WARNING ALL SHOWTEC PHANTOM OWNERS

[Lampie Loz]

Afternoon all.

 

In the past I regularly encountered Showtecs old 250 watt 'explorer' moving lights. I always found them to be reliable. At PLASA last year I saw Showtecs new version, the phantom 250 spot, and was very impressed with their optics, punchyness and style for a value moving light. After hearing good things, I decided to invest in a handful of these new phantom spots for my lighting company as they were very good value for money.

 

Unfortunately, I have had very little luck with these units. My first batch of problems was involving a PCB which is positioned around the lens of the unit, after having multiple electronic based problems, I finally received a replacement from the manufacture which has held out to date.

 

Now I have had another problem which I consider to be far more serious. 3 weeks ago, I went to lift one of my phantom 250's out of its flight case in the usual way to do some prep work. As I lifted the 25 kilogram fixture out of the case, the handle snapped! (That thing manufacturers bolt onto equipment to lift it with!) This obviously meant the fixture fell to the ground leaving me with nothing more than a plastic handle in my hand. When the shock of what had happened had worn off, I thought to myself, I am not half glad that happened now at ground level rather than at height above a stage, venue, club, wherever where someone could have got hurt or worse. That would have been so so bad. I got straight onto the supplier who sorted the issue out by replacing the unit, sending me an additional fixture as compensation for my lost time etc, and assuring me it wouldn't happen again. But guess what...

 

This weekend just gone I was putting a corporate gig into a hotel with 6 phantoms and 6 mac 250's. I opened the flight case to get the first showtec unit out, went to lift the unit out, and CRACK, the handle came off in my hand leaving the unit in the case. Now I'm mad. These handles on these heads are NOT fit for purpose! How dangerous is that?!

 

Rest assured I am getting straight onto the manufacturer and the supplier about this. But the question I am asking you all on here is, has this ever happened to you? Have you ever heard of this happening? What are the general thoughts?

 

If you look at a handle on a mac for instance, solid! Metal and rubber, well constructed, suibtable for purpose. Now, I know you get what you pay for, but showtec is supposedly one of the best budget companies. Look at Sunstrip Actives etc, perfectly good and professional kit. I have been warned - dont buy anything with a stepper motor in it from showtec now. Anyone else found that?

 

ALL SHOWTEC PHANTOM 250 AND SPOT AND WASH USERS, BE CAREFUL WHEN LIFTING YOUR LIGHTS! Especially if up a cherry picker lifting them onto a truss or something!

 

Thanks

[rossmck]

The Showtec Phantom 250 is a fairly established unit ... not sure where you bought it from but go back to your dealer, they'll help.

 

They also have a UK based presence now - Highlite UK - who are generally very helpful contact details are at http://www.highlite.nl/contact

 

In the interests of full disclosure I use, specify and sell a number of Showtec products regularly and am a registered Highlite NL dealer, however I would be very quick to rectify problems like this if it was one of my customers and I'm sure your own dealer or Highlite UK will be able to help

[Pat]

I'm sorry to say that we had also problem with the previous version of the phantom from Highlite.

In dutch we call showtec showpech means that it is show breakdown.

 

The belds came of.

 

Same with the T4-Bar TRIACS they are rubbisch now BTA-24 in it instead of BTA-16.

The push buttons on the T4-Bar seems to have a mind of their own.

 

I bought a B-brand like Briteq. Better materials.

[WiLL]

Certainly adds credence to the view that the handles on fixtures should never be used to hoist a unit in the air prior to rigging. I always held that handles should be suitable to take the whole weight of the unit, that is after all the point of them, but many people have stated in the past that they never trust them for more than carrying about at ground level. For now I would suggest a little less, jerk-and-pull style of lifting from the case and amore gentle technique instead.