Moving head purchase

Ben Lawrence

Senior
Mar 2, 2011
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vtaudiovisual.com
Thinking of picking up 4 moving heads in the near future. Looking at what some decent options might be. Had some Chinese 575 watt units that put out the brightness I was looking for but build quality was pretty bad. Thinking probably LED but doesn't have to be. Cost is definitely a factor Looking for something in the neighborhood of used martin mac 250s.
 
Re: Moving head purchase

Spot. Features are not really locked down. Have a couple pretty open format jobs that could benefit from them. Would be great if I could get some dry rentals out of them as well though. To me brightness is pretty important. I am hoping to be able to cut through some wash light or use medium size venues. Job applications will definitely vary.
 
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Re: Moving head purchase

There are lots of different target uses. For Rock 'n Roll saturated colors and blinky stuff, this one gets pretty good reviews: http://www.chauvetlighting.com/intimidator-spot-355z-irc.html I wouldn't want to use it for a theater show, as it doesn't have color mixing - just a gobo wheel.

I own a couple Vari-lite VL770s and they haven't been great. When they work, the brightness and optics are fabulous, but I keep having trouble with some wheel motion issues, and they have been in and out of the shop. A friend's company has had pretty good luck with used VL2500s.
 
Re: Moving head purchase

I have several of the Chauvet Intimidator LED 350 Spots that I've been pretty happy with, although I really exceed their limits using them in some of the bigger ballrooms. I'm looking to trade up to the 355 that TJ mentioned, mainly for the motorized zoom. If you can bump the budget from that level, the newish Rogue R2 is much brighter, but also bigger and heavier.
 
Re: Moving head purchase

I saw the Rouge series at a show a few weeks back. I wasn't blown away but they are kick ass for what they are at their price point. Plenty bright and simple to handle. Sturdy too.
 
Re: Moving head purchase

Geesh that is a bit of a price drop. Looks like they just have one in stock. As someone suggested the Chauvet R2 rogue I looked that up and Im impressed by the features of that one. Probably a bit out of budget though. Looks like that ADJ unit get some good output out of a 160w lamp. Have been leaning towards led stuff but pretty open. Reliability is more of a concern. Those Chinese ones really did not do me any favors.
 
Re: Moving head purchase

I haven't really used it and still need to figure it out myself.
The guy I had running the show was loving it though. Its a big upgrade from what we were using previously and he mentioned what an improvement it was on the software side.
 
Re: Moving head purchase

I haven't really used it and still need to figure it out myself.
The guy I had running the show was loving it though. Its a big upgrade from what we were using previously and he mentioned what an improvement it was on the software side.

Just wait until you get a real console, haha! Glad to hear everything is working out nicely for you!