Any Britek or Rostronics issues?

Just wanted to give an update in case it helps anyone!

I ordered a light kit on Feb 8th from rostronics.

Received it Feb 15th...all in working order and am so far MAJORLY impressed for the money spent.

Had a bit of an issue with email communication, but Ill just chalk it up to Tom being busy and maybe us mis-communicating.

Was a bit worried about the softbox that i received (had a hard time following the rather "cheesy" instructions)...but after checking a few posts on the archives of this board (thanks everyone) I was able to figure out how to put the soft box together. :)

So far...my experience would lead me to recommend the Briteks and Rostronics to anyone who asks!

Now....time will tell the rest! :D

Hope this helps anyone who is interested in making a purchase!

Thanks!
 
I ordered on the 10th and here is what tom sent me today:

Hi,

I don't have the tracking number here right now, but it should be there
tomorrow or Monday at the latest.

Thanks again,
Tom
 
HDkilledFILM. said:
I ordered on the 10th and here is what tom sent me today:

Hi,

I don't have the tracking number here right now, but it should be there
tomorrow or Monday at the latest.

Thanks again,
Tom
Click to expand...

The same thing happened to me the last time I ordered. Not to worry, it'll show.
 
HorseFilms said:
The same thing happened to me the last time I ordered. Not to worry, it'll show.
Click to expand...

thats good, only problem is I have a shoot this weekend lol. I guess it won't hurt to rent some arris and kino's, goddamn this feature is expensive, 10k and I havent taken a shot that I intend to keep, just tests. HVX200 is killer though.-thanks again-Adam
 
Its funny you guys posted this...

I emailed him a few days after I ordered and asked him that I saw my card was charged and when he thought the lights would ship...

he emailed me back saying that he wasnt in the office but he thought it had shipped already...

Period. No Ill find out. No Ill get ya the info and/or tracking number when I get into the office.....

Kinda took me aback a bit...and to be honest scared the "poop" out of me that the sale might turn into a nightmare.

As I said, since the lights got here actually earlier than I thought I just chalked it up to those "email miscommunications" that happen......so hopefully....they will show up at your door when ya aint looking! :D
 
JTyner said:
Its funny you guys posted this...

I emailed him a few days after I ordered and asked him that I saw my card was charged and when he thought the lights would ship...

he emailed me back saying that he wasnt in the office but he thought it had shipped already...

Period. No Ill find out. No Ill get ya the info and/or tracking number when I get into the office.....

Kinda took me aback a bit...and to be honest scared the "poop" out of me that the sale might turn into a nightmare.

As I said, since the lights got here actually earlier than I thought I just chalked it up to those "email miscommunications" that happen......so hopefully....they will show up at your door when ya aint looking! :D
Click to expand...

I just got my order, 2 stands instead of the three I ordered. Extra bulbs were 300w instead of 650w. I eamiled asking whats up no reply from tom yet. I think it's safe to say that sux.
 
Apparently Tom's helper has been off this week - it sounds like he's been overrun. Must be a huge job running a business of this size with 1 or 2 people.

I'm in the same boat service-wise. I've just put in an order for a 1k, 650 and 300 - with the added problem of trying to source 220v bulbs.

Raytracer - to confirm, should I be getting bulbs with not only the correct base (of course) but also the right code (1k-JPD, 650-DYR, 300-JCD) and for the 650, make sure it's a Ushio?

You're thinking getting the Ushio bulb will solve most of the previously mentioned 650 problems? Damn, this is getting complex...
 
St. Mad: I can't confirm those ANSI codes as they are different from the 120V ones, but that's the general idea. I've not seen any difference with the RS based globes, so I generally go with Osram, but for the 650 definitely go with Ushio and make sure the legs are long enough.

I'm pretty hopeful that that will clear up our problems.

Joe

Edited so as not to appear to be an illiterate hump.
 
I thought I'd get lucky so I took the plunge and purchased a 650 from Rostronics.

Just like many people here have reported, after about 10 minutes the first bulb blew (along with the fuse). I picked up some replacement 10 amp fuses and tried the "extra" bulb and after about 15 minutes it blew :kali:

I called Tom at Rostronics who had me call (I assume) britek direct.

Spoke to someone at 1-562-921-9870 who told me they would replace the fuse. After telling him about this website and what others have gone through he said he'd send me 2 replacement bulbs that are "supposed" to last longer than what I origionally purchased.

Bottom line - if you're like me and are foolish enough to buy 1 of these lights don't even bother purchasing the bulbs from rostronics, they are willing to sell you bulbs THEY know are not working correctly.

Buy the bulbs from britek directly 1-562-921-9870

Any dealer that sells these lights (especially Tom) should know there's a problem and sooner of later someone will get hurt when one of these lights blows.
 
Joe, thanks. After hunting in other places I came to the same conclusion. I should really check the threads I ask questions in :)

The 650 ushios (220-240) are available at B&H, and I managed to track down the others (with difficulty) elsewhere. Good to know about the 1k Osrams.

I'm liking the sofboxes (I got one for each light) - my mate got a Chimera softbox for his Arri 1k open face, and I'm sure he had a lot more trouble than me assembling. Then again, maybe it's just him :)
 
I ordered 3 lights, stands and extra bulbs about a week ago and got them yesterday! Everything was good except that one of the barndoors was made improperly and had no way of sliding onto the light, however i e-mailed tom and sent him a picture and he said to mail it back and he'd send out a new one right away. I've found Tom to be very responsive and great to talk to. Now I haven't had my lights on for any amount of time, just checked to make sure they work, hopefully the bulbs won't blow on me like many of you seem to be experiencing. If so, i guess i'd best try to get bulbs elsewhere, overall, i'm happy with my rostronics experience thus far :)
 
i bought a 600w/1200w light with stand, barndoors and 32" softbox today for $190!! what a freakin deal. tom is very cool as well. he let me come by his place on a sunday to pick the stuff up. cool guy. the light seems very solid. he said that it was just redesigned and it is a brand new model. softbox is solid. takes longer to put up than my rifa but from what i hear, the rifa sets up the quickest of any softbox. i would buy britek from tom again...
 
I am singing the same tune as previous posts. Fuse failures, unpredictable bulb life! I have ordered bulbs twice from Tom and both times the order was incorrect. I have purchased two lights, a 200w and a 300w as well as a couple of light stands. All I want is something reliable and consistent. We all know that when you are doing a shoot, down time simply isn't worth the extra cost of a quality product. That said I have found that you don't always get what you pay for but most of the time do!
 
I finally found this thread. I ordered 2 600's and a 300 right before xmas. I've only tried using them for testing purposes. I've blown 2 bulbs and a fuse. I found this thread looking for info about what kind of replacement fuse to buy! Can I get an acceptable fuse at Radio Shack?

Tom sent me 1 replacement bulb because I complained, but I had to buy more bulbs from him before he'd send it. Now I'm expecting those bulbs to be bad as well. I asked him about the fuse and never even got a return email.

I was blaming the wiring in my house! I'll check what bulbs I ended up receiving - but it sounds like I at least need to buy bulbs from someone else!

I ordered bulbs from Britek and they're sending me some extra fuses as well. Hopefully - I'll have better luck with them. The bulbs I have from Rostronics are NOT Osram, though.
 
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Yeah, the bulbs I got with my lights from Rostronics look like Ushio bulbs, according to the pictures shown earlier in this thread. However last night I was playing around with my camera and the bulb stopped working, I thought at first it was a short in the wiring because it came back on for a sec but then went off again, so i took the bulb out and noticed that the end of one of the connectors looked rather charred, so i threw in a replacement and it worked fine. It also made a weird crackling sound when it went out so after reading the bulb problems on here I figured that was the problem, but if I do indeed have the correct lights, I'm a little worried. I'm gonna take a wired brush and clean off the connector and see if it works properly afterwards. If so, then I have to wonder if there's anything I can do it prevent this in the future or if I just have to suck it up and deal with it. Also, for future reference, could someone tell me if fuses for britek lights are something you can buy at anywhere like radio shack or will I have to order directly from britek? Thanks!
 
What is britek's contact info? Whenever I do a search for britek, I always get their distributors, but never the actual company.

Thanks,
Justin
 
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