Bluline / Arri fresnels vs Coollights tungsten fresnels

Coollights DO come with barndoors and bulb. I think the general consensus is that both lines of lights are decent alternatives to the more pricey Arri / Mole lights. Still not 100% equal in quality or output though but good product for the price.
 
Keep in mind that the BluLine kits come with ok stands, cases, and spare bulbs. Which will save you a good bit of money.

If the Cool Lights kit came with stands and cases at a competitive price I would reconsider. I don't own either one yet though so this is only my observation.
 
infurno said:
Keep in mind that the BluLine kits come with ok stands, cases, and spare bulbs. Which will save you a good bit of money.

If the Cool Lights kit came with stands and cases at a competitive price I would reconsider. I don't own either one yet though so this is only my observation.
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I didn't see them listing that they come with spare bulbs. But they do come with stands, gels, and some crappy case.
 
Sorry, I was mistaking. No spare bulbs.

Yeah the case is crappy but its better than nothing at all. The stands are the deal breaker for me.
 
You get what you pay for. Many users here at quite happy with their Cool Lights. Unfortunately both of my CDM150's died within the week, so I'm not buying Cool Lights again. But it seems to me this was more a case of extreme bad luck - as mentioned before, lots of people speak highly of Cool Lights.
 
Apples to apples and oranges to oranges. A CDM 150 is NOT a tungsten fresnel. The topic is Cool Lights tungsten vs. Bluline Tungsten. Imagewest has no CDM model so none to compare to there. The CDMs have a ballast and are effectively an HMI. They are not tungsten fresnels which have less failure points. A tungsten fresnel is a purely electrical solution with a bulb hooked directly to the line voltage. About the only thing to fail is the bulb.

An HMI or CDM fixture is an electronic solution. Thus more failure points but is necessary if you want the energy leverage of 4 to 1, cool light output without infrared and inherent daylight without gelling. These benefits are known to many but it may not be for some customers that don't want to pay the extra for the ballast and more complicated bulb. If thats an issue to you then you may prefer tungsten and just gel when you need daylight. In any case, most customers on this site are not experiencing such failures and those that do are taken care of in a normal fashion and not making a public issue out of it.

If you prefer tungsten, Cool Lights tungsten is just as reliable as about any other tungsten. They come with barndoors and 1 bulb as Cheno mentioned. Hope this helps.
 
do some research into what brands and wattage ratings of lights people are using to find out what the basic necessities are and what is dependable. Then watch ebay. You can find stuff that is practically brand new for really decent prices---if you are patient.
 
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