How durable are these? If they can be had for $170, they look kind of neat - unless they can't take abuse and break easily.
LED color wash lights
- Thread starterchurchmouse
- Start date
How durable are these? If they can be had for $170, they look kind of neat - unless they can't take abuse and break easily.
soundlight
Well-Known Member
Any DJ light isn't really designed to take abuse. But they store nicely in padded laptop computer sleeves, from what I've heard, so you put 'em in padded laptop sleeves in a nice box lined with foam (with slots cut in the foam along the long walls to slip the sleeves down in to and keep them vertical), and you should be good. Make sure that you get a pretty large laptop sleeve though, because the Colorpalettes are almost 17 inches wide. They're pretty darn bright, but as I haven't actually used 'em (only seen 'em in geetar center and elsewhere), I can't testify that they're road-worthy.
Keep in mind that it is a DJ level product, but for a DJ level product, it's pretty darn good. I also like the ability to split up the surface in to 8 individual sections with the 27 channel mode.
I know that if you do put them in a nice padded sleeve in a decently protective case for travel, they should be fine. From what I've read, this does seem to be one of Chauvet's better and more reliable products on the DJ end of things.
soundlight
Well-Known Member
A couple comments:
Back to the original question. Are you trying to put some color on the walls while the normal lights off or on? That makes a HUGE difference. Somewhere around here you'll find pictures of a wedding in a tent with LED lights (I think it's one of Len's jobs). If those LED's are the only light source and you are going for a somewhat dim, soft look then you might be able to do something with a bunch of low end LED lights. If you are trying to add color to the walls with the rest of the lights on, forget it. You need a higher quality more expensive product. The cheap LED fixtures just don't have the power to compete with a big Metal Halide fixture, they will be faint and washed away by the normal lights.
Personally I would have to go with a bunch of incandescent PAR 64's. As was said $80 each and they are bullet proof. Can you have some pipes mounted up high in the corners of the gym? If you can those cheap par cans can blast color all over the place from the corners of the room.
A question was asked about what kind of LED's are in one of the Chinese made LED lights. This is a really tricky area. They don't use the high end Luxeon K2 LED's we love in our flash lights. They produce their own LEDs, with wildly different levels of intensity. It's incredibly inaccurate to look at a fixture and say this Chinese fixture has 3mm LED's but that one has 5mm LEDs so it will be brighter. There's just too much variation in these products to get any sort of good data on them right now. You've got to see it yourself or talk to a dealer you trust.
A demo is the way to go. See if you can rent one to see how it looks in the Gym.
Back to the original question. Are you trying to put some color on the walls while the normal lights off or on? That makes a HUGE difference. Somewhere around here you'll find pictures of a wedding in a tent with LED lights (I think it's one of Len's jobs). If those LED's are the only light source and you are going for a somewhat dim, soft look then you might be able to do something with a bunch of low end LED lights. If you are trying to add color to the walls with the rest of the lights on, forget it. You need a higher quality more expensive product. The cheap LED fixtures just don't have the power to compete with a big Metal Halide fixture, they will be faint and washed away by the normal lights.
Personally I would have to go with a bunch of incandescent PAR 64's. As was said $80 each and they are bullet proof. Can you have some pipes mounted up high in the corners of the gym? If you can those cheap par cans can blast color all over the place from the corners of the room.
A question was asked about what kind of LED's are in one of the Chinese made LED lights. This is a really tricky area. They don't use the high end Luxeon K2 LED's we love in our flash lights. They produce their own LEDs, with wildly different levels of intensity. It's incredibly inaccurate to look at a fixture and say this Chinese fixture has 3mm LED's but that one has 5mm LEDs so it will be brighter. There's just too much variation in these products to get any sort of good data on them right now. You've got to see it yourself or talk to a dealer you trust.
A demo is the way to go. See if you can rent one to see how it looks in the Gym.
About the Chauvet ColorPalette:
They look and feel pretty durable... there's a plastic screen covering the LEDs and the rest is all metal. I still am careful when carrying them around and stuff, but they are strong.
My four ColorPalettes are actually installed in the theater at my school right now, and they do a lot more than I thought. I figured they could be used for some accent/mood/faint color wash stuff, but without the other stage lights on, they actually are bright enough for visibility across most of the stage. I'll try and take a picture soon. I think they could definitely be used for a cyc, but the very similar Chauvet ColorStrip would probably be better for cyc. If you want to know more about either light, just ask!
They look and feel pretty durable... there's a plastic screen covering the LEDs and the rest is all metal. I still am careful when carrying them around and stuff, but they are strong.
My four ColorPalettes are actually installed in the theater at my school right now, and they do a lot more than I thought. I figured they could be used for some accent/mood/faint color wash stuff, but without the other stage lights on, they actually are bright enough for visibility across most of the stage. I'll try and take a picture soon. I think they could definitely be used for a cyc, but the very similar Chauvet ColorStrip would probably be better for cyc. If you want to know more about either light, just ask!
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I just sold my 10mm LEDs for these 1watt led pars from ColorKey.
http://www.prolightingdepot.com/product.sc?categoryId=38&productId=362
I don't know much about the company but I know side by side with the older 10mm they blow them out of the water, and are pretty much on par with the Coemar iWash's that I use.
This fall I'll be bringing a bunch of them into the theater for a few different shows, and I'll be sure to throw up pics and reviews.
I used to use the 10mm for weddings and such as up-lighting. The only issue I had were that they are all fixed beam, and it was difficult to get a full wall wash. But so far I'm very happy with the 1watts - they can color fade, color bump, or have a bunch of fixed colors that can be set through the on board display. Definitely worth the upgrade if I had to choose again.
http://www.prolightingdepot.com/product.sc?categoryId=38&productId=362
I don't know much about the company but I know side by side with the older 10mm they blow them out of the water, and are pretty much on par with the Coemar iWash's that I use.
This fall I'll be bringing a bunch of them into the theater for a few different shows, and I'll be sure to throw up pics and reviews.
I used to use the 10mm for weddings and such as up-lighting. The only issue I had were that they are all fixed beam, and it was difficult to get a full wall wash. But so far I'm very happy with the 1watts - they can color fade, color bump, or have a bunch of fixed colors that can be set through the on board display. Definitely worth the upgrade if I had to choose again.
