Automated Fixtures Martin MAC 250 Krypton vs. Elation Platinum Spot 5R

[lightingguy1]

Hi guys,

I am trying to decide whether to purchase a few Elation Platinum Spot 5R's or a Martin MAC 250 Krypton........ Ever since I saw the Platinum Spot 5R on the back of PLSN, I've been very curious. Does anyone have any experience with the Spot 5R? Which one do you think I should get? Which one is brighter? Does Elation or Martin have better repair services/tech support?

Thanks!
-Lightingguy1

 

[bishopthomas]

Are you trying to meet riders? If so I think the Martin is the way to go.

 

[theatre4jc]

Personally I'll take a Mac 250 Entour over any fixture in that range. They are bright and fairly responsive with speed. Elation is coming out with some good gear and I'm hearing less and less complaints about the quality but I still don't think they have anything that quite compares to the Mac 250. But I've also not see the Platinum Spot 5R.

 

[jhdesynz]

I am not sure about the specifics of the PS5R, but I own several DesignSpot 250 Pro's and they are just as good if not better than the MAC 250 Entours. If the fixtures are going to be living in a house plot or are not going to leave the building, go Elation and save the $$$.

 

[JChenault]

I am not sure about the specifics of the PS5R, but I own several DesignSpot 250 Pro's and they are just as good if not better than the MAC 250 Entours. If the fixtures are going to be living in a house plot or are not going to leave the building, go Elation and save the $$$.

Interesting comment - I just got a demo of the Elation DesignSpot 300 and was highly unimpressed for my application ( Theatrical ). My two big complaints.

1 - the beam spread was not what was stated in the documentation. It would not zoom to 41 degrees. Quite a bit tighter.
2 - The mechanical dimmer was AWFUL. There was no way you could get a reasonable beam at ( say) 25%. IE it dimmed by changing ( sort of) the shape of the beam, not the intensity of the beam.

As a minor point - it looked quite problematic to change gobos - but that I could have lived with.


In your experience - how is the dimming on the DesignSpot 250? Are they changing the shape, or does the intensity really change?

To the original poster I would be sure to get a demo of the either unit before I put down my money. If things like 'How does this dim' are important to you, this is something that you can not really tell until you see the unit.

 

[derekleffew]

Noted writer Mike Wood gives his standard unbiased review of the Elation Platinum Spot 5R in the July 2010 issue of Lighting & Sound America. (You DO have a free subscription, don't you?) Unfortunately, the article is is not online at L&SA's site, but is likely to be posted on Mike's site eventually (i.e., in a few months).

EDIT: Update, PDF of the article can be found here: http://www.mikewoodconsulting.com/articles/ElationPlatinumSpot5R.pdf .

Regarding the dimming of the fixture, he writes

... The dimming was reasonably smooth, particularly at the top end, but exhibited some artifacts when dimmed below 30%. ... It's not my favorite curve to try and match to other fixtures, but it's usable. ...

 

[jhdesynz]

The Elation DS 300's are dimmer and have slight beam issues because of the CMY and zoom mechanics when compared to the DS 250 Pro's which do not. The MSD250/2 lamp also has a higher colour temperature, so it looks brighter.

The dimming curve on the fixtures has never posed an issue. I have been using them in a contemporary style HOW setting for a few months now and have never had any problems that I thought were bothersome.

You also need to remember your audience is not going to notice. We will, but its what we do, we're trained for it. In my opinion as an Elation DS 250 Pro and DS 300 Pro owner, there is no reason not to invest in them. Though I would prob have gotten more of the 250 Pro's if I had it to do over.

 

[JChenault]

T
The dimming curve on the fixtures has never posed an issue. I have been using them in a contemporary style HOW setting for a few months now and have never had any problems that I thought were bothersome.

Humm - wondering if we were seeing the same fixture. On the fixture I was looking at, if I set the intensity to 25 percent, what I got was a very misshapen beam with fringing patterns around it. It was totally not smooth. You could see the sawtooth shutters coming in out of focus.

Can you describe what you see when you dim your DS300's. Does the beam get mis-shapen as the shutters come in, or does it evenly dim?

Thanks for the clarification

 

[jhdesynz]

Can you describe what you see when you dim your DS300's. Does the beam get mis-shapen as the shutters come in, or does it evenly dim?

Thanks for the clarification

I have never noticed it. I have Design Spot 300 Pro's. Did you test the 300 or the 300 Pro? I will check this weekend though and report back.

 

[JChenault]

I was purported to be the Design Spot 300 Pro. (and I don't see a Design Spot 300 in the on line catalog). If you are not seeing a misshapen beam, I will contact the dealer for another look.

Thanks.

 

[jhdesynz]

OK. I did some testing after the service today. We have Cyberlights as well for the long throw positions, so I used them as a comparison point.

Tests were done with all color and gobos out and with the beam at a hard edge.

All the way zoomed in (home position): The DS 300 Pro's have a very even fade down to about 10% then you start to get splotches. This was only noticeable on a 12+ second fade out. On a 6 second fade, it looked very natural. The cyber lights have very even and nice fade down to around 20% then you see the same effect. Again, only noticeably annoying on a 12+ second fade. On a 6 second fade, the look was again very natural.

All the way zoomed out with hard edge: The DS 300 Pro's had a very even fade down to about 50% then you start to get aberrations in the beam. This was noticeable on anything over a 3 second quick fade. The cyber lights had the same aberrations starting at about 40%.

However, just from practical use, I very rarely have the units zoomed all the way out unless I am using the gobo wheel for a breakup. That being said, you prob wouldn't notice the aberrations as the gobo would make for an uneven fade anyway.

I wouldn't use the dimmer flags as an excuse to not get the Elation lights. They're overall performance is on par with the MAC 250's or 575 Krypton. I haven't been a big fan of the Martin fixtures for their repair record, but the MAC 250's are decent when you take care of them. I would go with either fixture if money were not an issue. If you're working in a budget, my recommendation is the Elation lights.

 

[bishopthomas]

Hey, Lightingguy1, what did you end up going with? I just bought a pair of the Elation Platinum Spot 5R's and am replacing my MAC250's with them. They are fantastic units. The claims on the web site of being as bright as a 575, smaller than a 250 are very accurate. I wasn't too thrilled with the stock MAC250 gobos and recently started buying aftermarket gobos. But the gobos in the PS5R are completely usable and I don't see myself needing to replace them for a long time (if ever). The colors are great, red is actually usable unlike in the MAC250. They seem to be a lot faster than the MAC250. Right now my favorite feature is the frost ability. I was planning on buying dedicated wash units, but now I'll just stock up on the PS5R's and have all of the same fixture.

I haven't opened them up yet so I don't know how easy it is to access the innards, but I will be using a custom gobo this weekend and will report back. So far I'm glad I'm making the switch from MAC250 to the Platinum Spot 5R. Keep in mind that I had the original MAC250, not the Krypton that the OP wants in the comparison. I have never used the Krypton but have used the Entour briefly. I liked the Entour more that the original MAC250, it seemed to be brighter and with better gobos. But I like the PS5R even more than the Entour. If anyone has any questions I will try my best to answer them. I took some pictures the other day, but nothing to necessarily highlight these fixtures in particular, but if they are relevant I'll post them.

 

[bishopthomas]

Here is a picture of the setup from the weekend. The MAC250's are on the truss, PS5R's are on the floor. FYI, the LED bricks are Longman Lighting VPower123's. They are a pretty cool fixture, tri color, IP65 rated (left them out in the rain overnight the first week I got them and was glad the rain cleaned the dust off of them), and a pretty decent price.
http://nomadicpro.net/photos/djrig.jpg