Which Moving Head?

[mikevlighting]

Hi,I am looking to buy 2-4 moving heads I have found 2 the imove 5s "spotknight" or the showtec phantom spot any other you can think of for doing small stages? :)

thanks

mike

 

Moderation: Spelling error in topic title corrected--and a few posts commenting on the mistake have been removed.

[GridGirl]

Please, do a search....we've been over this countless times. And we need more information to answer your question anyway - "small stages" is a bit general. Theatre shows, rock and roll gigs, discos, dance schools - what do you want the heads for? I can tell you right now that you're probably going to get answers telling you not to bother with the disco stuff unless that's your exact purpose - for theatre use, you need something brighter (people will suggest Martin or Robe gear, probably).

[tommulliner]

Been covered countless times, generally answers are: Heads are for discos and so are generally not bright enough, they wont have features that a better known branded head would such as shutter, dimmer and cmy colour mixing. Those lights are mainly designed for discos and clubs, not for theatre use.

[mikevlighting]

yeah I know they are not for theatre use I ment small rock and roll stage

[tommulliner]

Not that you mentioned anything about Rock and Roll in your original post, we're good, but we're not mind readers! :)

In which case, how often will you be using them, once a year, every week? If not regualy, then why not hire and there is also the problem of control over these lights, or would you just let them do their 'sound to light' function.

[mikevlighting]

we could hire them in but we do other things e.g www.nozstock.com and we have a fatfrog :) but most of our rig par 64s and colour scrollers

[RoyF18]

If you do regular rock and roll work then the cheapo stuff really isn't worth it. If you do 2 or 3 of garden/small park festivals a year then maybe... but you've still got a dud investment. It depends how professional the work you do is; non-professional stuff doesn't satisfy riders, and also doesn't last (or perform as well).

[Jamtastic3]

If you're looking for movers for stage, most of the time you need to the following requirements:

 

Movers that have a DIMMER and not just a shutter (this can mean they strobe but not dim)

Movers that have seperate gobo and colour wheels

Movers that have a fairly good output (discharge is good for this) and beam angle

Movers that are quiet.

 

Oh yeah and movers that are reliable perhaps.... :)

 

 

Prism, gobo rotation, frosts, CMY are all good and can be used well but aren't strictly necessary for you it seems

[tommulliner]

The question you need to ask yourself is: Is it worth buying moving lights that dont do everything you want them to, but its all you can afford, and have to pay for them to be maintained, pay for new lamps, new parts, cabling etc. Or would it be better to hire some decent lights that do everything you would want them to do, just for the time you need them for, and then you wont have to maintain them, pay for repairs, new lamps etc.

[LX-Dave]

If the OP is who I think it is, then I was under the impression that the company already posses a number of Acme Spotknight movers...?

 

If you find these to be useful for what you do, then it may be worth investing in more. If not, then you should take heed the advice to look for more power and more "professional" features, such as dimmer, and of course, for hiring out, greater reliability. Although I have just noticed that the Phantom does have in built dimming...

 

Lx Dave

 

EDIT: Added more info.

[paulears]

I've changed my views on this and the zillion similar ones.

 

The people who have posted all these questions have usually done some research, and can afford to buy the kit they suggest in the posts. In virtually every case, reading the topics from start to finish show that in all cases, they would ideally like to buy proper branded products, but they can often get 2 or even 4 or more of the cheap ones. A bunch of movers, even basic ones looks better than fewer better/higher quality ones. The benefits, long term, of quality products suggest that for users who are going to have kit more often in use, than in store, the common sense purchase decision is to buy long life, service possible products with residual value at the end of the hire service life. For smaller users, it's possible to build an economic model for using budget products, and then dumping them when they go faulty/wear out early.

 

My reason for changing my view is to do with my own circumstances. I'm making more money now by activities other than lighting and sound services. I have all my equipment in use for the summer - a very short summer season, this week six weeks from start to finish - 30 odd shows. So the kit gets very little use on a yearly basis. Warranty on most items is now between 1 and 3 years. In this period, my equipment is unlikely to cause problems, as at it's third birthday, it's had less than 3 months 'real' use. Each year I end up buying more equipment as rider requirements get more complicated. Even basic stuff like 3 colour washes turning into 4 colour washes entails more equipment - which of course gets charged to the client as an essential increase, based on the riders received. Just adding an extra colour this year mean an extra dozen PAR cans, some socapex and an extra dimmer pack. Did I buy quality Thomas cans? Nope. CPC provided the cans, and the only expensive bit was the cable and lamps. In fact the hook clamps and safeties cost more than the cans!

 

If I need some movers - in the context of this topic, I suspect that I'd now buy cheap ones. NOT - the ones at the head of this topic, but those ones in yesterdays topic did have a very interesting spec. In my typical usage, I'd be planning to get maybe 3 or 4 seasons out of them.

 

I'm not taking them touring, I'm not using them every day, and I don't wish to spend any time fixing them. If they're dodgy, then they'll hopefully fail very quickly. If they don't, then the gamble could pay off?

[Ynot]

The differences as I see them, Paul, are that you now have the experience on which to base your judgment about what to buy (or at least what the right qquestions to ask are and of whom) plus the fact that as you say above - these are used BY you, FOR you (or shows you're running/installing) and you know what to expect.

 

The OP, certainly in this thread and others, seems to be wanting to run around the country (or local area at least) using them for a variety of likely quick fitups, inddor and possibly outdoor.

 

So I'd say the cautionary advice is still extremely valid in the majority of cases when it comes to the disco Dave claptrap that's on the bottom end of the market.

[mikevlighting]

thanks guys for your help we have gone for some martin mac 700 spot

[Aaron-Hill07]

Not much of a change of direction then... from Imove 5s to Mac 700 in 26 hours. That is impressive!