Taniith
Active Member
There don't seem to be any recent threads (except here), so I thought I'd just ask for recommendations.
Historically we've used cheapo DJ fog machines that cost $100 or so, cycle off constantly, and then eventually clog or die and get replaced with a new one. We'd like to invest in something better, but still within a reasonable price/performance/size range for a community theatre. So, I'm looking for suggestions.
Definite must haves:
- No more than $1,000, something closer to $700-800 would be more ideal
- Able to be controlled over DMX
- We don't need long continuous output, but ideally it wouldn't decide to cycle the heater and refuse to output every few minutes at random. It seems like non-dj models tend to preheat for longer and then *not* cycle off randomly?
- Reasonably quiet (I know fog machines aren't loud, but we got burned on a snow machine recently, so now I'm paranoid about how loud things are)
Nice to haves, but not deal breakers:
- Variable output
- Not enormous (the DJ ones are a nice size for us, but I have yet to see anything with our must-haves that aren't larger/heavier)
- Easy to maintain/clean (to avoid more clogging problems)
Looking around at options from names I've at least heard of:
-> 4Wall seems to like the HES FQ-100, as do some folks in that older thread above. $595 new from 4Wall is a nice price too, but it seems like a bit of a beast and overkill for us at 35lbs and 1500w power consumption.
-> Locally, ALPS seems to like the Martin JEM series (specifically the ZR25).
-> Rosco's Vapour Fog also looks comparable/nice (and the maintenance-via-compressed-air feature seems nice, too).
Does anyone have thoughts on any of those, or suggestions of other models/manufacturers to look at?
Historically we've used cheapo DJ fog machines that cost $100 or so, cycle off constantly, and then eventually clog or die and get replaced with a new one. We'd like to invest in something better, but still within a reasonable price/performance/size range for a community theatre. So, I'm looking for suggestions.
Definite must haves:
- No more than $1,000, something closer to $700-800 would be more ideal
- Able to be controlled over DMX
- We don't need long continuous output, but ideally it wouldn't decide to cycle the heater and refuse to output every few minutes at random. It seems like non-dj models tend to preheat for longer and then *not* cycle off randomly?
- Reasonably quiet (I know fog machines aren't loud, but we got burned on a snow machine recently, so now I'm paranoid about how loud things are)
Nice to haves, but not deal breakers:
- Variable output
- Not enormous (the DJ ones are a nice size for us, but I have yet to see anything with our must-haves that aren't larger/heavier)
- Easy to maintain/clean (to avoid more clogging problems)
Looking around at options from names I've at least heard of:
-> 4Wall seems to like the HES FQ-100, as do some folks in that older thread above. $595 new from 4Wall is a nice price too, but it seems like a bit of a beast and overkill for us at 35lbs and 1500w power consumption.
-> Locally, ALPS seems to like the Martin JEM series (specifically the ZR25).
-> Rosco's Vapour Fog also looks comparable/nice (and the maintenance-via-compressed-air feature seems nice, too).
Does anyone have thoughts on any of those, or suggestions of other models/manufacturers to look at?
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