GOOD CALL!!!
I never thought of this. My little brother was in Korea while he was serving and he said they had high dollar electronics on every corner and the whole place looked like a big flea market. I still have some of the speakers he brought back with him in my living room. Good stuff. This is a multi-national forum. Anybody in an area where high quality electronics are readily available at low cost? I know places like that exist.

the problem with alibaba is that a lot of the traders on there are fake or unreliable. try taobao.com (chinese ebay-style b2c site and actually run by the same people as alibaba which is technically b2b) for the lowest prices, and check taobaofieldguide.com for guidance on how to use it, international payment, etc.
i use it all the time with google chrome so that it translates from chinese to english with minimal trouble

pm me if you have problems

ya i checked it sinsound. seems complicated...

i dont know if i wanna go this route and maybe buy 4 lights for the price of 2 in the states and take a chance or..?

i mean how reliable are some of these people if at all..

buy 4, and sell me 2 for the price of one!

PM me I'll point you in the right direction of legit companies

Do not purchase anything off Alilbaba, over 90% of the companies there are fakes and will take your money and run, and honestly it won't be worth it unless you buy more then about 5 or so, shipping charges are crazy across seas. Funny thing is there is a port website out there..in which you type in the name of the company..say American Dj(you will need a little more info then just the name)...and you will find out what port their goods are being shipped to... and in return can see what country their goods come from and the name of the company...and get the same exact product :), you'll have to figure all that out on your own

Why not just buy the Chinese lights from eBay? I have 8 moving heads and 3 lasers from China and have been very pleased.

Cheaplights has cheap(ish) Chinese made junk. The fit and finish quality leaves something to be desired, but you know where your money is going, and you'll at least get something delivered to your door.

Correct cheap lights are shit, but where do you think 99% of your lights come from,..that's right China, meaning if you know where they are coming from instead of paying thousands for the good quality lights, you can get them for "cheaper"

This friend of mine bought a bunch of LED Pars from a this Chinese company who's support team (yeah they had a USA office for support) couldn't even help him on a simple problem with one of the unit. He opened the unit up and turns out it was a simple jumper placement.

I have a few friends who do import/export of lighting equipment from China. Hit me up if you're interested and care to take the risk... lol

classic example is...
the club i work at bought the chauvet q-spot 260 LED(6 of them) at 970 bucks each. it was the cheapest we can find!

after the sale was done. i seen the same EXACT light on aliaba and other sites for 3-400 each, but i have no clue of the shipping costs...

so it makes me wonder what is what... al people do any more is slap their logo on these products and buy mass quantities!!!

Careful with Chinese light imports, especially lasers! FDA is cracking down on lasers from China and confiscating them at US customs. There is no way to get them up and running legally in the US. I suppose LED lights and moving heads are fare game, but as most of you know, there is a lot of junk out there... beware.

I know it's more expensive, but stick with companies you know and reputable dealers. That's my advise.

Most companies I deal with if enough are ordered shipping is included in price, with buying goods from any foreign company use paypal as payment method only, if they are scammers they won't accept paypal.

I actually just located the company in which american DJ gets their products through.

I have been scammed through PayPal more than once and I encourage no one to put absolute confidence in them
Secondly, buying from offshore sources offers no worthwhile warranty. So if the savings isn't tremendous than it's not really worth it to me.
Only reason I was aking is because my brother was getting top shelf stuff at filthy low prices that made it worth the risk.

You must not be shopping in the right places. The place I deal with has them for $745 ea. and that is the every day price. Yes they are authorized dealers.

Looks like I'm gonna start a "where should I buy this" thread before my next purchase.

Thats funny you just say that, because most of the items i purchased carry warranties, I just received a package today from a chinese supplier and I have a 90 day warranty on everything.

Does the 90 days include the time in transit? If it breaks is it even worth it to ship it back since it will cost a bunch of cash to do so?

It wasn't lights I purchased it was another product, but any reputable chinese company will offer you a warranty, I buy items in quanitity/wholesale, therefore what happens when something breaks I tell them just to ship me another one when I place another order, to save us both the hassle.

I'm gonna go ahead and say ADJ isn't sourcing their products from them..although more than likely their lights ARE made in china. Theres' a shitload of chinese mfgers that clone products and sell at almost half the price. You can name almost any product and there is going to be a chinese knock-off of it out there.

and yes there are chinese clones of chinese made stuff lol

lol

The Chinese are cloning themselves? We are way behind!

Nah we have been cloning for years.

ecx.images-amazon.com

this was a year ago, so it might have changed already. i would love to pick up 4 of these at 400 each :p

Rebelguy lol nice

How much you want to bet? I will show proof as to what port american dj is getting their items shipped and from what country and from what exact company, just because you dont have the sources to do so don't try to make me out to be a bullshitter

I have the report that american dj goes through 57 exact different companies for their products, this is just one of the companies.

So lets take a wager I can't prove it? Any takers

No wonder they have a problem with quality control... One Chinese manufacturer is bad enough.

i have purchased lights from pssl, from ebay and from alibaba.

the lights from ebay and alibaba were identical to the ones purchased from pssl. minor differences where the dmx control, screws, housing.

lights i have purchased tri led rgb slim par, 60w and 90w moving heads and led bar.

like i said.. i always see on alibaba these 60 watt led lights that are exactly the same as the the chauvet qspot 260 leds...

any problems with the ordering Nyce? how much was shipping and so forth?

Have you had ANY issues with the 90w movers?

what is the cost for chinese lights that compare to slimpar 65's?

@Henry GQ - I didn't have any problems with ordering, but the issue is sifting through all the different vendors on alibaba. You want to make sure that they are a gold supplier for a few years. Also vendors that use escrow is the safest for first time buyers.

You want a supplier that has a min order of 1-4 pieces and does air, ups or dhl. FOB requires you to be responsible once the freight is on the ship. Shipping via air was $150 for 2 moving heads.

Also some moving heads are shipped via flight case instead of carton. Definitely a nice option.

You can also find some good us options on ebay as well. They import from china and resell on ebay.

@DJ Gaffle - No issues so far. The motors are strong as ever, gobos are maaad easy to change and they have multi-faced prism, gobo shake, gobo spin and separate color/gobo wheels.

@ lvmez I got 4 RGBA led slim par (144 10mm led) from ebay for $289 including shipping. This shipped from china via DHL. They are just as bright as the chauvet slim 64 (i have 4 of these), but includes amber. The tri-led 3w or the quad-led 10w leds have better brightness and mix white/amber better tho. They are more expensive, but are perfect for venues with high ceilings.

I've recently invested some good amount of money in lighting this year. I was looking to add some uplighting as well. The eternal lighting Echo Icon RGBWA+UV seem to the best but retail for $529 each.

A DJ on another forum purchased these from China under $165 each. Says the seller is reliable and the pieces are exactly the same. has anyone purchased from this company before.

fenglighting.en.alibaba.com

This is the link for the original eternal lighting ones: www.eternallighting.com

The echo icons aren't that expensive. I got a quote on the Echo Icon system 20 and it was $6700. That comes with 20 fixtures and the road cases. Even without the cases it would break down to $335 a fixture.

Don't buy direct. The price on eternal's site is the list price.

Watchwww.youtube.com

Thanks for info but I know no one pays retail.

I have enough wash light to cover a room but I was looking at 4-6 of these cubes for corners. Figure I would save $150 on each.

Buddy of mine just bought a set of Blizzard fixtures. Loves them! Brighter than Chauvet or ADJ by far and a few bucks cheaper.

I have seen them and they look great, but I had nothing to compare them too. American made in Wisconsin I think.

Blizzard is made in China like most of the other manufacturers.

i've not ordered from that specific company, but i've since upgraded to (32) rgbaw slim pars and (8) moving heads (elation design spot 250 pro knockoffs). these lights stay rented out every weekend and paid for themselves in less than 3 weeks.

i haven't been on alibaba in awhile though, so i'm not sure who the flavor of the month is. i still get emails from old suppliers though.

I also purchased a pair of moving heads, American DJ Inno spot led's and a pair of American DJ DOTZ floods. I own some uplighting too but these RGBAW+UV look nice.

oh really, had no idea you had so much lighting.

pics please....

Man, that's a lot of lighting. Out of those 40 fixtures, have any of them failed you yet?

You talking Blizzard company or Blizzard line of Chauvet products? They may both very well be made in China though. I know Chauvet is. I was impressed with the lights though.

Both are made in China.

here is a setup i did for NYE. i can't remember how many slim pars i used for this room. the room was huge though.

www.flickr.com

What isnt made in China..............Chinese junk are those that are unregulated non-qc companies that dont give a shit. Cheap junk can be made anywhere in the world (yes even in America), it's all about the QC. Find the right supplier and boom, you got yourself a plug. Fuck paying ADJ and Chauvet when with a little research, go straight to the source.

listen guys.. all of the lighting products are made in china! period. i think high end systems is the only one thats made in the states

Also the most expensive!

off topic but maybe useful...
just came across a new lighting clamp that can be used for speaker stands
Watchwww.youtube.com
Jr Snap Clamp from Global Truss

so if you're lazy or minimalistic like me and dont want to carry additional stands or trusting to mount lights.....this is how i will be using them for my small moving heads Watchwww.youtube.com

I really like that horizontal mount idea, it looks good with built in modes that don't seem to put enough lights on the floor. I'm going to try this after prom season, since most of the stuff we do we use truss.

Cool gizmo - thanks.

Does anyone know the manufacture for Eternal lighting or a company which can build me a battery wireless
Up light?

you get what you pay for

I firmly believe this, but I see sooo many chinese lights uplighting my venues and it makes me wonder. If I can get a $500 light for $100, and all these other guys are using them, why not me?

There are a few DJ's on other forums who have purchased 20+ uprights from china. They swear by them. I contacted one seller in China but didn't end u buying anything because they wouldn't budge on price.

I purchased a bunch of American DJ DOTZ Pars and I'm satisfied.

Although there is something to be said, and value placed on having domestic support, it's the same stuff.

^this - I know too many other DJ's that went with cheap chinese lights and the quality control is never consistent. Personally I am happy to pay extra and purchase from a US company that will honor warrantees, repair, replacement and offer technical support.

Here you go, this is where you get REAL moving heads. I just ordered 2.
www.deliya.com search for them on youtube and you'l find alot of reviews. There lights compete with clay paky.

Let us know your opinions when they come in.

Sure thing. On a side note, those that have the intimidator spot 350 led.....in medium to large venues are they still bright without haze/fog?? In other words are they worth the money.

Which ones did you order and what is the cost (including shipping).
What is the expected delivery time?

Thx

for those of you looking to save some money on uplighting,these are brighter than the Chauvet SlimPar 56…..

www.amazon.com

Just ordered two... I'll let you guys know in a week or so!

amazing price, but the fact that you can't daisy chain the power is a deal breaker for me.

thats the only down fall….they actually went up they were $33 shipped

Just picked up a pair. Even without Power Chain option figure there is plenty of use - facade lighting, booth lighting etc... If I decide to go with a full uplighting package at some point, I would get some that did have shared power options for sure. At this point I don't do enough uplighting to justify the purchase, I rent what I need and pass the cost on, plus a little extra.

For those people that purchased these lights, keep us posted on how you like them.

I found these lights on ebay for less

www.ebay.com

good find, i'm sure there the same as the ones i posted

They were less than what they're presently posting. I'm thinking after they sell a certain amount the price goes up. After i placed my order they went up $3.

the only thing that i don't like about the ebay light

"Note: This product requires a DMX controller capable of handling 7 channels. If you attempt to use it with a simple 3 channel RGB controller, you will get unexpected and disappointing results"

it looks just like the amazon light & the amazon light works fine with the obay 3 controller,heres some pics of them in action
s1294.photobucket.com

s1294.photobucket.com

s1294.photobucket.com

with free shipping & returns this is worth a shot you have nothing to lose

www.ebay.com

Watchwww.youtube.com

Watchwww.youtube.com

you can't get any cheaper than $16 a light

Cant lie Joee, this is real real tempting. Especially with free shipping to my PA address, but no daisy chain power supply is a real pain man... I'm on the fence with this cause at that price they pay for themselves with one use basically.

exactly…….plus free returns/shipping it's a no brainier …..only thing you have to lose is time spent going to the post office if you don't like them

Just a note to the power linking.
Learned a very valuable lesson this weekend. Blew fuses in 4 of my blizzard pucks. I plugged 1 50" LED tv into the power in of my Intimidator spot LED 350, then took that and plugged that into my blizzard puck. That was way to much power for the fuse to handle on the puck. I thought it would be OK since I have always daisy chained the Int Spot into the puck and never had a problem. The TV sent it over the edge.

Power linking I think is really just for "like" fixtures, not for pretty much anything. Anyway, lesson learned and building some quad boxes for my trusses tonight.

^ Even with pucks into pucks you can blow fuses. I THINK it was 6 puck q12's and i blew a fuse. I didn't try again and see if the same would happen.

This is a great thread...thanks for all the inputs. I own and love the Chauvet Freedom series wireless ...I will like to buy more uplights like them, but not at what I paid for them...
I want a wireless with the ability to select the transmitting channel so I can run them with my Freedom series lights.
I've been looking on alibaba.com but like others said above, there are more crooks on there than legitimate suppliers..
If anyone have a reliable source/supplier they've dealt with...please share....thanks!

I'm sure it's possible that 6 could have done that. Just didn't think 1 Intimidator spot 350 and 1 LCD tv would be enough to blow the fuse.

Made 4 new quad boxes for my trusses last night, no need to worry about it anymore! :)

I got these in the mail yesterday. Incredible for the money. I will primarily use them for uplighting at weddings.

told you, they perform better than name brands that cost 3 times as much

@JDforKing

did you try them with a obay 3 controller? since they tell this in the distribution

"Note: This product requires a DMX controller capable of handling 7 channels. If you attempt to use it with a simple 3 channel RGB controller, you will get unexpected and disappointing results"

description

I don't have an obey controller. I manually set the color on each light before weddings. I'll up buying an obey 3. I saw them for cheap at guitar center earlier this week. How many of these lights do you have Joee?

*end

i don't own any, a friend has ten & gets great results i use american dj microwash rgbw i like how small the rgbw's are

i ordered 6 tested them, now i have 2 more on the way. For most of the venues i work 8 uplights is perfect. If i ever need more, i'll definitely put in another order. I haven't been this happy with a purchase in a long time. It's definitely a great bang for the buck. In my area we charge $150 to $200 extra for uplights. One booking will pay for these lights.

there so cheap you can get 20, imagine how good that will look & maybe you can get $300 if you had 20 of them, i charge $20 per light now


once they see images of a room with/without uplighting they want it

Most of the venues where i live are small. On average 80 to 120 person venues. 20 uplights would be overkill. 10 will be perfect. Right now i'm at 6 just ordered 2 more and will probably order 2 more today.

20 sounds about right for a room that size. Recently I worked with a pro lighting company in my area and for a 120 person wedding they brought in 42 uplights and 4 Source 4 Leko's for pattern projection. It looked pretty amazing.

Goddamn ya'll... you're about to make me pull out the credit card. I really want wireless/battery powered uplights but mixing some cheapies with them may be a great solution to having (more) light in a room.

Definitely not in my market.

Do it, it's well worth the money. Use my ebay link. They are cheaper than the ones on amazon.

warning these cheap lights may be brighter than your existing name brand ones……lol

DJ GaFFle heres some pics of the cheap ones in action

These lights are bright, but they are also cheaper quality.

My very short review:

Good - They are bright, easy to program, and they set up fast. The beam spread is pretty narrow (probably good for up-lights) and the color mixing is decent (no RBG shadows).

Bad - They are light weight plastic. Most name brand lights are metal. The stands are very flimsy. You'll get a much thicker gauge metal bracket with name brands. There is no power pass-through and the power connection/DMX connections are on the bottom. You can not lay these flat on the floor - they must be used with the bracket.

Overall, they are decent lights for the money. I would not use them myself for touring or heavy wedding use. A few to accent the DJ booth or head table... maybe. They are not going to hold up on a weekly basis with guests tripping over them, spilling drinks on them and overall road abuse. Even a travel case will not keep these from getting banged up.

Although my current up-lights (20 of them) are not nearly as bright, I will stick with them until I can afford a quality product. They have held up well and have taken a lot of abuse!

I'd like to hear other's reviews on these. I'll probably pick up a few more just for fun.

Thanx for that. I don't mess with uplights that can't lay flat on the floor (aka: with DMX ports on the bottom). That all plastic isn't for me either. I guess I'll stay the course for what I really want.

for $27 a light what do you want?
s1294.photobucket.com

^^ For $27 a light... TRUE! This is a deal. But for mobile DJs who play out every weekend and charge $200-$500 just for Up-Lights, these might no be your best option. Up-Lighting is an additional charge for my clients, so I want to be sure that I have a clean set-up, no wires all over, and reliable gear.
I could easily incorporate these lights into my stage set-up or a few accent lights behind the head table. But for the entire room package, I (just talking about me here) would hesitate to use these knock-off China brands.
That being said... I used them for some awesome Halloween decor last night at my house! :)

A few years back I was importing a hundred or so pars a month. Most of the time you will get a quality product, but theres also a greater risk than simply ordering from a US supplier. Luckily I have a background in electronics, so any issues were usually fixed easily. I have seen a few different lights go up in smoke due to capacitor failures or faulty wiring, but thats what you get when you are paying 1/3 of the price you would from a company in the US.

If you are looking to purchase lighting, make sure you talk to the salesperson prior to sending your money. They'll usually have skype or some type of messenger service, and some are even willing to walk you through the factory. One of the most important factors in the lights is the quality of the led's. Ask which brand of led they are using. Many times they will offer different companies for different prices. If they offer Cree led's, I would highly suggest going that route.

Of all the components in the light, the led's are usually the most expensive. If you happen to get a light that doesnt work properly, replacement pcb's or power supplies can usually be purchased for a few dollars plus shipping.

Got my Amazon specials last week, good light output, definitely good enough for uplighting most medium height rooms. Very plastic, very cheap, wouldn't imagine they would hold up to a lot of abuse. I picked up a pair to use for DJ Booth or Facade lighting, which they will be perfect for. These are the ones with no power chaining and attached power cable, but DMX ready. I paid around $60 shipped for the pair.

What kind of abuse are you speaking of? No matter if it's cheap or expensive i always take care of all of my gear.

Good question... I often wondered what kind of "abuse" the salesman was talking about when I bought DJ gear back in the day. Now I know!
I played out twice a week for the last 9 months. My gear is constantly being transported from my garage to my truck to the venue and back again in reverse. The loading alone requires my cases being slid and stacked and wheeled down hallways, up ramps, over curbs, and down stairs. The truck ride is bumpy, there are sudden stops, jolts, and let's not forget rapid temperature chances from hot simmer nights to air conditioned venues. Reverse in the winter! Even with padded cases, the lights, speakers, and all the electronics really get shuffled around during the set-ups and take-downs. Plastic breaks under these stresses!!! You ever seen a guy with a big dent in his speaker grill and wonder "how did that happen?" It only takes one fool to knock something over or catch a door jam or have something roll down a ramp... you get the idea. No matter how much you take care of your gear, there will always be something that you don't expect. Metal cases will always outlast plastic and quality gear can handle the punishment longer than cheap stuff. And don't even get me started about renting your gear out!!! LOL
Apply the same principles to cars, computers, or any other high-end product vs. cheap imitation. Take care of your gear and it will last - I agree, but with everything, it WILL get abused and you'll see why there is a price tag for the materials that can handle it.

I was mostly referring to being banged around during transport/storage. They are very light and all plastic. Overall, I think they are good for what they are and what they cost. Hopefully will get a year or two out of them. You can never guess longevity of any equipment these days, had part of LEDs die on my Revo III and a small laser go out last week - both have under 200 hrs on them - so much for 50,000 hr lifespans that are advertised...

I had a blue LED go out on one of my Chauvet Mini Kintas I use for small parties. Called up Chauvet and they sent me a whole new light. I didn't even have to send the old one back, they said just keep it. Shows how little these things actually cost to make.

This is exactly why I recommend spending a little extra on a name brand fixture with actual customer support and warranty.

Funny thing about this thread... It's very practical. Just tonight I was at a buddy's house helping him fix some LED par cans he had. They are rather old and the wiring/parts are easy to see and fix. All old-school electronics that you can actually get to and re-solder. Years of road abuse loosened some of the connections and broke one of the DMX solder connections. In the end, we fixed 'em up and they are ready to break the next time we use them! lol

i just picked up 10 uplights for $144, used them already there pretty good for the money
www.ebay.com

Joe how do those compare to the ones we looked at before that your friend has that cost $25 ish a light.

i have not done a side by side comparison ,these have more leds than the others + there smaller & have no fans so no noise


the other ones have some kind of lens that amplifies the light, so they may be brighter….give me a day or two and i can tell you for sure

I got a dozen of similar lights like this too. They needed quite a bit of modification to work to my specs (IEC power connections, pass-though power, side mounted power and DMX panels, mounting feet, and a small resistor to help quiet the fan noise). Throw another $10 per light on parts and 30-45 minutes worth of work with a soldering iron and you might have a great light set. Otherwise just go with a reputable brand.



I know you said you didn't want barrel scanners, but have you looked into the Inno Roll series from American DJ? I never liked barrel mirrors either, but I picked up two of these, and... WOW. My new favorite lights.

Don't go cheap. Stay with a name brand. Less headache

If you dmx and program your lighting it will always stay in the dance floor.

Moving heads> scanners

A lot of the newer fixtures have great "sound mode" programs built in. In fact, I find it hard sometimes to replicate them exactly with DMX capabilities. The only issue is that they are not always on beat (4/4 count) and during slower songs, you don't want your lights going crazy as if you're rockin' out at 135 BPM.

DMX is another animal to try to tame, but it takes time and adds up on cost to do it correctly. Most lights come with a simple remote that you can use to control it pretty easily. The Inno Series has a set of scanner lights available. Pocket Scan: www.pssl.com

You stated that you wanted to keep your lights on the dance floor. Without DMX, moving head fixtures will scan all over the room. Trying to keep them on the dance floor might be rather tricky unless they have some good internal programing for specific zone selection or something.
I have no experience with moving head fixtures. They look cool and all when synced together, but for my mobile set-up, I've never been interested in mounting them to anything. Getting scanners up high seemed to be the way to go for me.
Go with what you can afford and see what happens. Remember that anything you throw out into the crowd is gonna get some attention. Your clients will probably like it regardless of what your own personal expectations are. You'll always get compliments on your lights even if YOU don't like them. I have a few that I am not impressed with anymore, but no one has ever come up to me and said that my lights sucked! :)

Anyone pulled the trigger on any of these chinese uprights?

i got 10 for $144
www.ebay.com

i have no complaints



so i did i side by side the big one with the built in fan seems to shine a little brighter & further up the wall……but they are very similar

Did you get a second handle so they stand upward? That seems difficult to do with one handle.

no, they stand just fine the base is wide enough, now if there being bumped around they may fall

Cool I may buy one just to test it out. I absolutely love the larger ones I have. My dj partner bought the Chauvet 64 pars and for what he paid for 4 I paid for 12 of the Chinese knock offs and mine look just as good if not better.

I guess i should of been specific about what type of chinese uplights, specifically the battery powered, wireless dmx ones. Im looking into these

www.aliexpress.com
they bear a striking resemblance to the adj
www.amazon.com minus the price

I don't have a huge issue with Chinese imports because of the lower prices. I do have issues with complete lack of quality control standards of knock-off brands. Here are a few examples:

I purchased a DMX box from China. It came with a power plug... cut off at the end. There was no power supply, just a bare cord. Fortunately, I had a spare power pack with the right specs and got it to work, but still - shoddy.
After two uses on the road, one of the ports stopped working. I opened up the case (upon hearing a rattling sound) and found that the entire circuit board was free floating inside the housing. The only thing keeping it in place was the wires to the ports! Because of all the movement, one of the port wires broke free. I was able to solder it back together and secure the circuit board with a couple screws and some hot-glue, but still - shoddy

I bought a few Chinese lights to test them out. (Comparable to Chauvet designs.) Upon opening the case, I found that the three-prong safety cord had been cut on the inside and the ground connection was not connected. In fact, in some of the units, there was no 3rd wire from the plug, just a mock ground prong with only a two wire cord. This would never pass UL inspection!
The fan was noisy (and installed backwards in two of the 6 lights) and one had so much hot-glue residue around the fan case that it got tangled in the blades.
The flimsy plastic cases are sure to break with heavy road use.

Overall, if you're trying to save a buck, you better be prepared for crappy manufacturing, no quality control, electrical safety standards right out the window, and a heck of a lot of time modifying and repairing your gear to keep it operational.

This is why name brands charge more! Buyer beware!

some of the the name brand lighting is the same as this other made in china stuff just branded with the name brand logo


I've had no issues thus far I've experienced the opposite, when i put the cheap $24 light next to a chauvet light……the owner of the chauvet says wow yours is brighter


chauvet $100
china light $24

I bought a total of 12 Chinese uplights from a US seller on eBay. I've only had problems with 1 and I paid $250 for the 12. Needless to say I've made my money back after 2 weddings so I'll take the good with the bad. I forgot to mention they are just as bright as my dj partners chauvet slim par 64s.

Just Buy the real Stuff. Quit wasting your time for a cheap ass light. Think of the fire hazard in a venue or a hall

Truth! This is a weird place to be. Name brand stuff (still made in China) is higher quality, but often the cheaper stuff (when working properly) out-performs. This is why guys like us take a few risks and try to weigh out the options. Some of us strike it rich and some just strike out!

Anyone tried these? www.ebay.com Seems like a crazy good deal given that you get 4 nice movers as wells as a flight case

If you get these, let me know how they work!!!

Interesting this thread popped up again.

Was really contemplating a purchase from a Chinese vendor. Been looking at these and only hesitant because of the weight. One of my Chauvet 350's crapped out on me so debating instead of fixing it, sell it off for cheap for someone to go fix it along with another one and grab 2 of these.
They are super bright and have great features and price was pretty good.
Watchwww.youtube.com

Anyone ever order from these guys before? Debating a set of uplights from them as well.

I'm thinking that may be 3 movers and a case (4pcs total), which would seem about right for that price.

Just pulled the trigger on 2 of these 60W Movers. www.ebay.com
I decided on these over they higher powered ones that I posted before due to the gobos, prism, and other neat effects that are on the 60W units. Will keep yall posted on how they perform once they get here.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

I'm very close to pulling trigger on some battery/wireless dmx uplights

This is a great thread. Anyone got any joy with more dynamic lights or laser recommendations ?

As a quick update, both are bricked. Once out of the box, one worked and one didnt. Now neither works. No clue whats wrong with them. They attempt to power on but never successfully initialize. Dealing with their customer service right now. As of right now I would not recommend these

Just another quick update. Turns out the power boards were the culprits and so the sellers overnighted me a pair FROM CHINA and paid me $80 for my trouble. I replaced both boards in about 45 minutes yesterday and now they're rocking. I'll do my best to post some footage of them at a school banquet on Friday, but heres a little something just to see them going.

db.tt

Wow. That's awesome. Glad it worked out!! Getting closer every day from pulling the trigger on some Chinese unbranded uplights! Lol.

Link to YouTube vid ?

@pdidy Not up yet. Spent hours programming in ShowXpress and still have lots to do. Ill hopefully have it all good by Friday and I'll get some good footage at my gig that night.

IT doesn't need to be your vid, just want to see the light in action.

How do you feel the quality of them are?? Do youngster any branded products to compare to?

Not sure I mentioned but I got my intimidator spit it back from repair. Needed a new power supply and they actually had to turn down the voltage slightly to orevent the led from going. Almost $300 repair. I asked the guy his thoughts on non branded moving heads. He said they will work great but interior components (metals/plastic) are usually very thin. So even in careful normal transport they can get damaged much easier than the branded counterparts. He said he had a customer that came in saying it worked one day and didn't the next. Metal inside bent from transport and messed up the mechanics of the light.
I'm sure some are better than others so curious to see how they hold up. Now granted my Chauvet was only 2-3 years old and I had to repair it. I had a Chauvet mini kinta burn out a blue led so they aren't perfect either. May take a chance in the future but don't want to spend a few grand in higher end better feature Chinese lights and get burned.

He did say getting some uplights are usually a no brainier though.

I can't comment on these vs anything else as these are my first movers ever. They are built pretty well IMO. They are heavy enough to feel solid. All structural parts are a pretty thick steel and the only plastic is the shell surrounding the pan mechanism along with the head casing. When I took them apart, I was suprised at how solid everything seemed. I don't doubt that they get damaged easy in transport, but that seems to be the nature of movers. I am hoping to build a quick road case for them tomorrow. Not sure if I'll actually get around to it though. Worst case scenario I'll just use their original boxes. Also, now that I swapped out their internal power bricks, they have been working pretty well for hours on end the last 2 days while Ive been messing with ShowXpress.

With all of that said, I do have a couple complaints. First off, I wish you could flip the display text 180 degrees so that when hanging from truss the text is readable. Next, one of my units has a slight twitch to the pan which bugs me but IMO no party goer will ever notice and its not bad enough to deal with getting a new unit. Furthermore, their customer service isn't bad, given that they overnighted me the replacement power bricks, but they don't speak english and you can tell that 'Amy' used google translate. This means that it is hard to communicate with them since they have a very hard time understanding my emails. Also, they don't make road cases for these lights which makes transport difficult. Lastly, their gobo system sucks a little. They don't seem replaceable, and there are 2 gobo wheels which introduces caveats. First off, only 1 of the wheels allows gobo rotation. This sucks because the wheel that allows this has the most useless gobos ever, while all of the cool gobos are on the static wheel. Next, since there are 2 wheels, if you move from a gobo on one wheel to a gobo on the other, then 1 will be out of focus. This was remedied by some programming on the Motorized focus within ShowXpress, but it still sucks that both wheels can't use a similar focus.

With all of that said, they seem good so far and are super bright, so I would recommend looking into them.

Watchwww.youtube.com

This one is almost exactly the same,but has different gobos as mine.



Not comprehensive at all, but shows my rig doing a basic scene

youtu.be

These are the moving heads i would get if I went that route. I got a quote of about 1600 for a pair delivered. They are a little on the heavy side if you out 2 in a case. They weigh about 42lbs each but have some pretty sick features.

I bought some mini moving heads that's the equivalent of blizzard flurry 5s. I had to custom program them in show xpress but they work great. About to pull the trigger on some moving heads soon and up lights so I'll keep y'all posted

Those look sick. You could do some fantastic laser like effects with that 6 facet prism. I also love all the gobos on these and the zoom. If you get these you should pass along your old Chauvets ;)

Lol. Yea I def would sell them. I was debating it when I had to get the repair done. But as much as I WANT new moving heads I don't NEED them. For the weddings I do the 350s are more than sufficient. I don't think I would get any more ROI on new heads other than me liking them better. On the other hand uplights can bring in additional revenue that I can't capture right now. So financially it makes more sense for uplights even tho I don't have a real need for them either. Still want both tho!! Lol

Haha I totally feel that. 350s IMO are really nice. I love the look of them so much. The guys at SLM Entertainment on Youtube uses quite a few of them for some super sick shows.

I do have a question though. What all do you have programmed in ShowXpress. I need some more inspiration for movements and PAR chases and what not but I'm not super sure on what exactly I want.

Nice. I gotta check them out

I have a good handily of shows programmed in show express bit always looking for ideas to make better. I usually run lights myself when djing so most times I just let programs run.

Movements you can use the generator for and tweak. That's the best way to come up with movements.

As far as par chases I have all my pars on the same address. So my front board/truss (and stages if needed) are all in sync. The reason is I never have the same setup. Sometimes I have 4 trusses, sometimes 2, some times light up front board, sometimes not, somtimes stages, sometimes not. So to make things easy I just have everything on the same channel. NEVER had any complaints. Plus it makes it a tad quicker setting up since everything is "interchangable" and doesn't need to go in a specific spot.

vid209.photobucket.com

thats a very full featured head. all the big names always skimp on things like multi faceted prisms, gogo shake, frost, iris and zoom. its very hard to get heads with all of those features.

Hi all.

Just signed up to the site, very interesting reading here about lighting from China has anyone had any dealings with a company from China called DAGE LIGHTING. The website looks very good just thought I'd arsk.

www.dagelight.com

Any help would be much appreciated

Will

vimeo.com
info: serato.com

nice!

thanks, It took me 3 hours to figure out how to do that (sync master/slave mode) lol.

Lol. They are thicker than I thought they would be. How heavy is the case when full? Also what are dimensions of the case.
Do you have DMX software to hook them up?

pdidy, aside from the wireless and battery, is the price difference worth it vs the 18x3w lights for occasional uplight usage. 2 ranks is a big investment for me to use once per month. Id have to see the cash before i pony up.

all included (charging case, shipping) = $2270
$2270 divided 12 = $189 per 9X18watt light for 12.

I think I could have been just as satisfied with the smaller/cheaper option and saved $832....
12pcs MQ-G119 is 6x18w led par .unit price is $103/per .DHL shipping cost is $247 .12pcs Total cost is $1483. (No charging Case)

A name brand available in the U.S. will likely be 2 - 3 times more expensive for equal performance.

Is it worth it for YOU ? Lets say you could up-charge $300 minimum per month X 12 = $3600 in a year. So you could potentially pay off the investment in 6 months just doing 1 gig per month. (Based on the smaller/cheaper option I mentioned)
The big question is will you get the work ?

Yep I was surprised too, I imagined them smaller in size and lighter when lifting the entire case but not a deal breaker. My guess is each case is approx. 65lbs. So, so glad I paid a lil extra for 2 cases in stead of one, it would have been a deal breaker for me. I will measure when I get home.

The case demensions in inches:
25 1/4. Width
18 1/4. Depth
17 Hight (including wheels)

uplighting

ive got a wedding booking and ive been asked to provide 8 uplighting fixture (small room) .

as usual plan to hire and they charge 10euro a fixture here (wired led uplights)

came across this on ebay m.ebay.ie

anyone used those? marginally more expensive than renting.

I'm not planning to do any programming just plug in and set color.

should I rent or buy this Chinese ones

They look like some I just got. The work ok for the price.

are they bright enough? I have no clue about DMX or Programming, just need them to do blue light on the wall of the venue.

can they be daisy chained? if not that means one power socket per fixture

For lasers, I'd go with KVANT. I own several X-Lasers, Lanling (Chinese brand), and KVANT brands. By far, KVANT steals the show! You'll also want to get Pangolin's Quickshow or Beyond software. Absolutely a must for laser shows. (Mancha makes decent laser software too, but I'm not as familiar with it.)

Looking for trustworthy Chinese company for up lighting.
I own chauvet and american DJ lighting and from what I can tell it all comes from china. So can anyone point me in a good direction for buying good quality lighting direct.
Looking to buy 6 in 1 with uv pars regular plug in style. Usb wirless would be nice but not a must. Thanks

serato.com

In the dark/dim they were cool. The eBay guy I bought from stunk though. They came in like 5 days but the QC on the lights wasn't very good. The housing is plastic and feels cheap. 1 light cuts off when I try to program it manually. Several of the clear lenses over the led were loose. 1 light had the rgb controls crossed. Just minor stuff but for <200 bucks I got 16 lights.

Thats a lot of lights for 200 bucks but looking to pay more for better quality just don't want to pay two or three times more than there paying for them. Looking for quality and company that im not scared to send money over seas.

Exactly. I want the best of both. Does anyone have experience with the 7x10w lights?

a good compromise is the ez wedge tri battery powered remote control & fairly bright can be had for $120 each

Watchwww.youtube.com

I run nothing but Chinese Knockoff lights. I buy them all from Vshow Lighting. I do 2 to 3 shows a week and have had the lights over 2 years now.

Here is some vids from School gigs:

Watchwww.youtube.com

Watchwww.youtube.com

Watchwww.youtube.com

Peter

I just bought a pair of these and I like them a lot. I'll be getting an 8 pack of those lights this week. Bright enough for my needs and hopefully I'll be using them to learn some DMX programming. I got mine for $18 each.

Also I bought all my uplights (32) from them. They are 7 x 10w rgbw. I paid about $65 Canadian each for them after Shipping, Import Taxes. The fans are a touch noisy but in a room with people you don't even notice.

The cheapest Uplight I could find was a Long and Mcquade Brand sold here. Its 7 x 3w rgb and retails for $140. A Similar ADJ or Chauvet was $250+ and still only 7 x 3w or 5w.

So basically I can buy 3 uplights for the price of one ADJ or Chauvet light and if a few break I can buy more and still be way ahead of the game. Plus overall they are brighter.

Not gonna front the show looks amazing. Looks like 4 movers/spots, 2 scorpions /storms maybe 2 strobes, a derby and some floods/par lights? Links please

Not to not pick bc I'm interested in China lights myself. It the movers look a little jerky in thief slow movements. Do you notice that or is it just the video?

Its just the video they move smooth.

DJ_Nix: Thank you. The show is Actually 2 x 60w Moving Heads (Chinese Brand but uses A Blizzard Profile), 4 x 4in1 10w rgbw Beam Moving Head, 4 x 7x10w RGBW Uplights (Wash), an ADJ 800w Strobe and 2 ADJ Mini Galaxian Lasers. One of the shows I have 6 of the 60w Moving Heads going.

Also my Lighting guy controls everything manually to the music. No Pre Programmed Shows just movement patterns. Gives a better atmosphere.

I don't do many weddings so went with renting. if I get more weddings and mobile bookings in 2017 I will consider buying the Chinese lights.

The ones you bought can they be daisy chained (power)?

I got a set. Mine were not daisy-chainable.

Mine are not either.

I just purchased some chinese uplighting (16) here's a link if you want to check them out. I'm hoping for the best, I found a couple youtube videos on them and they looked good. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

www.rainbowlightsus.com

I have the same uprights but from a different company.

for anyone that wants a decent uplight without breaking the bank, i highly recommend this one ,they can be has for $120 each www.chauvetdj.com


I've been using them & there perfect if all you need is static colors ,if you want DMX they are not for you

I bought a pair of the battery powered version a few months back. They do seem very solid for the money. Great build quality and crazy bed long battery life. And they fit perfectly in my Arch Truss.

My lights came in today. Construction looks great and solid. BRIGHT. Very happy with these, here's a quick pic I took right now of them. Larger than I thought.
i587.photobucket.com

We have the same set up with the echomate included Watchwww.youtube.com

Share the source?

Nevermind. Lazy

Now I haven't read this entire thread but from what I've read this is mostly about uplights.

Anybody got any deals on some moving heads??

I was gonna ask the same thing!

Vshow lighting looks to be ok.
www.gzrocklighting.com

Also look at
www.huayanlight.com


VERY tempted to try but very weary about buying moving heads. Would love to buy 1 or 2 as a test but would hate to waste money

Any other leads on some moving heads??

I bought my two 60w moving heads from GZRocklighting (Vshow) almost 2 years ago and they work perfect. Use them 3 times a week. In my DMX Software I use the Blizzard ICE-60 profile as these are essentially the Blizzard lights without the Branding. I bought another 2 for my second DJ and and DJ Friend bought 12 of them for his show.
The newer versions of the lights are now 90w and 120w vs the 30w and 60w when I bought mine. They are around $300usd each for the 90w and $380 for the 120w.

Got a link?

anybody interested in pooling resources for a big purchase to maximize our buying power?

we are stage light factory,my email is juliewang9090@gmail.com.Studio light,moving light,theatre light and so on,we also have.

Studio light,moving light,theatre light and so on,we also have.www.gzsky.cn

i'm still using wired + wireless icicles. i think its time to phase those out and go with battery powered these look great. about how long does the battery last? can the battery be replaced?

for something affordable give these a look (can be had for $120 new), there plenty bright and the battery last more then 10 hours
www.proaudiostar.com

those are only rgb tho. i just perused alibaba and found some 9x18w, rgbaw+uv, battery powered+wireless joints for $130 a pop and they come with a case that charges all the lights at the same time #winning

Link please ^

need link, that price sounds to low so there's likely some additional charges.

I aIso have the 9x18w, rgbaw+uv and it included.......

(charging case, shipping) = $2270 for 12

$2270 divided 12 = $189 per 9X18watt light

Watchwww.youtube.com

9x18w, rgbaw+uv battery powered wireless slim par

makylighting.en.alibaba.com

i'm still looking for led moving heads at least 180w...

i ordered these from aliexpress a few months ago. they are nice and compact and works great with the echomate

www.aliexpress.com

pdidy...how your lights holding up?

Any issues, how much use have you put them through? Any wireless connection issues?

curious as well... I was ready to drop $$ for 16 Chauvet Freedom Par Tri-6 @ around $230... but these china posts got me wondering man...

if you haggle a bit you should be able to get the quads for $240 new from PAS

Chauvet and American DJ are obviously made in China too. I took apart various models of both and compared them to some cheap ones off Alibaba and the like...

Chauvet uses a much more robust power supply and all the wires are insulated. Also, the ground connection is intact on ADJ models Chauvet - Ground is not even attached in China models!

Motors are the same (moving heads), but the real difference is the LEDs. The cheap China lights used grade B diodes. These are from mis-matched lot numbers and factory rejects. Not that they don't work, but they are not the higher quality ones found in more expensive models. Case-in-point... Take a cheap Chinese up-light and set the RGB settings to some crazy color (115, 97, 255 for example). Now do that with 3 other of the same model lights... You'll get vastly different color pallets. The LEDs are not identical and even the same settings (DMX or otherwise) will vary considerably between lights.

Other minor quality issues - China lights had hot glue strands all over the inner casing, including between lenses. These are visible on focused beams and one even wound around the gobo motor. Bad solder joints or wires not properly seated in the connector.

You do get what you pay for - just sayin'

For the last 6 weeks I've been doing some heavy testing inside one of my residences 4 nights per week, 5 hours per night = 20 hours per week. Ive had 0% issues within this time.
With intensive use (all lights always on) on multicolored/sound active im averaging 8-9 hours on a single charge. FYI, solid colors use a lot less power and will give more hours on a single charge. The batteries are like a cell phone so it works a 100% without dimming until batteries are completely drained. Ive determined all batteries are of equal quality because they all drain out within 10 min or less of others.

Disclaimer:
1. I have not done enough large venues to truly test connection issues over long distances like 100ft away from Master. My testing has been in the 20-30ft range.
2. All my current testing was done with a high quality wireless controller/transmitter EchoMATE™ Plus Watchwww.youtube.com, so your results may vary with cheaper transmitters.
3. In my research from more experienced users, stand alone aka master/slave mode (when one light is the master and all others are slaves and no DMX controller/transmitter is used) raising the height of the master light transmitter to improve line of sight will generally correct any connection issues.

Recommendation:
If you only need the most basic up lighting with one color all night the remote that comes with these lights are all you need so no need to waste money on a wireless DMX controller/transmitter.

Theses are my uplights Watchwww.youtube.com. Any opinions good or bad on internal build quality are welcome.

I'm no electrical engineer, but they look solid. At least the ground wire is actually attached to something!

How's the color consistency between units? Are the fans decent? Mine tend to whine a bit until they warm up.

The color consistency and brightness appear to be identical with all 12 lights. The fans never wine, there is sound of forced air but that can only be heard in an absolutely quiet room when I have all 12 sitting together as in the video I posted, in real world use when spaced throughout the room it cannot be heard at all.

That's awesome! Good find.

How did those Chinese uprights work out? We are thinking about purchasing some as well?

How did those Chinese lights work out? We are thinking of purchasing 12. Not sure about the risk though.

Just now joined this forum. I'm looking for ideas on a good company for Chinese battery wireless uplights

Can anyone help? Maybe how much watts I should be looking for. Most of my events are 95% weddings

I have documented my experience here
serato.com

So... A buddy of mine went ahead and bought 4 cheap Chinese "Spider Lights". I have the American DJ On-X. Other than being falsely advertised as RGB lights, they are pretty sub-par in terms of operation too. The lights are bright, but they lack consistency. Even on Master-Slave or DMX, the lights do not all perform the same range of motions or even the same light patterns sometimes.
They were cheap and they'll work, but I was not very impressed. Some Chinese knockoffs are just not worth the price!

From a different company, I have some Bee-Eye knockoffs that will should be here on Thursday. I'll post a review once I've had time to go through everything with them:
www.aliexpress.com

2 units in a single flight case, $1260 shipped. Took several days to get confirmation of shipping, when they responded via Skype, they said they had a run on them and had a 100 more being built. Customer reviews for this company are good, with decent reviews on their products so I am hopeful. Ordered on 3/29, shipped date 4/8, expected delivery date 4/13 so fairly quick delivery once shipped.
Another company I almost ordered with actually changed their model from what they had on their website. Once I pressed for details they provided manual for their new model. That model had less features and 10 watt LEDs instead of 15 watt LEDs. They said the other model was too expensive so they changed to a lower cost/lower feature model, so make sure you do due diligence before ordering.

Cool - let us know!

Adj and chavuet sourcing from China ,however ,the source from big factories, there are thousands of lighting factories in China , some make amazing lighting ,some make very common lights, some make very very cheap rubbish .
When you try to get lights from China , should get sample test first.

Alibaba is half trade and half factories. Big company won't be in Alibaba.
Chauvet and ADJ control the big companies, they has agreement, won't sell directly to end user.

I have review part of the lights in China market, could see my youtube:Channel
www.youtube.com

Hope these video could help

Adj and chavuet sourcing from China ,however ,the source from big factories, there are thousands of lighting factories in China , some make amazing lighting ,some make very common lights, some make very very cheap rubbish .
When you try to get lights from China , should get sample test first.

Alibaba is half trade and half factories. Big company won't be in Alibaba.
Chauvet and ADJ control the big companies, they has agreement, won't sell directly to end user.

I have review part of the lights in China market, could see my youtube:Channel
www.youtube.com

Hope these video could help

Adj and chavuet sourcing from China ,however ,the source from big factories, there are thousands of lighting factories in China , some make amazing lighting ,some make very common lights, some make very very cheap rubbish .
When you try to get lights from China , should get sample test first.

Alibaba is half trade and half factories. Big company won't be in Alibaba.
Chauvet and ADJ control the big companies, they has agreement, won't sell directly to end user.

I have review part of the lights in China market, could see my youtube:Channel
www.youtube.com

Hope these video could help

Adj and chavuet sourcing from China ,however ,the source from big factories, there are thousands of lighting factories in China , some make amazing lighting ,some make very common lights, some make very very cheap rubbish .
When you try to get lights from China , should get sample test first.

Alibaba is half trade and half factories. Big company won't be in Alibaba.
Chauvet and ADJ control the big companies, they has agreement, won't sell directly to end user.

I have review part of the lights in China market, could see my youtube:Channel
www.youtube.com

Hope these video could help

Adj and chavuet sourcing from China ,however ,the source from big factories, there are thousands of lighting factories in China , some make amazing lighting ,some make very common lights, some make very very cheap rubbish .
When you try to get lights from China , should get sample test first.

Alibaba is half trade and half factories. Big company won't be in Alibaba.
Chauvet and ADJ control the big companies, they has agreement, won't sell directly to end user.

I have review part of the lights in China market, could see my youtube:Channel
www.youtube.com

Hope these video could help

Adj and chavuet sourcing from China ,however ,the source from big factories, there are thousands of lighting factories in China , some make amazing lighting ,some make very common lights, some make very very cheap rubbish .
When you try to get lights from China , should get sample test first.

Alibaba is half trade and half factories. Big company won't be in Alibaba.
Chauvet and ADJ control the big companies, they has agreement, won't sell directly to end user.

I have review part of the lights in China market, could see my youtube:Channel
www.youtube.com

Hope these video could help