Stagg Headbanger 7x10W RGBW mover

[delicolor]

I'd seen these fixtures on ebay direct from China unbranded a year or two back but you can now get them in-country as the Stagg Headbanger.

 

It's a small moving light with fixed angle beam from seven 10W Red/green/blue/white LEDs. It is intended to stand on the base but there is a bracket supplied for base up fixing. It is aimed at the DJ market of course and not a patch on the emerging pro LED stuff but even so for sub £200 price it might come in useful for the stuff I do which is mostly folk club and community choir hobby lighting.

 

I think I have a good idea of what the beam will be like as I have a couple of non-movers using the same LED source but I was wondering how noisy they were, how resilient, how accurate for returning to a dead and how much they might cause a stand or bar to wobble on fast movement. (I'd probably be using them as back light mounted on a TV spigot into tall stands).

 

http://www.staggmusic.com/en/product_detail/sli_mhw_hb10-0.html

 

They can be controlled in 7 or 12 channel DMX mode and they also have free-run functionality.

 

Much as I'd like a dozen pixel controllable battery powered wi-fi controlled zoomable high end wash lights I'd never get that past her indoors, I have enough earache with the tungsten stuff cluttering up the garage roof beams!

[soundiesam]

Tested them for stagg good little fixtures. Come with three years break and replace warranty

They make hardly any noise

They go back to there dead without fail because there's just a stop no electronics,

[delicolor]

Tested them for stagg good little fixtures. Come with three years break and replace warranty

They make hardly any noise

They go back to there dead without fail because there's just a stop no electronics,

I just managed to accidentally report rather than reply.

 

Thanks for your comments. I was just wondering how good they were on returning to a set position after thrashing about, although now I think about it it probably doesn't matter if you just do a dark move to the mechanical stop limits.

 

It is just me trying to think about how to use them theatrically with full control rather than their various pre-set routines a Band Club or DJ might use.

 

Having not used any movers in anger since PanCan days, I can see that the desk has to do most of the work for anything fancy movement wise.

[Judge]

Oh my, PanCans! Yes, I used them a few times - actually the first time I took moving lights out on tour. With a band called Danse Society.

So those Stagg Headbangers (what a great name) look like a smaller version of the Studio Due NanoLED units. The accuracy is probably going to be okay as there is so little weight in the head itself. What do you plan to control them with? You are unlikely to find a ready made personality for them but it would be easy enough to write one - there are not many parameters on the unit.

[delicolor]

I've just bought one on ebay so I'll post my opinions after I've used it beyond the bench. I'll be using Chamsys on a laptop although I'll be curious to see how it behaves just on my simple controller and the Behringer.

 

The PanCan accuracy was pretty decent bearing in mind they were three channel analogue. The colour change could be challenging though, depending on how many gel strips you put in the cage.

 

It always amused me that they came packaged in a bucket!

[kaareolai]

I'd seen these fixtures on ebay direct from China unbranded a year or two back but you can now get them in-country as the Stagg Headbanger.

 

They look a lot like this chinese, yes ;-)

 

AliExpress link to 7*10W RGBW

 

 

Regards Kåre Olai

[dbuckley]

The base on those looks the same as the ever popular mini led mover.

[paulears]

$120 including freight - even with the import duty and VAT, that's not bad at all!

[sleah]

$120 including freight - even with the import duty and VAT, that's not bad at all!

 

£75 near as... plus the dreaded duty/VAT.

 

Out of interest, adding VAt is simple (20%) but how would you work out what the import duty would be? I'm assuming that import duty & VAT aren't the same thing? :blink:

[bruce]

Try http://www.dutycalculator.com

 

VAT is 20%

 

Duty varies - on LED lighting kit, it's 2.7%, musical instruments 3.7%. In general, it varies between 0% and 17%, depending on the item.

 

If value of kit is less than £135, or duty payable less than £9, duty is not levied.

 

Plus parcel force will charge you 13.50 for processing these payments.

[Chris.Morris]

I'd seen these fixtures on ebay direct from China unbranded a year or two back but you can now get them in-country as the Stagg Headbanger.

AliExpress link to 7*10W RGBW

 

I know some one with a few of these.

Short review owing to the time of night and presence of beer.

 

Good points:

• Cheap
• fast
• bright enougn in the sort of small venue that buys them
• can actually hit saved positions, in exactly the way the studio due version can't

Downsides:

• They break. Lots.
• Ones I've seen have up and down mislabelled on the menu.

Beyond this I'd mention the narrow beam angle - just worth bearing in mind depending on what it is you want them for.

[paulears]

Fedex is a bit cheaper, £10.75 per item (consignment). The VAT and Duty is worked out on the declared value on the parcel - which sometimes appears to be a very random figure, often less than you paid, but sometimes more. You'll discover that some larger consignments go through a third party you've never heard of - often the source of the items you actually bought, and then they declare the value based on what they sold them for, which is a bit odd - but if they do this, it's to your advantage.

[delicolor]

My used head has turned up now and I've had a bit of a play on the bench. Not quite as narrow as I feared from Chris Morris's comment, not a wash but not a pinspot beam either.

 

They are quoted as Pan 540 degrees, tilt 270 degrees. The pan is correct as 1.5 full turns but the tilt is only 180 degrees, i.e. horizontal to horizontal. Strange how an obvious mistake can get repeated ad-infinitum...

 

Mine is a tad juddery on tilt at slow speeds but it looks like it has been clouted slightly, there are some marks on the yoke and a little bit of missing plastic. Annoyingly it didn't come with the hanging bracket but the first couple I get are intended as ankle bashers.

 

They whine a bit on auto-calibrate during start-up (depending on where the yoke was previously) but I think that it is just clutch noise against the endstop. They are reasonably quiet with fan noise & movement. I was mildly surprised when I unpacked it that the head movement was totally floppy & frictionless, it seems that the gearing is unengaged when unpowered. (Maybe that is common, I don't have enough experience of manhandling movers).

 

I'm happy that they can probably be used theatrically in both a subtle as well as an in your face way.

[azlan]

I was mildly surprised when I unpacked it that the head movement was totally floppy & frictionless, it seems that the gearing is unengaged when unpowered. (Maybe that is common, I don't have enough experience of manhandling movers).

 

 

most movers are like that, a lot of higher end/heavier heads will come with mechanical pan & tilt locks, which are external switches or catches to lock the head into position in transit

[delicolor]

I have now acquired a second unit which is mechanically sound but the red & green channels are somewhat dim. (Blue and white are normal). Is anyone aware of perhaps a hidden menu or button sequence that might resolve this? I have tried the menu reset but to no avail. (The previous owner thought that he may have dimmed at as it was too bright on its first and only outing, sound/light mode with a Band). No reference to that in the manual though.