alexforey Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I'm about to pull the trigger on a pair of zooming RGBAW movers from China, and was wondering if it's worth getting the flight case that's specifically made for them (total cost is around £150 including shipping), or trying to find something cheap that's already in the UK and to make my own innards for it. I've seen some in terrible condition, but for the most part ones that are large enough for movers tend to be £100+ (without shipping), and I'm wondering if it'll be easier just to pony up a little more to save the effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I'd recommend the manufacturer flight case. If nothing else it will be good protection for the heads in transit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyMitchell Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I'm about to pull the trigger on a pair of zooming RGBAW movers from China, and was wondering if it's worth getting the flight case that's specifically made for them (total cost is around £150 including shipping), or trying to find something cheap that's already in the UK and to make my own innards for it. I've seen some in terrible condition, but for the most part ones that are large enough for movers tend to be £100+ (without shipping), and I'm wondering if it'll be easier just to pony up a little more to save the effort. I'd base the decision on the build quality of the new case specifically made for the LX. At £150 all in, I can't help but wonder if the case is a "proper" flight case as we know it, i.e. with strong ball corners, recessed butterfly catches, proper wheels designed for purpose that don't break or jam and bite your fingers off after a couple of weeks on the road.... or some flimsy dj type case? We would pay more than £150 trade ex vat in the uk from our regular supplier for such a case, so something has to give and I'd wager that being the quality. Be that the case (pardon the pun), you'd be better picking up a proper flightcase from a popular online auction site, cleaning it up and foaming it out for your new heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexforey Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 My supplier sent me some photos of the two-unit and four-unit cases, and they look pretty good from what I can see: http://imgur.com/a/iFYZY I suspect they're cheaper because I can save on shipping costs (as they ship the movers inside the case). They're not going to be taking a huge battering, and above all will be used for storage in one place when the movers aren't in use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 The cases in your photographs look OK, but the devil is in the details. How smooth are the castors? How durable are they? What sort of spacing is there on the rivets holding the extrusion in place? Etc. etc. etc. However, if you've confident enough buying moving lights from this source, I suppose you'd expect that the case won't be junk. At £150 I'd say it's worth taking a chance on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maeterlinck Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 No question really. At £150 you won't do that cheaper, even if you buy second hand and foam the inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thirdtap Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 'lo, the case will be ok not great. The catches will be weak and possibly not replaceable with standard ones available here. The fact it has handles on all sides is good - well at least the bottom pictures show this. There are two different cases on show there, it's worth confirming which one £150 is probably worth it to protect them in transit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csg Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 as someone who imports 100's of Chinese heads every year I would add the following: The flight case will be OK, but nothing like UK quality. That said, with reasonable handling they tend to hold up OK. Often for a minor increase in cost you can upgrade to proper 4" blue castors, 10mm laminated plywood etc - we do this on ours where we or the customer wants to keep the cases. I would not be concerned regarding transport protection, if anything the units will be better protected by the moulded polystyrene / cardboard carton arrangement usually offered if flight cases are not required. £150 is quite steep for your average Chinese flight case, so you may be getting one of good quality already. All the small head building companies buy the flight cases in from third parties, so generally you can get what you ask for. To be honest, its getting quite hard to buy complete junk from China now, they are continually improving on quality in my direct experience to the point were we now get fewer issues with Chinese sourced kit than we do with European, but that's another subject of course... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexforey Posted January 4, 2016 Author Share Posted January 4, 2016 as someone who imports 100's of Chinese heads every year I would add the following: £150 is quite steep for your average Chinese flight case, so you may be getting one of good quality already. All the small head building companies buy the flight cases in from third parties, so generally you can get what you ask for. Hmm, I just checked and the actual cost of the flight case is $80, but the extra shipping makes it up to $220, so I'm not sure. Is this reasonable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 All my RGBW zoom wash movers from China are in cases supplied with them. They are fine with one exception. They do not offer proper protection if the case is tipped. The internal foaming is flat thick foam sheets so the mover has it's base at the top, and the head unit slots snuggly into the cavity, with the base on top. The plastic housings of the main units are all angled - this means the right angle edge of the quite rigid foam meets the case at around 45 degrees. On it's wheels this is fine, because there is air space above the base of the unit. It isn;'t enough to close the lid with the hanging adaptor attached, but with them off to leaves around 20mm of gap. If the cases get tipped, or worst case inverted, then when they are put back on their wheels, the lover inside drops the 20mm onto the angle - and it cracks the case. I probably have 6 cracked moulded halves. They sent me plenty of spares, so it's ok, but simply laying them on the side to stack a few in the pack is bad news. It's partially solved simply by adding a layer of foam t the lid so the unit cannot lift, but even then the occasional crack still happens. Ideally, the sharp angle needs be cut out and shaped to meet the panel angles - perhaps a job for some spray foam and clingfilm? I'm very happy with the quality of the actual cases, they've proven to be pretty tough - it's just the protection design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 That's no way to treat your lover Paul :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bleasdale Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 All the stuff I've ever seen come out of China with cases direct from the manufacturer have always been sub-par compared with proper well made ones from UK/EU based suppliers. The Chinese skimp on stuff wherever they can, cases are no exception. This may be fine with you, if they are not doing proper tours or whatever and they are just a storage device with wheels, then it's probably not a bad choice. If you see them getting a battering, maybe look at other options. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john-sp Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 I agree with both Paulears and Joe. It's worthwhile getting decent cases if you are doing any form of touring. I've seen the variety of ways crews move cases around whether wheeled or not, in fact there must be 50 ways to heave your lover...... Ok, I'll leave quietly. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musht Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Hmm, I just checked and the actual cost of the flight case is $80, but the extra shipping makes it up to $220, so I'm not sure. Is this reasonable? Don`t get what you deserve , get what you negotiate.... Burying some cost into shipping, case won`t add much volume or weight to existing cardboard shipment. Ask what spec the cases are, as mentioned thickness of ply , size of castors , internal foaming arrangements, can you get an upgraded spec case with little adjustment in cost, or least couple of spare catches bubble wrapped in the box? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csg Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 with air freight you pay for volume weight rather than just weight alone - as such flight cases rarely add more than 10% to the cost of the overall shipping by air. We use passenger jet freight transport generally, this is an airport to airport service, and as such you will need a clearance agent who has your relevant info ( vat / eori numbers and address). This kind of shipping is much quicker and much cheaper than the usual suspects like DHL / UPS, or current record being 27 hours from factory in China to our warehouse...at 1/3rd of the UPS cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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