Traylen wrote:
"The
ETC Express and the
Strand 300 are the two competitors for the cheaper boards class. While both are very good boards the
Strand 300 supposedly handles moving lights and scrollers (aka intelligent fixtures) better and also tends to be more durable then the
ETC counterpart"
Curious as to what info. you
base this comment about durability on, as my observations from the many postings on the assorted stagecraft forums over the past several years is that
ETC, especially the
Express/
ion series consoles are vastly more reliable then anything in the
Strand line.
Note that I'm not a huge fan of the
Express/
ion OS, prefering the
Strand Light Pallette style, but am aware that
ETC has superior tech support, which is why I have 3
Express consoles at our
PAC. I can think of at least a dozen rental shops in my area (Metro NYC), all whom
stock ETC in the rental
line, while maybe 2
stock Strand, and those are the 500 series that are seeing increased usage on Broadway. I'm not aware of any of these shops using the
Strand 300 series (been a while since I checked - maybe BML in Raritan, NJ).
Do a google search on the Stagecraft newsgroups or the Lightnetwork to re-visit the assorted complaints about
Strand tech support and you'll see what I mean.
That said, the
Strand 300 is indeed a lot of bang for the buck, especially as it essentially has the OS of the more expensive 500 consoles. They are indeed a better choice if you have ML's, as compared to the
Express.
But don't forget that at some
point you might need to get the
console serviced and where are you going to do that ?, and who has a loaner in your area ?.
SB