Looking for objective comparisons of LED fixtures

[DMahalko]

Is anyone aware of a website that is doing objective side by side reviews of all the various LED fixtures on the market, plus comparing them side-by-side against other fixtures like the S4 and traditional PAR fixtures of various wattages?

It is very hard to go by the spec sheets that various manufacturers create to go with their products, because there's apparently no standard for how ratings are stated.

Most show a beam angle chart that says "at this distance, the beam is this bright" but the problem is, the test distances marked are arbitrary from one manufacturer to the next, and the intensity drops as the distance increases.

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Also, when using only one LED light source, the beam array mixing leads to multiple multicolored shadow fringes around objects, that makes edges seem psychedelic-blurry.

So it would be useful to see what shadows look like behind a hard-edged object in front of a white background for a single LED light, and then also the shadows and backfill with multiple LED fixtures on the subject.

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It would also be interesting to show the disasters that occur trying to use gobos with LED fixtures. I know it does not work with multiple beam sources but it'd be nice to have documentation of just how bad it can be.

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Also I'd like to see a top-to-bottom review including the ETC Selador, the American DJ LED 64 Pro, and the Chauvet LED Rain to see really, how these all compare. Or how they don't compare.

I don't think such an intimately detailed lighting review website exists. It would need someone who is really serious about testing to take this up, who has a long room for light throw testing on a matte white wall.

 

[derekleffew]

You are correct--that which you are seeking does not exist. The closest I've found is PDFs of articles written by Mike Wood which have been published in Lighting & Sound America, ESTA's Protocol, and other Industry Periodicals. All are on his website at Mike Wood Consulting/Articles.

Of particular interest should be How Bright is Bright, Part 1, Brightness (and the rest of the series), as well as product reviews of Technical Focus: Product In-Depth - The Chauvet Colorado 6, Technical Focus: Product In-Depth - The Coemar Stage Lite LED, Technical Focus: Product In-Depth - The Martin Stagebar 54, and others. In the "Protocol-'Out of the Wood'" series, he explains some of the issues faced when comparing LED fixtures against each other, and against traditional sources, especially in Color Prejudice, or How Bright Is That LED Really?.

Hope this helps.

See also StageLightingHistory: 2008A for a down and dirty garage experiment.

... It would also be interesting to show the disasters that occur trying to use gobos with LED fixtures. ...

To my knowledge, there are only three fixtures, all moving lights, available: 1) The Chauvet MINspot, 2) Neo-Neon REVO 100, and 3) The soon-to-be-released Martin MAC 350 Entour™.
I believe Robert-Juliat recently showed a very early prototype of a profile fixture with condensor optics.

 

[xander]

Another great article that is relevant, also by Mike Wood and published in Protocol is the one on CRI.

 

[Esoteric]

Is anyone aware of a website that is doing objective side by side reviews of all the various LED fixtures on the market, plus comparing them side-by-side against other fixtures like the S4 and traditional PAR fixtures of various wattages?

It is very hard to go by the spec sheets that various manufacturers create to go with their products, because there's apparently no standard for how ratings are stated.

Most show a beam angle chart that says "at this distance, the beam is this bright" but the problem is, the test distances marked are arbitrary from one manufacturer to the next, and the intensity drops as the distance increases.

,

Also, when using only one LED light source, the beam array mixing leads to multiple multicolored shadow fringes around objects, that makes edges seem psychedelic-blurry.

So it would be useful to see what shadows look like behind a hard-edged object in front of a white background for a single LED light, and then also the shadows and backfill with multiple LED fixtures on the subject.

,

It would also be interesting to show the disasters that occur trying to use gobos with LED fixtures. I know it does not work with multiple beam sources but it'd be nice to have documentation of just how bad it can be.

,

Also I'd like to see a top-to-bottom review including the ETC Selador, the American DJ LED 64 Pro, and the Chauvet LED Rain to see really, how these all compare. Or how they don't compare.

I don't think such an intimately detailed lighting review website exists. It would need someone who is really serious about testing to take this up, who has a long room for light throw testing on a matte white wall.

All you really need to know is the output lumens of each fixture and then you can compare them.

From personal experience the Selador are the best built, brightest, with the best color mixing and most options. They would get a (bright)5-(build)5-(mixing)5-(options)5.

The American DJ 64 Pro is next brightest, but not built as well, its color mixing leaves something to be desired, but it comes with decent options. It would get a 3.5-2-2.5-3.5.

The Chauvet Rain depends on which model you are asking about. I will assume you are asking about the high end model. It is not very bright, but build like a tank, its color mixing is average, but has very little options. it would get a 2.5-4.5-2.5-2.

The Weidamark 3W PAR units are very bright, build very well, have good color mixing, but almost no options. It would get 4-4.5-3-1.

This isn't based on sitting with the unit and a bare white wall but rather having used all those units (and many, many, many more) in real world situations.

It all comes down to what you desire.

Mike

 

[Footer]

We are sitting on the verge of the LED watershed. Because of that, it is nearly impossible to do a solid shoot out between every fixture out there. A fixture 2 years old is light years behind a fixture that is hitting the pavement today. Next year its going to be even worse. The holy grail of an LED fixture that is inexpensive and has a hard edge beam is on the horizon. The days of pixelation units that look on even are soon going to be gone. I think at LDI this year in Vegas we will see every major manufacture have a hard edge, bright, LED fixture. I also think there will be a few companies there that we have never heard of also have great products.

If you have ever been to any shoot out between fixtures it all really comes down to the individual doing the shootout. There is no definitive list. However, if you are in the market for these products call up your dealer and get an in house demo of each fixture. Touch the controls with each fixture. If you can, use it for a show. That is the only way to really find out what is best.

It would be great if we had a consumers report type thing for the lighting industry. Online forums like this one are one way to get the info. Industry periodicals are another. However, getting these fixtures in, testing them accurately, and getting the facts out is a long and expensive process. Many companies don't want their product to compete in a shootout if they know they have an inferior product.

 

[MNicolai]

I second what Footer said. LED's are crazy popular right now. I was at a product showcase last week where we had LED fixtures from all sorts of different theatrical lighting manufacturers. There's a lot of cool stuff out there, but you have to be really careful how you judge what you're looking at. The Color Kinetics rep refused to put his Colorblaze unit out there with fixtures by other companies because the fixture he had available was several years old -- all of his new ones were out on demos and getting shipped all over the country. He even went so far as to complain about how rental houses these days will have fixtures of theirs that are also several years old, and then they go out and get put next to newer fixtures, and customers realize how crappy they are in brightness in comparison. The customers usually don't tell the rental house then, as they'll simply decide against using those fixtures again for anything.

If all rentals were the latest revisions of the LED fixtures that were available, every time you'd rent you'd be more amazed than the time before. Unfortunately, purchasing new revisions to replace old gear (that still works) in rental inventories isn't a practical business decision for rental houses to pursue each time the manufacturer changes something.

For purchasing purposes, always ask that what you're demoing is the latest and greatest revision. Selador's been on the market for only just over a year, and already ETC has completely phased out the Vivid line with the Vivid-R line, which uses 10% less power (2.5w LED's instead of 3.5w) but is 50% brighter. My dealer/rental house has made a big deal of reminding me that his existing stock of Colorblasts aren't up-to-date, but will be before my next rental (which if I'm not mistaken, he said they were getting the new fixtures in this week or next).

With all of that in mind, the best protection you can have as a customer is to remember to buy all of your LED fixtures at once. If you buy them at different time periods and use them for general wash lighting, differences may be subtle, but if you light a cyc with fixtures purchased at different time periods, the revisions in the LED brightness, color rendering, and such will be painfully noticeable. This is why Color Kinetics holds onto plenty of replacement PCB boards for each batch of their fixtures. So if you buy a Colorblaze today, six years from now when LED's are even more developed and the fixture has been revised a dozen times, you can call Color Kinetics up with the PCB serial number if you need to replace it. That way they'll ship you a PCB from the same batch as your fixture originated from so that the color rendering and brightness are at least comparable. (Don't be mistaken though, LED's have that burned for 20,000hrs will produce slightly different colors than LED's that have never been used, even if they are from the same batch.)

 

[BillESC]

I recently installed a pair of Chauvet's new Q-Spot 150 LED moving heads and was quite impressed with the output of this 22w fixture. For comparison, it would easily match a Martin MX-4's output.

The 150's output is listed as 4,180 Lux @ one meter. In mid to late April Chauvet will begin shipping the Q-Spot 260 LED which uses a 60w diode and lists the output as 19,500 Lux @ one meter.