Not crazy about Chauvet Colordash Batten. Other choices?

[TJCornish]

I ordered and installed a set of Chauvet Colordash Batten Quad-12 fixtures for a cyc wash on a project based on great luck I've had with other Chauvet Pro gear. Shame on me for not getting a demo beforehand, but I confess I'm disappointed. The brightness and color gamut are fine, but the diode arrangement under each lens is very uneven. With the fixture one way, there is a green stripe below the mixed color (when shining up). Reverse the fixture and it is purple.

It has been a long time since I've seen a fixture that mixes color so poorly, which really surprised me considering the other great stuff Chauvet has been doing lately, and this product's typical purpose.

They are fine for the project in question as this stripe hits above the curtain, but I'm not going to use them again.

Is there another product at a similar price point that has similar output and form factor but better optics?

Thanks.

 

[Michael K]

I have not used either of these, but here's my 2 cents:

I went to a demo a few months ago at my local dealer, and some of the folks there really liked the ElectraLite Elektrabar RGBWAI LED Strip, which is RGBAW+Indigo (which is near UV, but more fully on the visible side.) It has fully homogenizing lenses, and looked pretty good from what I saw. There's also the Elation SIX BAR 1000, which is RGBAW-UV, and closer in price to the Colordash. I've been using their SIX PARs, and have yet to notice any color fringing.

 

[EdSavoie]

There's always the ETC colorsource linear!

But I mean, if you actually have to pay for fixtures, not so much...

 

[soundlight]

I've noticed that with most homogenized fixtures like this there is some linear color shadowing (except for the ColorSource Linear). Especially the 6-color products - hex strips and hex battens from various manufacturers (including the Elation Sixbar) are definitely worse because they are trying to put more colors thru the same lens, which means the LEDs are spaced further apart behind the lens. The Sixbar in particular had some color stripes to it when I demo'd it, much more so than the Sixpars (Sixpar 100 has significant color shadowing, Sixpar 200 has minimal color shadowing based on my extensive demos - probably something to do with diode array arrangement). A company I work for now has the COLORado Batten 72s which are very nice, punchy units, albeit not homogenized.

 

[theatricalmatt]

Would running some diffusion material over the Colordash Batten help matters any?

 

[Skervald]

This doesn't relate to your question about alternate fixtures but I have used the batten quad as a cyc wash. As @theatricalmatt suggests, I added Elation LSF filters which really smoothed things out. Under the right circumstances, I can still get a bit of a color shadow but it's much better with the diffusion. If you cut it to the right size, it can be slipped under the lip that holds the clear plastic lens with no need for gaff. This makes it really quick and easy to install and remove. It certainly adds to the cost and I probably wouldn't do it if I was looking for a permanent cyc wash but I use these in multiple spaces for things other than cyc wash and they've really been workhorses.

 

[robmerow]

The Elation LSFs do work, but they're not cheap.
For budget cyc lights, sometimes the $100 you'd save on the LSF would better be spent buying a slightly more expensive fixture. In the sub $500/fixture tier, $100 can make a big difference.

 

[Skervald]

The Elation LSFs do work, but they're not cheap.
For budget cyc lights, sometimes the $100 you'd save on the LSF would better be spent buying a slightly more expensive fixture. In the sub $500/fixture tier, $100 can make a big difference.

I totally agree. My fixtures were originally purchased for (and are still used quite a bit) for another purpose so it made sense to invest in the LSF rather than a set of new cyc fixtures. If I remember right, I only needed one sheet to cover the 7 fixtures so that helped keep the cost down.

 

[gafftaper]

Wrong Chauvet Product... see my review of the Chauvet Ovation B2805FC . They are fantastic!

 

[TJCornish]

I appreciate the thoughts. Colorsource Linear and the Ovation B2805Fc~lmnop or whatever they are called are unfortunately at least 2X the cost of the Colordash Battens, putting them at >$300/ft. Pretty spendy.

I've looked at the diffusion, but it's nice to be able to do alternating colors, something that too much diffusion will make impossible.

The Colorado Batten 72 tour seems to be the last remaining product of that series, so not sure if it will have a long sales lifetime yet. I might have to wait for the next generation.

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

[DavidJones]

Wrong Chauvet Product... see my review of the Chauvet Ovation B2805FC . They are fantastic!

These are really good. Worth the extra money IMO.

 

[gafftaper]

I appreciate the thoughts. Colorsource Linear and the Ovation B2805Fc~lmnop or whatever they are called are unfortunately at least 2X the cost of the Colordash Battens, putting them at >$300/ft. Pretty spendy. I've looked at the diffusion, but it's nice to be able to do alternating colors, something that too much diffusion will make impossible. The Colorado Batten 72 tour seems to be the last remaining product of that series, so not sure if it will have a long sales lifetime yet. I might have to wait for the next generation.

There are some products, and this is one, where if you don't spend a minimum amount (in this case yes around $300/ft) you simply can't get a quality product that does the job you are really hoping for. There are cheaper options available like the colordash, but they are cheaper because they don't do everything you were dreaming of. The entry level products out there for less than $300/ft let you dip your toes in the LED cyc light pool, but the pool you get to play in at that price is not nearly as cool.

You might look into the options from some of the better known Chinese importers like Blizzard or Irradiant/Neo-Neon. Talk to your local dealer to see what they support and recommend or send a private message to CB member @BillESC asking for advice and a quote (he's a dealer who seems to always know which companies are really giving the most bang for your buck in that market).

The good news is that minimum amount required to get a good LED cyc light is rapidly dropping. It wasn't long ago that it was more like $1000 per foot for good LED cyc lights and you had to run top and bottom fixtures. So in a few more years hopefully you can afford the product that follows the Ovation and ColorSource Linears.

 

[EdSavoie]

My friend Kyle uses Chroma-Q Color force fixtures at work. He swears by them. They also have some rather nice features, like the ability to control each RGBA emitter group separately should you choose, which can allow for some very complex washes and effects.

The newer Color Force II series is about 50% brighter, and the emitters appear to be homogenized, which should give the uniformity you wanted.

Looking at the prices is a bit sobering though, which is why we're opting for the Chauvet battens...

*EDIT* The COLORado battens seem to solve the problems you noticed on the colordash, the emitters are staggered to try and mitigate where the washes don't overlap. These are what we've been considering to replace our incandescent Kleigl Bros Cyclorama

 

[Colin Bishop]

The newer Color Force II series is about 50% brighter, and the emitters appear to be homogenized, which should give the uniformity you wanted.

Looking at the prices is a bit sobering though,

I don't know if there is much a difference of output but the Elation Color Chorus line seems to be an clone of Color Force fixtures in terms of design and LEDs and lengths. And at a bit smaller of a price.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

The newer Color Force II series is about 50% brighter, and the emitters appear to be homogenized, which should give the uniformity you wanted.

Looking at the prices is a bit sobering though, which is why we're opting for the Chauvet battens...

We saw those on demo at Infocomm, and yeah, damn if they aren't 1) gorgeous and 2) expensive as crap; close to 60K for our house, top and bottom.