Review of chinese 100W moving head spot

R

RichieNorthcott

Member
So I got myself one of these to try out,
https://www.uking-online.com/product/100w-led-beam-gobo-moving-head-stage-light-dazzling-effect-dmx/

with a view to getting a setting of 3 more if I like it. There are plenty of these all over Amazon, eBay etc, the difference between the models (and if you can get your head around the product codes you're a better person than me!) seems to be the number of facets oh the rotating prism. BTW these are a 'stock' part and it's possible to get compatible prisms with various configs from AliExpress. I got the 8 facet one which gives you a ring.

I paid about ?80 for mine.

Channels:
1. Pan
2. Pan Fine
3. Tilt
4. Tilt Fine
5. Movement speed (0 = max)
6. Dimmer
7. Strobe
8. Color wheel
9. Gobo Wheel
10. Prism off / on / rotate
11. Macro (preset movement patterns)
12. Reset

The Good
incredibly bright - I could see the beam outdoors this evening, it's not a particularly misty day

The build quality really is exceptional, really solid feel to it. That said some of the screws were a little sticky when I took it apart being nosey. Re-tapping the holes (they are M4) fixed this.


The Bad
No focus adjustment

No half stops on the colour wheel, only discrete values or continuous rotation. (it would have been really easy for the manufacturer to implement that)

Can't set pan / tilt ranges e.g. 180deg on the pan rather than the default 540deg. That's possible on my small and even cheaper moving head wash lights/

Beam is a little on the narrow side, even with the prism activated. It's a little like a 'sharpie'

The big issue for me is there a significant delay on the pan and tilt channels between sending DMX values and the unit actually moving. Normally on a moving head light the pan/tilt follow the faders, but with this one it's a really uncomfortable experience and would make sequencing to music near impossible. Before you ask - Channel 5 controls movement speed, I have this at maximum. I may look to return because of this. I'm surprised nobody has highlighted this on the Internet.

Does anyone else have any experience of these?
 
Last edited:
Well what do you know - I contacted the manufacturer's support who confirmed this is 'normal' for these units.

So - my advice is best avoid for time-critical applications. I think DJs who use software like Freestyler would also take issue with it, since this software also takes control of the pan/tilt movement. The differences between this and other moving head units would be really obvious in that case. If running in standalone mode or using DMX to call up the macros (ch 11) then these issues would probably go unnoticed.

Disappointed.
 
I made a video which shows some of the issues - am I being unreasonable here? You'll see as I mess with the pan setting (channel 1), it kind of goes on a go slow as it returns to the home position. The unit on the RHS follows the fader movement much more closely. When I go on to try the tilt there's a slight delay between the DMX value being sent and the unit moving. I accept this has more intertia (it's a heavier unit than the RHS one) so needs gentler acceleration / deceleration. Still something seems very off with the firmware here. You'll notice on the first (quick) pan movement, it doesn't move at all.

https://youtu.be/oiPV7fzL1l4
 
I have two different kinds of Chinese moving heads. One is 70w, the other is 200w, costing $75 USD and $160 USD, respectively. They both have dedicated channels "motor speed", and usually I don't want them maxed out. I saw a little jerkiness in the video (this should not be...), and 80 pounds is awfully cheap. It's possible you have cheap movers, or you have another DMX.channel.zeroed out. You might be able to speed it up, but also I just like it slow.
 
The speed channel (channel 5) is set to value 0 = max speed. IMO there's something odd in the maths which calculates the motor speed / accecleration / deceleration. I don't think it's a mechanical issue, it's actually well built for the money. Compare how the unit on the RHS responds vs the new one which is on the LHS. Interestingly if I send it a DMX value of pan=255 from pan=0 it does move instantly (this is done by programming a preset on the desk rather than moving the fader). If I slide the fader it seems quickly that's when I'm seeing the delay, like the calculation of acceleration is't fast enough. It seems to be averaging the rate of change of the values, if that makes sense. It still doesn't explain why it goes much slower than it can when returning to zero. Looks like bogus maths to me.
 
Hi nice to hear from you. My pref would be for these newer units, I like the rotating prism feature. Do you agree that the movement looks a little dodgy from the video?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top