Used lighting

[mynameiswolf]

Hey all,

 

I currently work for a church and am responsible for the AV for our youth facility. I'm on a tight budget and stumbled upon usedlighting.com and solarisnetwork.com.

 

I am looking to buy some used automated lights. The warranty is only 2 days.

 

Has anybody ever bought from either of these sites? Did you have a positive or negative experience?

 

What is the lifespan of an automated light if it is well taken care of?

 

My budget is only $4200 US. If I buy new I will probably be limited to getting two lights which I don't feel I'll be able to do alot with, I would love to get 4-6 and that will only be possible buying used or slowly getting them over the next 3 years.

 

any advice\thoughts are appreciated.

 

Wolf

[pritch]

usedlighting.com and solarisnetwork.com.

...

Has anybody ever bought from either of these sites? Did you have a positive or negative experience?

 

I'm not saying that you won't get an answer on here, but apart from a handful of people, we're largely a UK based bunch.

 

I dare say others will be able to answer general questions about buying used heads, but in terms of experience of the two sites you've mentioned, another site may give you better answers.

[david.elsbury]

Hi, welcome to the Blue Room.

What are your reasons for wanting to get automated lights, rather than conventional lights? What is your current lighting consisting of? What are you controlling your lights with right now? What size is the space you are wanting to use them in?

 

I think you are right in saying that 2 wouldn't be enough for a decent effect.

 

Cheers

David

[Ynot]

Hi Wolf.

Welcome to the Blue Room.

The UK used lighting company would probably not be your best choice as you're in the US, though Solaris being left-pond could be worth a punt.

 

However, if you have a browse through the lighting forum you'll see that we're wary of advising people to buy into intelligent kit if they're not really up on what's involved - sort of "If you don't know the answers on whether to buy, then maybe you shouldn't be buying..."

 

The questions you need to consider - along with maintenance and repairs - include how much valid use you expect to get from them. Is this something you expect to be using every week at services, or is it just for shows, maybe 3 or 4 times a year?

If the former, then whether you buy outright or go into a lease-hire agreement with a supplier, I'd go for the best you can afford because you WILL need the reliability. And you'd be well off investing in a regular maintenance regime.

If the latter, then I'd suggest you simply hire in the kit to suit the event when it's needed - that way you'll be able to afford more kit when you need it rather than have several grand in the air doing nothing most of the time.

[mynameiswolf]

I know this site consists mostly of users in the UK but I am not aware of a site as informative and helpful as this one that is US based. If anybody knows one that would be appreciated.

 

What are your reasons for wanting to get automated lights, rather than conventional lights? What is your current lighting consisting of? What are you controlling your lights with right now? What size is the space you are wanting to use them in?

I currently have a large number of par cans and a few lekos. I had 8 very very cheap automated lights donated to me and 5 of the 8 have failed already. They are from a no name company in China. They were free... so I'm not too worried about it. I want to upgrade and get some decent automated lights. The reason for wanting automated lights is because we are a contemporary church and our youth facility is almost treated as a rock venue. I just got a Road Hog this year with the intention of getting moving head lights. I don't know the square footage of the building but I can tell you my grid is 18ft off my stage.

 

thanks,

 

Wolf

[musht]

I know this site consists mostly of users in the UK but I am not aware of a site as informative and helpful as this one that is US based. If anybody knows one that would be appreciated.

 

I currently have a large number of par cans and a few lekos. I had 8 very very cheap automated lights donated to me and 5 of the 8 have failed already.

 

I just got a Road Hog this year with the intention of getting moving head lights.

 

thanks,

 

Wolf

 

www.lightnetwork.com has a lot of U.S. posters.

 

Cheap or expensive , movers need maintenance , at least parts are available for the expensive ones.

 

Obviously got control sorted, have you talked to the vendor of the console about options, perhaps long term lease on some older lites , save you the maintenance and expensive lamp nightmares.

[Andrew C]

The UK used lighting company would probably not be your best choice as you're in the US, though Solaris being left-pond could be worth a punt.

I did wonder that, but Usedlighting.com seem to be rather different from .co.uk.

 

No further comment.

[paulears]

An expensive item with a 2 day warranty worries me - enough said?

[KevinE]

The problem with used moving lights is that you dont always know their history or what sort of life they've led.

 

A customer of mine bought 6 well-known used lights for his nightclub, expensive branded ones (the big italian one) and I told him at the time what a good light they were.

 

Unfortunately they have been an absolute bag of nails. They must have led a very hard uncared-for life in the past and for me to keep them working properly is like painting the forth bridge (as we say in the UK) ie never-ending. It's an earner for me of course, and a welcome one; but I tell you this as you're the one who will doubtless pay any maintenance fees!

[dmxtothemax]

If money is tight you might consider using some of the cheaper moving mirror lights,

such as the ACME WINNER, they are only $500 australian brand new.

That way you can easily afford 4 of them and a controler as well.

Good quality movers are expensive and some times the budget simply

wont allow for them.

So cheaper options some times need to be considered.

I use four of the winners and they do a reasonable job.

The only problems so far is broken mirrors, do to careless handling.

But they are easily replaced.

[Ashley R]

If money is tight you might consider using some of the cheaper moving mirror lights,

Good quality movers are expensive and some times the budget simply wont allow for them.

So cheaper options some times need to be considered.

Hey all,

I am looking to buy some used automated lights. The warranty is only 2 days.

 

What is the lifespan of an automated light if it is well taken care of?

 

My budget is only $4200 US. If I buy new I will probably be limited to getting two lights which I don't feel I'll be able to do alot with, I would love to get 4-6 and that will only be possible buying used or slowly getting them over the next 3 years.

 

Instead of Moving Head fixtures why not look into Moving Mirror? Im sure you can find plenty of old HES Gear (Technobeams, Cyberlights, if desperate Trackspots)going cheap in the US and if that doesnt take your fancy why not something like the Martin MX-10 Extreme?

 

And you could even go with some old Martin gear as I know for a fact that there is still alot of parts available for fixtures that are getting on 15 years old! :** laughs out loud **: And you can get a nice set of 4 Martin RoboScan Pro 518's in reasonable condition for under $600AUD

 

Again all moving lighting will require a maintenance schedule but Moving mirror seems to have a longer life span and less things can go wrong with them due to less moving parts.

 

Edit: to add more

[WooferHound]

Another very good U.S. based message forum is

http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/