Experience of Chauvet Q Spot 260 LED / Showtec Indigo 4500

[tatster]

Hi all,

I am currently researching options for buying some moving heads for our church.
From what I've seen so far the Chauvet Q Spot 260 LED (or the Showtec Indigo 4500 badged version) seem to offer the right balance between features/price.

The one bit I haven't found is any reviews or comments about whether these fixtures are any good or not.

I've been in contact with a local supplier who is finding out if he can source a demo unit, but in the meantime I thought I'd ask in here and see if anyone has seen these lights working anywhere and what they thought of them.

Thanks in advance,

Anthony

[Esoteric]

Good fixture as long as you know what you are getting. No real complaints. Chauvet customer service sucks, and I wouldn't count on the unit lasting more than 2-3 years. Also Chauvet DMX has been known not to play nice with other DMX. But other than that as long as the unit has the fixture set you want, go for it. It is almost as powerful as a 575W arc unit.

Mike

[tatster]

Thanks Mike for your input.

Can you confirm or not if the Q Spot 260 LED and the Showtec Indigo 4500 are indeed the same light just one is rebadged?

I'm a little concerned you'd only view them as a 2-3 year investment - is this based on reliability of the mechanics, motors etc ?

They will probably only be used once a week at most to start with, for a few hours at a time. My thinking behind going for an LED source is that maintenance/longevity might be longer.

Anthony

[Esoteric]

No problem.

I can not confirm internally what the unit is. What I can tell you is that American products are not often rebadged for sale overseas. There is no "normal" situation, but there are several ways these things can play out.

1. Products are assembled in America (or the EU) from American (or European) parts. There are mostly high end products and are usually going to be the best quality and most expensive. HES, Martin, Vari-Lite, etc.
2. Products assembled in the Far East from American (or European) parts. These are going to be your mid range products. Think Elation or WDM or Blizzard.
3. Products are assembled in America with parts from the Far East. These are often the hardest to spot and hardly ever happen (since labor is so expensive in the US it is usually the first thing outsourced), mostly these will be very small operations. At one time MBT used this strategy.
4. Products assembled in the Far East with parts from the Far East. These are known as the "cheap knock offs". Very strange names on these products usually and no American tech support numbers.

Now, each of these has their advantages and drawbacks. For example, as long as you know what you are getting into I have seen cheap knock offs used very well and very successfully.

So, most likely the Showtec is not rebranded Chauvet, but rather a rebrand of either a unit built overseas with American (or EU) parts or of a Far East knock off.

That being said, I can't tell you which it is until I do more research.

As far as the Q-Spot itself. Chauvet parts, while American in origin, are not of the best quality (but they aren't the worst either). Gears and motors will wear out, their wiring harnesses are known to be fragile, and the units can not take much of a beating. Now, by going LED, you have eliminated a couple of the motors most prone to fail (dimmer and shutter), but Pan/Tilt and gobo/litho motors are still liable to go. Keep in mind that having an LED source does nothing to help the life of the unit (save maybe reducing heat which might help wiring harnesses) it just means that you do not have to replace lamps.

Keep in mind also that logic boards can fail even if the unit goes unused.

Now I say 2-3 years, because I like to be cautious with my assessments and based on the other Chauvet units I have worked with, that is the point where you begin to see the units break down and start costing real money in maintenance. And there are very few places out there that will maintain Chauvet units (in my area there are none) as Chauvet is trying to get a monopoly on their repair business.

So take it with a grain of salt. You might get 2 years out of it, or you might get 10.

Mike

[millamber]

The Q Spot 260 (which I have not used) is listed on Chauvet's website under their "Club/DJ" products and not under their "Pro" line of products. Generally what this means is that the unit does well in a small club or portable DJ rig where the quality of the light is less important than the effects or speed of movement available. They are designed to enhance the mood of the club, to entice people to dance and enjoy themselves, rather than provide adequate illumination of an area. Also the ambient lighting is generally dark, hazy, and muted, also to set the mood and get people on the dance floor, and this type of unit can shine as the brightest area on the floor. Everything looks good in the dark.

If you are expecting this unit to do what I have listed above, you may be happy with it, but if you are trying to use it to provide area lighting or light people, compete with an incandescent stage wash, or project a pattern wash across any usable area, then I believe you will be disappointed with this type of unit.

Looking at the specs from Chauvet's website, several things jump out at me. First, it has a fixed lens beam spread of 15 degrees, which gives you no zoom ability. Going off of the Photometrics in the user manual, to get a 6 foot diameter beam spread, the throw distance would have to be 25 feet. So if you wanted to wash a 50 foot stage in a template wash, it would require 16 units.

Secondly, it uses a 16-bit mode on the pan and tilt channels, allowing you finer control of those parameters, which is good, but it doesn't give you that option on the gobo rotation, which is bad. If you put in a custom logo and want to index it so that it is readable, the lack of fine control will quickly become apparent.

Finally, the 2 fans in the unit are not controlled by the unit. Whenever the power is on to the unit, whether the LED is on or not, those fans are spinning. If you don't power down the fixture at the end of the night, they will continue to spin. Eventually those fans will wear out, clog with dust, and seize up, and shortly thereafter the other motors will overheat and burnout PCB cards, motors, and sensors and belts will become brittle and break or stretch and come loose. There also as far as I can tell is no error codes that pop up in the LCD menu when one of these problems appear, meaning you receive no alert when something is wrong with the fixture, increasing the chance of it getting worse.

Sorry for the detailed post, but I want to make sure you understand what you are getting. The "pro" line of Chauvet products are remarkably well put together, uses quality parts, and are quite durable. The "DJ" line is cheaper, has a more limited subset of applications and uses, and is not as durable as its more expensive cousins.

[Esoteric]

Yeah, in this range I have started going with the Vizi line from Elation. Great units, but of course they cost twice as much, but they have the zoom, fan control, a nice prism (Elation and Martin are the best at this), and even some nice goodies like RDM.

If you are using this for the things mentioned above, American DJ and Blizzard both have units that are just as good (they only have a 30W LED source, but it is the equivalent of a 250W arc source), that are great to replace things in the MAC250 ballpark in small spaces (since no one other than HES makes interchangeable lens kits for their units, and 13-18 degrees is the industry standard for 250W arc movers).

I think units like this are best for clubs where the ambiance is low, but they have a long throw (which would necessitate the 60W source), which allows for the larger coverage, and you don't mind losing the output from the throw.

I would either go with the smaller LED units (in the $500 price range) or up to the Vizi units (which retail in the $1700 range).

Mike

PS I love some of Chauvet's professional products (Impression, Colorado Tour Series), but still do not buy most of them (with the above two exceptions) expecting true professional quality or very good customer support.

[james tucker]

Hi.

I have not used the OP's light before...

There is a ministry in town with 8 Q spot 200's that are 3 or so years old. The only mechanical problems that they had experienced with the lights were due to OBVIOUS user problems (IE being dropped or installing a new gobo in the wrong way). Chauvet has been really cool about servicing their lights so far.

My only complaints: fans are hideously loud, you can't reset the fixture or strike/dowse the lamp via dmx. Like I said, this is the Q Spot 200 I am talking about, I am sure Chauvet has improved the design at some point....

Just throwing this out there... if you need the output of a 250 Arc, maybe you should consider some used High End Technobeams. Its a proven unit, parts are more than readily available, and you can actually talk to cool tech support people.

Not as cool as being able to tell your friends that you bought some new moving head lights.

[blvrschurch]

Thanks everyone for the input. Our church is also looking at some new lights. We currently have Highend Technobeams and love them!!! But was looking to add some less expensive beam lighting. Looks like there is a considerable trade off when going with a "DJ" style light.

[Esoteric]

Yes there is. DJ lights were meant to be just that. For DJs to flash and trash during their events.

I love Technobeams. But they are not High End Technobeams, they are now Strong Technobeams.

Mike

[james tucker]

Originally Posted by blvrschurch

We currently have Highend Technobeams and love them!!! But was looking to add some less expensive beam lighting.

Trackspots!!!!

I personally have 8 of them that are around 8 years old.

My church has a pair that are well over 10 years old.

Built like tanks... pretty bright. The lamp is super cheap to replace. They don't have all the bells and whistles as the technobeams (no rotating gobos/prisms, slow movements are a bit choppy), but the colors and gobos are pretty usable.

I've taken them to big rooms and small rooms and they always seem to do the job. If a church calls me and wants some moving lights, quickly for a show/service, I will throw 6 on their stage on top of road cases and have a party shooting beams over the crowd or on the walls.

Trackspots in your youth room (the lights closer to the ground):





Trackspots at a bigger church: