Which is better; Futurelight or Showtec?

[tomy364]

What is better FUTURELIGHT or SHOWTEC???

 

I had register rental company and speculate which movinghead and scan shoud I buy!!!??

 

Martin is the best but it`s too expensive for me at start.

 

So I thinking about FUTURELIGHT SCAN PSC 1200-pro scan or DJscan575 ? ? ?

...and MOVINGHEAD FUTURELIGHT DJ HEAD-575 spot or FUTURELIGHT PHS-710 PRO-Head SPOT???

...does FUTURELIGHT PHS-260 PRO-Head SPOT enough powerful???

 

My general occupartion will be events like banquets,wedings, dj-party`s!!!

 

And I have also look some SHOWTEC explorer 250 and 575 movinghead!!!

 

 

PLEASE HELP ME AND SUGEST WHAT TO BUY, majority people tell me to buy MARTIN but it`s to expensive for me.

They tell me that Chinese product like SHOWTEC and FUTURELIGHT doesent work enough well, that colours are bad,making high noice when work and that frequently breakdown.

 

 

tell me your experience!!!

 

THNX

[Lozza]

Firstly, welcome to the br

 

you might not want to make statements such as "Martin are the best" on this forum, many people have a lot of experience with all sorts of manufacturers, yes you have a right to show opinion, and I even sort of agree, but you have to state why you think this...

 

dont always go by what people say to you about a manufacturer, when they might have had a bad experience from one fixture say a dodgy noisy fan.

 

I am sure that you will get many replies from people who have experienced a lot of different mover manufacturers, I can not give any advice because I have only ever used Robe and martin heads.

 

Goodluck with your post

 

(also read the advice on how to get good results on Br)

 

Happy new year

[mumbles]

PLEASE HELP ME AND SUGEST WHAT TO BUY, majority people tell me to buy MARTIN but it`s to expensive for me.

They tell me that Chinese product like SHOWTEC and FUTURELIGHT doesent work enough well, that colours are bad,making high noice when work and that frequently breakdown.

Having recently worked with a load of Showtec (Explorer 250 Pro) and generally with futuresh*te, I really would recommend you save yourself the bother of buying them and burn your money. A lot less time and hassle

 

Apart from the reliability which is a real let down for both, let alone the service when they do fail. These have some really silly "features" like the clamp holes on the explorers which mean the units have to be at 45 degrees to the more common movers.

 

As far as suggestions, have you looked at Robe, for which the list price is only slightly higher than showtec and futurelight, but significantly better, and a great support network.

 

As a hirer, I would reject a quote that included the like of futurelight, particularly if they were a lighting rental house as opposed to a sound company expanding into lights, and such a quote would probably lead to a mental debate about the general quality of the company for other jobs. If however quote came back as Robe instead of Martins, then unless for a specific reason like a preplotted show, then I would be happy.

 

This will undoubtedly spark up all number of rows, so I'm off to prepare for a verbal battering.

 

Anyhoo, hope this helps.

[Dan H]

we have not had our phs-260's long but they seem very well built and although we have only used them a few times they perform very well and have some nice features and fx.

 

are they bright enough? depends entirely on what you are doing with them and what other lighting they will be next to.

 

personally I prefer the 260s over the likes of martin mac 250s.

[mumbles]

Having had another post added since earlier, I'll add another, instead of editing.

 

Perhaps I should expand on what I said earlier. The feature set on the futurelights is reasonable, realtively impressive compared to some in the same budget. The showtecs seem ok for features, thoughlet down by certain things, particularly like the bracket mounting points. Also both are heavier than Robe 250s by 5.5 and 7.5 kgs respectively. As well as this, the Robes have more gobs and colours, as well as a more standard size for the gobos (the Robes can have adaptors to take mac gobos which the other I beleive can't). However I suppose that I'll always be wanting more from a mover, but can still cope with a slightly less grand feature set.

 

Even so, the better specs and the greater service support, the extra £100-£150 for the Robe seems much more attractive.

 

But to get to my main gripes with Futurelight and Showtec. Reliability!

 

For a club or lightly used touring (such as a small disco), these are likely to be fine, but as soon as a rental house starts looking, the use and wear (hopefully the use will) be much greater, and so if the main movers you own are regularly experiencing problems, then you have yourself a great problem.

 

This is purely based on my experience and could be due to a lack of TLC on the part of those who I borrow them from, so please don't take my opinion solely, and hopefully others will chip in with their views, or you can search through previous topics to find any that cover this.

[niclights]

I only have experience with the Futurelights. As I understood these are, or at least were, made in Czech Republic and in the beginning were the same as Robe. They do work & I would not think of them as a 'cheap Chinese' unit, but as with all moving lights they go wrong. I specifically have experience with the MH660's and 640's which sometimes have thermal cutout problems. The more you pay the easier they are to disassemble, but the most important thing is availability of parts/service which I have found is not good for Futurelight.

 

I cannot comment on Showtec.

 

As an aside, if in the future you can afford to spend more I would recommend Clay Paky, High End or Vari-lite unless you have clients actually requesting Martin units.

 

HTH

[Tomo]

Put simply, if I received a quote from a rental house saying that they could supply Showtec or Futurelight moving lights of supposedly 'equivalent' specification to the lights I'd ordered, I'd bin it and not bother with the company again.

 

If they offered Robe or Tourwash/Tourspot, I'd consider it as the build quality of the lights is fairly good.

 

If you are intending to only do 'wet' hire, then by all means consider Futurelight and Showtec.

If you want to do 'dry' hires - forget it. Nobody will hire them.

[Bryson]

Moderation: The caps were giving me a headache....

[David A]

As a person who lost a lot of money with the early Martin gear which never worked 100% from new and having used the Showtec gear without any problems at all you would have to say that to a large extent its pot luck.My explorer 250 can be mounted at 45,90,135,180 degrees without the slightest problem so I can't understand mumbles problem there.A lot of discussion on brands is more of a fashion statement than a critique.I can buy 3 x 575 explorers for the cost of 1 mac 500 which is basically the same spec, fortunately I don't do any dry hire so I don't have to spend the extra money.Only if you're in a club situation with the gear working hard 30 - 40 hrs a week would I consider dearer brands and even then I'd read the warranty very carefully.Also remember that the dearer companies are very expensive on parts, so the 'lifetime cost' is even higher.

[niclights]

If they offered Robe or Tourwash/Tourspot, I'd consider it as the build quality of the lights is fairly good.

 

Once again highlighting the element of luck, I must say I have had more problems with the Tourwash than the Futurelights! Of course, crucially the Tour series has good support and was the only reason I bought cheap.

[Tomo]

The other issue to consider is this:

You get a contract that needs a few more nodding buckets than you have.

 

Do you:

A) Buy more of the ones you have, knowing that it's unlikely that you'll use that many in the near future.

B) Hire some lights of the same brand.

C) Hire some lights of a different brand, knowing that they won't quite match.

D) Turn down the work.

 

This basically means that it's a good idea to carry the same lights as some other hire companies that you have reciprocal agreements with.

That way, when you're short, you hire theirs.

And when they're short, they can hire your unused lights.

[tomy364]

brrr people for start I will try to get small job`s where people doesn`t know what is martin mac 550 or robe....

they want an special ambience and their`ll got it.

So you can`t say that with FUTURELIGHT PHS710 pro moving head about 6pices and 6 pices of scan`s can`t make some good ambience which is for usual`s people great.

My whish is to earn some money to buy better product`s like ROBE or MARTIN, but you must start somewhere.

 

Do you agree with me???

[paulears]

You haven't put where in the world you are from, so things in your country could make a big difference. here in the UK, there tend to be two considerations when it comes to selecting kit for hire.

1. Is the equipment what your customers ask for?

2. Does it offer a good chance of making you a profit?

 

Cheaper and less well supported brands do offer an appeal - but, our experience is that many are simply not up to the job. However, if you will be there yourself (not dry hire) and can do routine maintainance, then they can be worth the risk. The snag is tha if you only have a few, how many will you keep for spares when one of the others fail? If you can afford say, 4 - can you have one spare just in case - probably not. With 20 in stock a couple of spares might be possible taking the pressure off.

 

When the phone rings and somebody asks how much I charge for a pearl desk per day - I say sorry, I don't do AVO, but have Strand and a hog. Most say thanks, but no thanks. Very few people ask for 'a lighting control' and leave me to use what I have and know.

 

Profit wise. Will they bring in enough money to even pay for themselves before they wear out? I bought a few radio mic systems years ago, that I used before I spent major money on more. I never ever got back the initial investment, as they just weren't popular enough - the more expensive ones paid for themselves quite quickly.

 

 

Martin used to be quite highly thought of. this 'fame' has waned over the past three or four years as other manufacturers, Robe being a good example, have earned themselves a very decent reputation of value for money, without being 'budget'. Showtecs, Pearl Rivers and tons of other kit look when new to be really good. To be fair, they are. What they lack are the small details - decent hardware, better designed mechanisms, components with better tollerences. Things like the actual castings, gearing, servo motors, wiring looms etc. I've seen a batch of chinese movers that had the main wiring looms directly under the 10mm mounting holes - each time the bolts went in (no quick release catches) the bolt rubbed, until it rubbed through to the conductor. In a permanent install there would not have been a problem, but hiring them out over and over soon resulted in a smoking unit!

 

 

If you want to buy budget kit - fine, but it won't earn you as much, and the lifespan will be less. Other than that - it's your choice.

[Paul J Need]

Some good very sound advise there from Paul.

 

I will add: You have to ask yourself whether you want to service your own production jobs or start dry hiring equipment to your customers also. If you are buying equipment to service your own jobs, go for the best cheapest option however, as Paul says, when the phone rings and people ask to hire a couple of MACs they usually mean MACs and not Futurelight or even Robe for that matter ( same applies when they ask for Robe as they may be suplementing the hire kit with existing units)

 

In short: Buy Martin or Robe.

 

ps If you need 4 units, buy 5 or 6 so you have a spare head. If you need 8 buy 10.

[David A]

My customers come to me with a budget, they generally want 8-12 movers 12 - 16 radiomics and ancillary gear.I can supply this inside their budget so I get all the work I can cope with.I have several competitors who have huge leases to buy their huge Martin rigs, when I visit them they usually have lots of gear on their shelves.If you have a market where you can get a premium price then get your Martins, but if your customers are only interested in getting a good job at a reasonable price then buy a generic brand from someone you can trust.There is a lot of competition for the corporate market so it can make sense to attack lower end customers who are a lot easier to do business with are just as profitable with such a huge investment. It is worthwhile to get to understand your gear so that you can fix any minor problem yourself as most problems are usually very minor.