Cool-Light's Blue Line body with "HMI" guts

USLatinContent said:
Wow Richard... thanks for an other string of your book-type posts, and for the list I asked for. Thanks for taking the time!

Just to triple check... a working unit for the 575w HMI with the Osram bulb would be a total of $819.-
Click to expand...

Yes, for now with us selling the bulb at our cost or until we can purchase a 500 bulb inventory. We've just go too many different products now with our capital spread out among them: 4 models of metal flo's, 6 models of plastic flos including dimming and non-dimming versions, 4 models of tungsten fresnels, 2 models of hmi fresnels one of them with two options for ballast, new portable light stands, new carrying cases, etc. We have to make lots of these to get good prices so I'm stretched about as far as I can go.

Also, it looks like all the planned inventory of 575w HMI are taken up with pre-orders where people paid in advance, so unless you can pay in advance for a 575w unit, you probably won't be getting one this time. These should be delivered in November so its not a long wait in any case if you do pay in advance.
 
Indeed... not a small operation Richard, but I am sure your efforts will meet equal rewards. All the best!

No worries about my little order, heheh... I am not in shape to purchase mine yet anyway. For all other late buyers I hope you can turn around to a second batch quickly and without going mad in the process.

I wish you a future filled with hamburgers and success, hehe... :thumbsup:
 
Richard, I appreciate your candor.
I am very familiar with just about every quirk with an HMI, and yes I do own several tungsten light sources, and realize they are, and sometimes take for granted, low maintenace. A new bulb, big deal, usually under $30 bucks, depending on size. A loose or missing screw..already got it covered.
I'm just a little tired of renting HMI's, but want to include a couple of 1200 watt HMI's to my arsenel. That's why I'm so interested in your products. I want to buy the Joker kit because of their reputation and reliability.
I have used the 400 joker so many times, I could have owned one by now.
I have had a great year so far, so I'm investing in gear to help get even more work, and I can write it off. (I write off my rentals too)
My wise old man told me to never buy a new car in it's first model year of production. " Wait till the reports come in from the first flock of owners." He'd say. Sure enough, the car manufactures would need to replace,improve,beef up, exchange items that came under unexpected wear, or certain parts just did not live up to snuff. The following year, after much advertisng, and some times a mid year re-introduction, the new - improved version would come out.
I guess I still can't escape that logic Richard, and with no offense to you or your HMI products. I plan to wait on your 1200's until a few members here write in their reviews and have used them a few months. Or I get first hand experience with one.
I do plan on ordering some of your new style Flo's, as you pointed out eariler, the technology is basically a no-brainer, if you will, with a proven track record. I'm just glad you offer them at nearly half the price of the competition.
Thanks again, and with all due respect, I appreciate the information that you have shared with everyone. I am serious about ordering either a 4 or 6 bank flo from you.
 
Hi Terry,

We've got plenty of the CDM 150 150w fresnels in stock but only a limited quantity of the 575w HMI for now. The CDM 150 is a very solid product and people should like it very well. We have already been selling those and they started shipping this week. The first few 575s have also gone out.

The 575w "semi pro" version as I call it (the 575w selling for $699)--I consider the first batch to be a test run since its such a new ballast, so we'll just have to see how it does in actual use by others out there. You can think of it as a "paid beta test" being supported by me. Thus, I'm only selling it to people that like to be on the "bleeding edge" so to speak and want to participate and will be attentive to what's going on and how to treat an HMI product to keep it running well. This is why it says "contact us" on the site so I can verify that the person buying it understands that it is a very new product and that they should already have some experience with HMIs too.

The information we glean from this test will help us to make the higher wattage HMI's more bullet proof and then we'll feel better about major release of them in larger quantity. It will also give us experience in what's going to be necessary to support such a product too. High wattage HMIs are somewhat finicky beasts so we want to make sure we get it right. I've also got 4 test 1200w units coming in February as well: 2 with our Pro ballast (more expensive and hot restart) and 2 with our semi-pro 1200w (cold start) ballast.
 
Great to hear you have already looked into it. I figured you'd be coming out with your own as yet an other service to your customers.
 
I thought I'd let you all know about my experience with the order that I placed with Richard- In short I am very happy with the HMI I bought- and I placed an order for another one. For more detail you can check out my blog entry: Going Cool: Lights from Coollights.biz

Also, one quick update, the soft box I ordered arrived today. :)
 
I too, recently received my order from Richard; 2 x 150w CDM/HMI's and 1 x 6-tube portable flo; all with daylight-balanced lamping. The prospect of being able to have affordable HMI-type lighting in my own kit was very exciting and I was hoping to not be disappointed.

Well, I've only had a brief opportunity to work with the lights to ensure everything arrived in working order, but I am extremely happy with the results of some quick indoor tests. The 150w CDM's throw healthy amounts of light (easily comparable to 650w tungstens) without giving off much heat at all; they can definitely be considered 'cool lights'. And I must say, the quality of the light rendered beautifully on my 35mm adapter-based test footage.

I can't really add any more to what Ryan already said in his excellent and spot-on review other than I'll definitely be adding more of these type of lights in various wattages as they become available.

Lastly, I'd also like to say that Richard is a gem to work with; he's very responsive, honest and fair. I wish him much success in the business!
 
I just got my pair of 575w HMI's. So far I have fired up one of them, Man it is weird seeing blue light ;P

I will report more as I play with em.

Ben
 
Ryan, Leo and bena,
thanks for your first impressions!
Many here are looking for first hand experiences from other dvxusers with the new CoolLights line and will use these reports as decision helpers...

All Europeans interessted in ordering CoolLights please check this thread http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=119075 to find a solution to our ordering situation! Thanks!
 
Thanks everyone for your quick reviews. Considering we just started shipping last week you guys were quick on the draw. I guess we'd already be in big trouble in the "Internet Age" if we were shipping bad news stuff.
 
Not impressed... well don't blame me, it is you after all Richard, I expected nothing short of a miracle :thumbsup:

Very nice little article Ryan
 
Well these 150w CDMs are amazing lights. I don't think it takes anywhere near 5 mins to warm up to color temp...it feels like it reached it in 30 seconds. Some things I noted after taking it out of the box was that the ballast smells like a horse, the tilt knob on one of the fixtures was on the opposite side (that was easily switched around however), and an ARRI double scrim is a very tight fit. Richard, I wish you could've had the Cool Lights logo on the fixture itself.
 
Glad to help out by providing my thoughts. While on the shoot I was pressed for time, and was not able to get some BTS shots of them in action, but hopefully on some upcoming shoots I'll be able to get some samples. :)

They are great lights to work with.
 
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