I'm a big fan of the
Stage Right products, I use them in a couple venues I freelance for and one that I production manage. They're not light, but they're sturdy as heck. One of my venues is a classical music festival, we
roll around an 11' grand piano and there's no visible deflection on the decking. One
venue has what looks like a
laminate material as the surface, the other has those knobbly
FRP panels like you'd see on bathroom walls, painted black. The
laminate one have some chipping, the
FRP are prone to scratches. Despite the weight and surface materials, I 'd buy them over a thinner square tube frame with plywood any day.
I do know that there's an option for the decks to
bolt down to the locator pins. One of my venues uses these, the other has little floating plugs built in that cap the holes depending on which way up the reversible
deck goes. I don't see a huge difference in the setup/tear down time either way.
With the recent posts about pit fillers and
riser collapses, the
bolt down
system seems to be a wise idea. In each of the videos I've seen on the pits, it looks like the performers are dancing in rhythm and basically bouncing the pit covers off the supports. I'm assuming that any of the companies you mentioned will have addressed this already, since this install is specifically for a pit.
Are storage carts a part of all three?
Great question! I'd follow it up with: how/where are you going to store these? Do they just become the floor of the pit when it's full of musicians, and the framing goes somewhere else? Do you store the whole
system on carts, or just buy a few carts to transfer the heavy bits to storage? I've seen these concerns get completely overlooked, even in bigger and better venues. You've lucky to have the chance to make it work for you!
As a side note, if any of your panels are going to be usable sizes, consider getting additional frames, railings, stairs and other accessories quoted so that you could use the pit fillers as risers or platforms on the
stage in the future, or as
orchestra risers in the pit (especially if that's where the decks get stored).
Stock size pieces with just enough custom work to get your pit shape would also give you the option to easily replace damaged panels down the
line. You could also ask them if there's a way to safely install a
trap door, if your
venue doesn't already have one in the
stage. A well planned
system could also be used in a gymnasium for graduations and such, possibly even expanded with more panels but keeping the attractive curve that the front of your pit may have. Sounds like a great opportunity to
cover a lot of bases with one product, if the Powers That Be let you splash out a little now. Show them the videos of show choirs collapsing the pit if they give you any guff.
Let us know which one you go with, and the pros and cons once you've had time to put it to use!