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Q-Spot 260s discontinued...


Mutha Goose

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I am going to be looking to grab 4 moving head fixtures in the near future (once my house sale goes through in November). I have had my eyes on the Q-Spot 260 for a while and figured I'd probably go with them (fear that the 160 wouldn't be powerful enough). I saw today that Chauvet has discontinued them (haven't seen any price reductions yet).

 

Is the Q-Spot 360 supposed to be the replacement? Same price. I knew they had some issues with the 60W diode in 260. But the 360 is using 3 10W leds (they don't say if they are White, RGB, or color mixing). The claim is a brighter (1100 vs. 750 lux) and only slightly wider (16

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I'd also take a look at the new American DJ x-move 25R. It has the 25 Watt Cree LED and is supposed to be 100+ percent brighter than the previous version. Light weight and priced under $500 each. 3 year ADJ warranty.

 

I have found that for smaller bands/ venues, the larger moving heads, even something like the Qspot 260s, don't really shine unless they are significantly up in the air or have alot of stage width to move. Alot of times they need to be higher than what the venue allows. The smaller movers seem to work better and be much more manageable. Just my 2 cents.

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OK, so after looknig at every moving head I could find in the sub $1000 range (I'd like to stay in the sub $700 area, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do sometimes), I'm leaning toward going with 4 Chauvet Q-Wash 260's. I am looking at these because they seem like they may do the best at cutting through (in my price range). It is really difficult to tell because I can only find them on-line and most of the videos only show them by themselves with no other lighting.

 

These will be used with 6 Q12s, 4 Q6s, and a few pin spots and up to 8 RGB Pucks (RGBs only used on larger stages as side washes, 4/side).

 

Is there a reason I should reconsider?

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The Q-Wash 260s will be overkill. They throw a crazy bright beam that will make the Q12s look like old 5mm LED cans brightness-wise (I know, we had a Q-Wash 260 in for a demo). I'd recommend the Intimidator Spot LED 350s, with a 75 watt LED these should more than do it for you. You should be able to get them for a very reasonable price from a good dealer - they MAP out at $899.99 so you can definitely do better than that.

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The Q12s are pretty damn bright! And the 260s will wash them out? I have to say, that is a little hard to believe at that price point.

 

But I guess my problem is:

the Intimidator Spot LED 350 is more expensive than the 260s

I can dim the 260s

If (when... who am I kidding) I upgrade later, the 260s can grow with me....

 

Or am I missing something?

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When you fire up 37 Three-Watt Cree LEDs that have a 6 degree beam angle lens installed, it's effing bright. I wouldn't want to shine those at an audience at a distance of less than 20 feet.

 

Here's my big thing - if you get Q-Wash 260s you're not getting any gobos. you keep your rig all washlights, it's just that a few of them can move and are really narrow. If you get spot fixtures, you have gobos and a prism available to make really nice beams and breakups and you will still have plenty of output power to grow with you (the Q-Spot 260s with the 60W LEDs do great in a club venue with a 16' or so trim). So I think the Intimidator Spot LED 350s should be able to grow with you with time and would give you a better effects package than the Q-Wash 260, which just puts out a wash beam that can change color and can't be pointed at the audience if you want to keep them there. Or band members if you don't want them to hate you.

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Mutha Goose, I wanted to respond yesterday but didn't have time and Soundlight basically stole my thunder with his last post. But he is right. IMO, you have more than enough wash fixtures. Moving washes are cool but they have no gobos, no prism, no rotation, etc. You can't get that cool moonflower type spinning effect. You'll basically just have moving 6 inch beams. IMO, moving washes are only worth it if you get the zooming cabability. I expect moving washes with zoom will come down in price over the next couple of years. Eventually i would like to replace my TRI pars with zoom washes myself. But then again, I will be replacing pars, not my moving heads. If I were you I would get moving spots. There are plenty options out there.

 

If you want to see a great example of the differnece between moving washes and spots, youtube the band called Roxxbusters. Look for the queen song "I want it all" They are a German (i think) cover band that plays alot of Queen covers. They have a nice light show. Their back truss has 4 moving washes (with zoom) and 4 moving spots. You can really see how each type of fixture works in a side by side comparison.

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Excellent input, thank you guys. And that video did a great job of showing me what you're talking about. Very convincing argument :)

 

OK, so now the next question, Intimidator 350 Vs. 250?

 

I know the 350s are brighter with more features and will cover me more in the long run. But $1200 more (for 4) is a little bit steep for me and my market (typical 100-500 people rooms). However as I said above, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. So if I consider the 250s, am I being short-sighted? Or will these do a good job at cutting through?

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They seem to do a lot with 8 fixtures!

 

I like it.

 

I just picked up 4 of these.

 

DA7B0BD7-F1A9-4804-A4F1-4E7197965F90-177

 

Old school I know, but it's a start into my foray into DMX lighting. I was considering 16 - ADJ mega pars but man I'm just not real crazy about the light-brite look. So now I'm looking more into the multi-LED puck style lights. But moving head washes might fit nicely with the intimidators I just picked up. I'm not really in a position to make a big move into lighting yet (unless I visit the bank, but I prefer buying sound gear outright)

 

Definitely some food for thought!!

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Oh my, those are some old school lights. Don't forget to have extra fuses & extra ELC lamps on hand, they like to go through both. Especially if you get the brighter lamps that have a much shorter life.

 

As for the 250s vs. 350s - I think the 350s have 3 real trump cards here. The 75 watt LED, which will be much brighter than the 250s and will allow you to use the richer colors. The remote focus, which will allow you to do hard edge projections at any distance, not just one distance. And the manual zoom, which allows you to set the beam angle of the fixture from 12 to 17 degrees with the screw lens in front, allowing you to set the beam angle based on the venue size. So yes, the cost will be greater out of the gate, but you also won't have to buy new fixtures when you play bigger rooms. And you said up to 500 cap rooms, you'll want the 350s rather than the 250s. I also think that the 250s would have trouble cutting through the Q12As if you use the color wheel (in white they might do okay, but not great).

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