Blizzard Puck Q12 series LEDs

T

TJ Cornish

Graduate
Jan 13, 2011
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St. Paul, MN
I noticed this yesterday on Blizzard's website:
http://www.blizzardlighting.com/index.php/products/ledpars

2 new LED flat pars:

- Q12A - RGBA 12X10W quad LED
- Q12W - RGBW 12X10W quad LED

These seem to be very recently posted and the specs aren't correct - they are for the 6 LED version of the above, but extrapolating from the 6 LED version, these claim to be nearly 20,000 lux @ 1m. Price appears to be $269.

I've got an email into Blizzard with some questions that I'll post here once I get a reply.
 
Re: Blizzard Puck Q12 series LEDs

I heard from Blizzard - they don't have all the data on brightness yet, but he thinks they will be around 12,000 lux for the 12-LED. PWM switching is 400hz and they claim video compatible. Availability for the RGBA is hopefully end of the month, RGBW is out farther.

I'll pick up a unit or two when they are available and report back.
 
Re: Blizzard Puck Q12 series LEDs

Tim Padrick said:
Looking into one of Steve Hurt's white Pucks was worse than looking into the sun - holy crap!
Click to expand...

That's encouraging!

I've done more research, and it seems that the RGBA is 9700 lux at 1 m, and the RGBW is what Will from Blizzard quoted at "probably 12000 lux". Hopefully that's just due to the color difference between the 4th diode and for all colors other than white the RGBA will be equivalent to the RGBW.

For comparison, their Puck3 RGB has 9 3W diodes making 6500 lux 1m. I'm guessing that the "120 watts" of LED capability aren't fully driven in the new Q12s and/or or these 10W diodes aren't nearly as efficient. It's a little hard to guess from incomplete specs, but the fixture input power claims to be 56W.

Other fixtures that have translatable brightness numbers (all fixtures are roughly 25 degree beam angle):
Elation DLED 36 Brick - 3850 lux 1m
Elation DLED Tri-brick - 2720 lux 1m
Elation Opti Tri 30 - 6490 lux 1m
Elation Opti Tri PAR - 4250 lux 1m
Blizzard The Puck (the one I think Tim referred to) - 3920 lux 1m
Blizzard Rocklite RGBAW - 23700 lux 1m
Martin Stagebar 54L (the old one) - 6000 lux 1m (1/2 peak number is 29 degrees, 1/10th peak is 55 degrees)
ColorKinetics Colorblast 12 22 degree frosted - 2880 lux 4' (269 fc)
ColorKinetics Colorblast TR 23 degree frosted - 14400 lux 4' (1347 fc)

Mike Pyle hooked me up. I ordered one which will be delivered hopefully the end of the month-ish.
 
Re: Blizzard Puck Q12 series LEDs

TJ Cornish said:
That's encouraging!

I've done more research, and it seems that the RGBA is 9700 lux at 1 m, and the RGBW is what Will from Blizzard quoted at "probably 12000 lux". Hopefully that's just due to the color difference between the 4th diode and for all colors other than white the RGBA will be equivalent to the RGBW.

For comparison, their Puck3 RGB has 9 3W diodes making 6500 lux 1m. I'm guessing that the "120 watts" of LED capability aren't fully driven in the new Q12s and/or or these 10W diodes aren't nearly as efficient. It's a little hard to guess from incomplete specs, but the fixture input power claims to be 56W.

Other fixtures that have translatable brightness numbers (all fixtures are roughly 25 degree beam angle):
Elation DLED 36 Brick - 3850 lux 1m
Elation DLED Tri-brick - 2720 lux 1m
Elation Opti Tri 30 - 6490 lux 1m
Elation Opti Tri PAR - 4250 lux 1m
Blizzard The Puck (the one I think Tim referred to) - 3920 lux 1m
Blizzard Rocklite RGBAW - 23700 lux 1m
Martin Stagebar 54L (the old one) - 6000 lux 1m (1/2 peak number is 29 degrees, 1/10th peak is 55 degrees)
ColorKinetics Colorblast 12 22 degree frosted - 2880 lux 4' (269 fc)
ColorKinetics Colorblast TR 23 degree frosted - 14400 lux 4' (1347 fc)

Mike Pyle hooked me up. I ordered one which will be delivered hopefully the end of the month-ish.
Click to expand...

Your number are a bit off on the Colorkinetics fixtures. All following measurements are at 4'
ColorBlast TR with the 23 degree (frosted lens) is ~2300 lux (216 fc) (Colorblast 12 is a touch more fc due to the paler blue LEDs - the fixtures are otherwise identical optically)
ColorBlast TR with the 10 degree (clear lens) is the 14400 lux you mention (1347 fc)

And if you want to compare to fixtures with >3 channels, look at the Colorkinetics ColorBlast and ColorBlaze TRX
At 23 degrees (frosted lens), the Blast TRX is at 316 fc (3400 lux), and 1877 fc (20196 lux) at 10 degree (clear lens).
The Blaze TRX is about double that per foot (although admittadly in a somewhat higher power class).

Input power on the Blast TR and TRX is 50W (plus whatever the external power supply adds).
 
Re: Blizzard Puck Q12 series LEDs

Tim Padrick said:
Looking into one of Steve Hurt's white Pucks was worse than looking into the sun - holy crap!
Click to expand...

My Puck 3's have nine of the 3 watt Tri color LED's. (RGB)
The new Pucks have either six or twelve of the 10 watt Quad color LED's (either RGBA or RGBW)

Tim, my Puck 3's are limited in the software to 25%at max because the bands didn't like being blinded by them
(25% in the software is more than a 1/4 of their output )

I cannot imagine staring into one of the 12 LED models and being able to see for at least a weekend.

At this point, I'm more interested the the color than the output for the itty bitty stages I work on.
The amber and white options are sorely needed. The Puck 3's are bright, but RGB LED's do not do a full spectrum
 
Re: Blizzard Puck Q12 series LEDs

Steve Hurt said:
Tim, my Puck 3's are limited in the software to 25%at max because the bands didn't like being blinded by them
(25% in the software is more than a 1/4 of their output )

I cannot imagine staring into one of the 12 LED models and being able to see for at least a weekend.

At this point, I'm more interested the the color than the output for the itty bitty stages I work on.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info - I'm glad you like the Puck3s. I was minutes away from ordering one to play with when I saw the new Q12s. I'm trying to keep up with 575w Source 4s, which is my brightness bogey for my quasi-corporate events.

If they are as good as they claim, I'll be very excited - good brightness, good color gamut, video OK, reasonable dimming, and the fact that 16 of them should fit in a quarter-pack trunk.

We'll see...
 
Re: Blizzard Puck Q12 series LEDs

What about the new Chauvet SlimPAR Pro? They come in 3 flavors:

Tri - 18 RGB tri-color 3W elements - Beam angle: 21° - Lux: 9,600 @ 1m (1,980 @ 2m) - $400 MAP
RGBA - 42 (12 red, 12 green, 12 blue, 6 amber) 1W elements - Beam angle: 21° (Optional 15°) - Lux: 10,000 @ 1m - $380 MAP
VW - 36 (18 cool, 18 warm) 1W elements - Beam angle: 21° (Optional 15°) - Lux: 8,520 @ 1m (730 @ 2m) - $350 MAP
 
Re: Blizzard Puck Q12 series LEDs

I hadn't seen those yet - I guess I didn't scroll down far enough - they look interesting. Price seems to be 30% more than the Blizzard. They claim "built-in dimming curves simulating halogen lighting" - not sure what that means, but is interesting. Weight of the Chauvet is a bit heavier than the Blizzard, which may or may not be telling.

The local place in town is a Chauvet dealer - maybe when my Blizzard comes I can do a head to head.
 
Re: Blizzard Puck Q12 series LEDs

Matt Vivlamore said:
What about the new Chauvet SlimPAR Pro? They come in 3 flavors:
........
RGBA - 42 (12 red, 12 green, 12 blue, 6 amber) 1W elements - Beam angle: 21° (Optional 15°) - Lux: 10,000 @ 1m - $380 MAP
...........
Click to expand...

I had not seen the Slim Par's with amber before you posted. Thanks!

Ramdom comments:

- Nice to see amber on more lights. I'm new to lighting, but the more I work with lights, the more important amber becomes. Hopefully, RGBA will replace RGB as the standard for LED's soon (RGBAW would be even better)

- I really like the way people are putting lenses over groups of LED's (tri color/quad color/etc) so that you only see the mixed color when you look at the front of the light fixture. Looks less DJ to me. When I do a dance band, DJ is fine, but for shows where the music is more important than making people dance, the DJ look is less desirable
 
Re: Blizzard Puck Q12 series LEDs

Quick update - my light has arrived. Initial impressions - brightness and color rendering are very decent. Build quality is 6/10. The $1000 question is video compatibility. There is some flicker at less than 50% brightness, particularly on the blue channel. A full review will follow.
 
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