demoed the Q-Spot 260 in a venue where it was hung at roughly 20' in the air and it just wasn't bright enough. It also didn't handle slow movements very well at all, you can definately still see a stutter in the movement. I am not bashing the spot at all.... Im just saying that it is not the right fixture in a theatre venue but dont get me wrong, its a great dj light and it comes in at quite a killer price range. Just my 2 cents...

I'm going to guess that the fixture was in basic DMX mode - if it was not please correct me - but I'm going to say basic mode because the basic mode has only 8 bit pan/tilt. I demo'd the fixture in 16 bit mode and found no such problem - maybe it was just the unit I demo'd, but it was quite smooth movement-wise. I did some pan and tilt fades on the demo unit and it was not shaky at all.

As far as the output goes, we did a shoot-out in a dark room against the kind of fixture it was advertised to take on - 250 watt arc source fixtures. We got a Studio Spot 250 for the shoot out, as I mentioned before. I'd guess that a Studio Spot 250 with a not-brand-spankin'-new bulb would also have an issue with a 20' trim, especially if competing with other lights. So for a concert application where the movers are the main feature in a dark room, they'll do 20' no problem. Fighting against a wash of 500W or 1kW pars or a bunch of S4s and S4 PARs, it will certainly not cut.
 

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