Looking for RGB/RGBA LED par £200-400

[BenEdwards]

thinkgthe title kind of says it all. Seen lots of cheap LED PAR around £90 and expensive ones around the £700 mark but was wondring if there were any good mid price ones?

We will be suing them with tungstons so not big deal if they are not briliant at doing straw.

 

Ben

 

[timsabre]

Prolights StudioCOB FC is very good. I think they are about in the middle of the price range given though I can't find an actual price quoted online. They do reasonable pastel shades as well as saturated colours.

 

https://www.ac-et.com/product/prolights-studio-cob-led-par-range/

 

[timmeh2]

ADJ do the 6-colour RGBAW+UV units. The Hex12s are quite impressive. Edited June 14, 2019 by timmeh2

[mar]

I had a demo last week from AC of a few of their offerings in that sort of price range:

 

Two of the Prolights Lumipar range, which were punchy for their size but the changing of lens to change beam angle was a complicated process (45 minutes per light). Multisource rather than COB meant fuzzy shadows which may or may not be an issue (no colour fringing though)

The Chroma-Q Color One 100X was frankly a little disappointing, nowhere near as bright as the other options, particularly with the 'lens' kit which consisted of basically some frost gel. I guess you are paying slightly for the brand name. It may have been just the demo one but the barndoors where stiff to fit, rotate and remove which would be frustrating if a regular problem. The rep assured me, he'd never seen that before.

The most interesting comparison was between the Prolights StudioCOB and the StudioCOBplus. The Plus is RGBW where the COB is only RGB but as the chips are both 150W it actually makes the COB brighter in saturated colours. The plus was better at pastels as you would expect but the COB was pretty decent . The Plus had the benefit of IP65 rating and TrueCON but neither of those is particularly relevant to me. Both have optional barndoors as well which, whlie not as effective as on a fresnel, would allow you to tidy up spill.

 

Overall I was most impressed with the COB, not needing the IP rating means the Plus is just more expensive for very little benefit.

 

Give the guys at AC a ring, they are normally very happy to come and do on site demos. It was really useful seeing them in my space and being able to directly compare them with the elderly pars I'm trying to replace.

 

As you are based in Bristol, I'm sure Stage Electrics will happily come demo things too, but they've struggled to find anything that fits my brief in that price range (adjustable beam angle is a must for me).

 

Hope that helps.

 

Michael

[BenEdwards]

Thanks for everyone's replies. The ADJ do the 6-colour RGBAW+UV units at £67 seem a bit too good to be true if I have the correct ones - https://www.thomann.de/gb/adj_mega_hex_par_rgbaw_uv.htm. Not seen anything this cheap with A, let alone RGBAW+UV. My feeling with the wattage and so may colour they won't be very powerful.

 

The Storm Prolights StudioCOBplus look good but can't find a price. We IP65 is also not relevant to us but probably pushes up the build quality (and price).

 

Should also mention we want something fairly quiet as we use them for theatre.

 

Build quality and availability or spares/serviceability adherence to UK standards are all big consideration.

 

Was wondering if people could share there experience on this front from various companies.

Anyone got any experience of Cameo Studio PAR 18 x 8W RGBA (https://www.thomann.de/gb/cameo_studio_par_18_x_8w_rgba.htm). Cant even find out where the company is based but as thomann.de sell them this seems a good sign (I think).

 

[Simon Lewis]

Chauvet have a range of LED PARs in both their DJ and Pro range...

[musht]

 

Anyone got any experience of Cameo Studio PAR 18 x 8W RGBA (https://www.thomann.de/gb/cameo_studio_par_18_x_8w_rgba.htm). Cant even find out where the company is based but as thomann.de sell them this seems a good sign (I think).

 

Cameo are part of Adam Hall

 

https://www.cameolight.com/

 

German flight case makers of old, with a rare example of German humour, download the manual, on Thomanns site, for their lite and look at the icons for stand alone and master slave operation....

[niclights]

That made me smile! I've read hundreds of their manuals but never noticed that.

 

And to try and contribute something useful to the OP I would say to focus on photometrics if available, or just power/beam angle and, if it matters to you, the source (ie. a multi-pixel array vs a single COB such as with the Prolights) and then arrange demos from AC or your preferred distributor. As I believe you may already be suspecting there is a significant difference in power between the ADJ model and other linked fixtures.

[kgallen]

https://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/shop/sales/lighting/lights-and-accessories/theatrical/par-and-pinspots/product.aspx?code=481-0665&nr=true

 

 

Down in price these days to ~£150 (inc VAT) as they are "last generation" but I've got a bunch of these for use in an amateur context and I like them (in so much as what they are).

 

RGBWA (no "UV"), not COB. Fanless. No barndoors.

 

Stage Electrics are up the road from you near Cribbs Causeway.

[Ynot]

I liked the Chauvet Ovation P-56 range when we saw them at ABTT earlier this month - I was specifically looking at COB units to replace some in our fixed rig. Just had a well discounted price (list at £725) from Stage LX, but not fall below your £400 ceiling - worth a punt if you can stretch the funds a bit...

https://www.chauvetprofessional.com/products/category/theatrical-studio/

[Fleeting]

Good afternoon,

Have a look at the Prolight catalogue. The Elumen8 Alu HEX Par 64 (12 x 12W 6-in-1 RGBWAUV) very bright and the SSP inc vat is £249.00

 

 

Ian

[CPlater1]

https://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/shop/sales/lighting/lights-and-accessories/theatrical/par-and-pinspots/product.aspx?code=481-0665&nr=true

 

 

Down in price these days to ~£150 (inc VAT) as they are "last generation" but I've got a bunch of these for use in an amateur context and I like them (in so much as what they are).

 

RGBWA (no "UV"), not COB. Fanless. No barndoors.

 

Stage Electrics are up the road from you near Cribbs Causeway.

 

How bright are these? I am tempted by the price for my amateur work.

[kgallen]

How bright are these?

 

Well, "fairly typical" for this type of budget fixture and comparable in this respect to the similar offerings from other brands. Work well for me on an amateur stage of W 9m x D 5m with 4 as back or side light. Here are the specs, so 9 x 2W per colour:

 

https://www.highlite.com/en/42575-power-spot-9-q5.html

 

 

Lumen: R 422lux@2m

G 870lux@2m

B 231lux@2m

W 831lux@2m

A 495lux@2m

RGBWA 2346lux@2m

LED: 9 x 5-in-1 10W

Beam angle: 25°

 

I prefer the build quality of this brand compared to other budget brands. No reliability issues to date, compared to a pretty bad failure rate with some other budget brands.