Arri Knock-Offs? Experience?

i've worked with some knockoffs, didn't have any issues with them. typically what i've heard is that the cords can break easier than true arris. they have had quite a number of years to fix the issues though, so who knows, maybe they're more reliable now. 500 bucks for that kit is obviously a heck of a lot cheaper than the real arris, but if you aren't the kind of fellow to fix up broken cables/connectors/etc... then true arris are worth the dollar
 
I have 'em. I've used ARRI's. They're the same thing.

The focusing on the ARRI's is "a little" bit better.

Bulbs don't last super long on any of these Fresnels, ARRI or not, and when you need to replace yours - you can put the actual ARRI bulbs in for about $18.

These are probably one of the best light fixture deals out there right now.
 
I have three 650's. Good quality, including quality silicon rubber cord. Look carefully. When I bought a couple years back, there were differences in quality between ebay vendors. I bought the Jie Tu brand.
 
These are perfectly usable, they give you exactly the same light and light control as the real thing. I understand that they are such close copies the parts are interchangeable. While I've had to be mindful of some things I mention below, I've been using mine for over two years without issues. Tungsten is tungsten. It's an element, it produces consistent light spectrum no matter who manufacturers it.

The housings are solid enough. Compared to genuine arris they are poorly fitted with slight alignment mismatches. They may leak a little light out of the cracks but it's never been a problem on set. I suspect they wouldn't take the abuse day in day out that a rental arri would but they will certainly take the abuse an owner will put them through. After two years the barndoors still hold position as strongly as the day I bought them.

The cables are the weak link and potentially dangerous. In the past they had a cheaper and a premium version, the main difference being a thin substandard cable but they seem to have upgraded all the cabling to the right gauge at least. Nevertheless have them examined by an electrician as soon as you get them. Reported incidences are relatively rare but there have been several reports over the years of these arriving wired incorrectly. I had one that had a loose terminal that was a potential fault but not otherwise hazardous but others have reported incidences of extremely dangerous incorrect wiring including the earth not being connected and even the whole light being live. Spend a few extra bucks to have them tested. Even after testing, you're still saving a fortune.

Another issue with the cabling that doesn't meet Australian standards and regulations is the plugs themselves and how the cable is attached at both ends. From the looks of those photos they might have upgraded the plugs since I bought mine but if they haven't then the two main issues are that the plug is not moulded and there is no tension relief. This means that when you trip over the cable you are pulling directly on the terminations. This makes the cable vulnerable to breaks at the plug and light end or stretching, which will impair performance and create a potentially dangerous high resistance point. It might be worth simply replacing the cable with a compliant cable in your region.

The final caution is the one I am now encountering. Now that I am starting to get paid work offers I am reluctant to bring these lights out and seek first to rent. They do not have any form of certification stamped on their bodies (because they are not certified) which gives me insurance heebie jeebies. Electrically mine are sound (I've checked them myself and had a test and tag electrician look at them to be sure) but if they start a fire, cause an electrical problem, electrocute an actor (or more importantly a grip) then you will not be covered. I've worked for an insurance company before and they are weasels when it comes to payouts. You may find if they cause an injury that isn't even electrical like falling on someone, insurance may still refuse to pay out. It could invalidate worker's compensation and make the production directly liable for medical costs, or at the very least penalise for a failure to provide a safe workspace. Less dramatically (and while it hasn't happened to me yet) you may find a professional will refuse to handle them and if they are safety nazis could potentially even shut down your set until you remove them. While I have had mine cleared by a test and tag electrician for beer, he only agreed to test them unofficially. He wouldn't tag them or put his name to it because the lack of certification means he should have immediately cut the cables to render them inoperable. US regulations may well be less stringent but these remain valid safety concerns.

All this said I am glad I bought them, they have raised the production value on numerous projects and owning a decent lighting kit has gotten me a lot of work. In doing so has given me the opportunity to show what I can do, contributing greatly to building my name. The first time people ask me to work it's to get access to my gear. The second time it's because they want access to me. While many will say buy once cry once I have had a couple of years to practice with a full light kit with all the features of genuine products whereas if I'd just bought 2 or 3 lights over the same period or a cheap toy lighting kit (like the CFL kit I bought originally and threw away the same day) I might not have developed the same level of skill and experience.

Now I have a real possibility of doing video as my primary source of income by the end of the year, I will shortly be selling mine for genuine products and will be renting the rest. Part of that decision comes from the fact I can now write new purchases off against income earned from video. I've been delaying only because usable LED feels like it is just around the corner but having worked with genuine kino flos recently on a couple of projects, I'm sold. I had already been inclined to switching to a daylight kit and the light was just gorgeous so I'm thinking that they will form the basis of my new setup.

Hopefully I've given you some things to think about when you make up your own mind. Good luck. Lighting is fun.
 
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I wouldn't use uncertified lights out of insurance concerns. Used professional lights could be had for similar pricing, especially as so many owners move away from tungsten halogens for various reasons.
 
I second the suggestion to go used pro gear if you want tungsten. The land rush into LEDs have significantly dropped prices on used tungsten lights. I've been able to slowly build up a nice solid kit of used pro level tungsten lights for a very reasonable cost. Tota's, Lowel DP's, Dracast, Mole Richardson... all solid, pro, certified lights that can be had for a song. Even Chimera soft boxes and rings are relatively inexpensive on the used market. Since getting these used pro lights I rarely ever fire up my two chinese fresnels.
 
Maybe you can get used for these prices, but I call BS on that - I have had zero luck with ebay for these, and the prices there for Arri fresnels are stupid even for used stuff, so eff that noise. Not to mention you're taking a chance on used gear. I simply don't believe you can get used genuine Arri lights at a price that can match the output and price of this kit - which btw. is even better than the one the OP linked to above:

Dimmer + 300W + 650W + 1000W (plus barndoors, bulbs, gels, stands, bag with wheels etc.) - $508

I'd like to see used genuine Arri lights that are not beat to death, to match the above kit for $500 - I dare you. I'd rather buy the deal I linked to, then deal with fleabay. People always talk about getting used lights, but unless you spend all your time watching ebay, I just don't think it's cost effective, not when you can get deals like I linked to above. YMMV.
 
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I've been using Chinese gear for years, and have a very large lighting stock. The best advise here is about electrical safety. You will get issues with the manufacturing process. These are produced in breeder units. A collection of small businesses in a larger building, often huge! The people who make the housing sell them to another business who do the cabling, another may add accessories such as stands etc. so the same housing may be supplied with 2m of cable and a connector, while another may have the 2m length going into a switch which then has 5m of cable. This is more common for video. The trouble is the long cable may be 3 core, and the short bit 2 core with no earthing. So you need to check and rewire. In the UK we then have a test called a PAT. This will check the grounding and other electrical functions. If it passes, it's safe, and there are no insurance implications. Inside, you may need to add fibreglass sheathing to the internal cabling, and this may or may be not high temperature silicon. If not, it has to be replaced. If you have the skills, it's easy. They have CE certification of course, essential for Europe, but in view of the dodgy wiring, is hardly worth much! The quality of the alloy is a bit soft, so expect barn doors to bend and flex. I am happy with the 8 1ks and 4 650w units in my stock, but if look after them, and in one theatre I run, I use 4 to replace strand 223s an ancient but very good workhorse Fresnel. Light quantity is much higher, light quality a little lower, just the beam angle range really and the fact that the brightness drops off more rapidly at the edges. Old pro gear with having sells on eBay UK for far more than it's worth. I am very happy buying these and will continue to do so. If you know where to look you can also get copies of ETC Source 4s. They look similar, but are quite different internally, so parts cannot be swapped. These have similar issues, but are less than half the price.

If you are electrically competent, the snags are small.
 
paulears said:
I've been using Chinese gear for years, and have a very large lighting stock. The best advise here is about electrical safety. You will get issues with the manufacturing process. These are produced in breeder units. A collection of small businesses in a larger building, often huge! The people who make the housing sell them to another business who do the cabling, another may add accessories such as stands etc. so the same housing may be supplied with 2m of cable and a connector, while another may have the 2m length going into a switch which then has 5m of cable. This is more common for video. The trouble is the long cable may be 3 core, and the short bit 2 core with no earthing. So you need to check and rewire. In the UK we then have a test called a PAT. This will check the grounding and other electrical functions. If it passes, it's safe, and there are no insurance implications. Inside, you may need to add fibreglass sheathing to the internal cabling, and this may or may be not high temperature silicon. If not, it has to be replaced. If you have the skills, it's easy. They have CE certification of course, essential for Europe, but in view of the dodgy wiring, is hardly worth much! The quality of the alloy is a bit soft, so expect barn doors to bend and flex. I am happy with the 8 1ks and 4 650w units in my stock, but if look after them, and in one theatre I run, I use 4 to replace strand 223s an ancient but very good workhorse Fresnel. Light quantity is much higher, light quality a little lower, just the beam angle range really and the fact that the brightness drops off more rapidly at the edges. Old pro gear with having sells on eBay UK for far more than it's worth. I am very happy buying these and will continue to do so. If you know where to look you can also get copies of ETC Source 4s. They look similar, but are quite different internally, so parts cannot be swapped. These have similar issues, but are less than half the price.

If you are electrically competent, the snags are small.
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Can you give us the link where you bought your lighting gear ?

I found some sellers on ebay (all with very good rating) but I do want to hear from someone from the forum ?

Thanks,

Cuong
 
I suspect the people on ebay have the same source as I do, but I'm reluctant to pass on the suppliers information, as I've had people buy from the same sources and then undercut me. Finding Chinese suppliers isn't hard, and good ones are worth hanging onto. However, they regularly vanish. One I have bought from for six years is no longer trading, and their room number in the building now comes up with somebody totally different, suggesting they simply stopped trading.

If you buy on ebay, you can send them back if the seller is a business seller, which most are. The ones I have had come from two suppliers, and I'd bet money they're produced from the same source, but just have different wiring and labels. Some have no labels at all, others have nice screen printing.
 
Do yours have CE certification stamped or plates on them? Mine are Jie Tu branded which were later sold as As Arri and now CAME by the seller I used.
 
I bought two complete 650's, two 300's, stands and a bag for $475 on Ebay. I just searched lowest price and went from there. The lights arrived marked with the brand name "Aputure". Bodys are fine, cords look good, still need to check for correct wiring. All these lights will emit an odor for a couple of hours, let them run for a while before using on a job. Very happy with mine.
 
eh for the price, I went ahead and ordered some. I never intended them as my go to lamps, but rather a "If needed scenario" just in case. People always say, "Rent, rent the good stuff" but what If I'm at home and I want to experiment? and even better, if absolutely necessary I can have them on a shoot just in case. I see no harm in that for smaller projects. thanks guys for all the responses!
 
Update to my 4 light kit saga: Last night when testing two of the lights, the smoke detector went off. Probably due to cheap paint inside the housing burning off. Put all the lights outside today and ran them 6 hours. The clincher- 3 out of the 4 bulbs burnt out! Spent $50 ordering name brand bulbs to replace them. I think the bulbs, along with the plugs are the weak links in the chain, hopefully all will be good after this.
 
mainstreetprod said:
Update to my 4 light kit saga: Last night when testing two of the lights, the smoke detector went off. Probably due to cheap paint inside the housing burning off. Put all the lights outside today and ran them 6 hours. The clincher- 3 out of the 4 bulbs burnt out! Spent $50 ordering name brand bulbs to replace them. I think the bulbs, along with the plugs are the weak links in the chain, hopefully all will be good after this.
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Indeed.
also, get a bunch of those Harbor Freight "router speed controllers" to use as dimmers. ALWAYS use them to slowly ramp the brightness up and down when you turn them on and off and the bulbs will generally last much much longer.
 
If you want to save some $$ on fresnels, check the Cool Lights site. They're Chinese-manufacture, but CL manages the design and QC. I have some of their 3" 300's and they're not as "solid" feeling as an Arri, but good bang for the buck.

Those Chinese eBay lights are often the only way to find a reasonably priced 2"/100 watt, which are really handy to have a couple of.

I started with used theatrical fresnels - Altman (LE). Still use them all the time. Stamped steel vs. extruded aluminum, but they've lasted 15 or so years.

But for every fresnel I use on set, I seem to have 3 open faced lights going. Rectangular theater lights/nook lights/cyc lights are my all-time fav for bounce and diffusion.

DSC_0018.jpg
 
All I can say is buyer beware. I've had a client who purchased Chinese knock off HMI lights... built to look like Arri... just awful. They use the lights constantly and the product just started to literally melt... A quote attributed to Ben Franklin comes to mind. "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten." The costs are cut... It's not a free ride as they say. Safety, long life, confidence in the field... what are they worth to you? If something is not CE or UL certified and something goes south expect a lot of questions...
 
Just to add my story, a respectable Gaffer once told me that the calculus of the Fresnel glass on these cheap chinese ARRI knockoffs was wrong (thus not focusing correctly)...
 
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