Affordable FloLights

[MitchGV]

Has anyone had any experience with the flourescent lighting systems from http://www.flolight.com , from what I have heard the only issues people have had is the barndoors may come a little loose and would need tightening, and that the zipper on the carrying bag is a little flimsy. If anyone has any information on them I would be really glad to hear it!

Thanks,
Mitch

[legrevedotcom]

So far im pretty happy with my 330w light. One of the only things that could become tedious if you buy one of their elongated models is that you cant rotate the light on the stand. You have two clamps... One for vertical and one for horizontal and you need to screw the one you want to use on the light. Since I bought the 330w it hasnt been a problem. Its rectangular....

But id say good lights for the money! Atleast they havent cocked up the barn doors by putting silver barndoors on like so many other knock offs have.
Oh... And you have wireless dimming build.

[Kelly Olsen]

Flolights may be fine, but I would look at Cool Lights next.

http://www.coollights.biz/softlight-...ries-c-25.html

Nothing against the other guys, but everybody here knows that the owner of Cool Lights (Richard) has been a supporter of the forum for years and years, makes great products (I've got two sets of the portable, dimming four banks and love them), is always available here and by e-mail, gives excellent service and makes a great product for a really good price.

Can't go wrong with any of his products.

[mcgeedigital]

I have had terrible customer service from Prompter People with their flolights and would never purchase anything from them again.

As mentioned above, Richard from Coollights actually syands behind his products.

[legrevedotcom]

Still waiting for that european section of cool lights................. Tax you know... Customs etc.

[ddixon]

After getting by with ambient light and sometimes a reflector, I just bought my first video light. I needed a very soft light that was super fast to set up to do interior interviews. After deciding that a CFL unit with a soft box would take too long to set up on-site, I ordered a Flolight 2x55 fluorescent tube unit thru an Amazon third party reseller. After trying for a month to get the light with no response at all from the seller, Amazon finally cancelled the order. It seems the Flolight is backordered (according to B&H). So, I ordered the 2x55 unit with dimming from Coollights. It came today (in less than a week) - excellent quality. The only thing is that at the distance I want to place it, it's not quite as soft as I need. I may just clip parchment paper in front of it :-) It puts out plenty of light for my needs. Now I'll use this as my key, and use window light and/or a reflector for fill. I wish Coollights sold a diffuser to stretch over the barn doors, and an egg crate would be nice, too.

So, good luck getting a Flolight right now, they seem to be having supply problems.

[Michael Carter]

Flolights - avoid the gooseneck models. The neck comes loose constantly and you need a mole adapter to get it on many stands.

Yes biax flos often need diffusion... Even the tissue that comes between gels will work. Just buy a sheet of 1/4, they don't need much.

[David W. Jones]

I will echo Matt's comment, I have had less than stellar customer service from the prompter people flolights guys.

My only dealings with Cool Lights at this point has been the purchase of replacement ballasts for some of my biax units. No problems there.

[Michael Carter]

I'll add one thing about the gooseneck flo lights... if you have a budget for lots of lights, one or two of these can be handy... because they are insanely light weight (due in part to their crap construction). Ditch the goosneck and mount a baby pin to 'em... and you can hang them from a scissor clip (drop ceiling), tape them to walls, etc. Mine are pretty much relegated to uses like that, so they don't get used too often. But I love the twin biax form factor for rim lighting - that small rectangle is awesome for things like shoulder/cheekbones from the side. Having a super-light (and cheap) unit has been pretty cool. I expect we'll see a lot of these used on eBay as people upgrade to a real yoke setup. I'd snap up a few for special rigs if they were around $100 used.

[Chipgreen]

One big advantage to the Cool Lights flo's is the lollipop mount. It's similar to the Kinos and allows you to spin it around to position how you like. They're worth it just for that alone.