Cowboy studio redhead kit

Azmyth

Azmyth

Veteran
I bought one, had it for 2 weeks, turned them on 3 times..

both of them are fried. Didn't do anything out of the ordinary to them.. just plugged them in to standard power outlets and struck them. They started smoking, and died.. bulb is not blown, fuse is not blown.. the light is just plain dead.

When the irst one went out, just thought I got a dud and was just gonna get it replaced.. now that both are fried.. I don't know what to do.. get them both replaced or get a refund?
 
Nothing magical about wiring a redhead socket. If both units have failed then it can only be crap materials and workmanship. If you exchange them and the new ones do work, will you feel safe using them and how long can you rely on them?. Like they say: "where there is smoke there is fire". My vote, bail, get the refund and get yourself some quality open face units or used fresnels from ebay.
 
Don't you just love it when a 165$ lighting kit performs like a 165$ lighting kit!

Buy something decent and it will survive all your cameras you'll ever buy in your life.

my 2c

Peter
 
augenblick said:
Don't you just love it when a 165$ lighting kit performs like a 165$ lighting kit!

Buy something decent and it will survive all your cameras you'll ever buy in your life.

my 2c

Peter
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Don't you think we would buy 'something decent' if we could? We're not looking at these lights because we're cheap -- we're looking at them because we're POOR. We're trying to do the best we can with meager resources. Sure, we'd buy the best of everything if we could afford to. But we can't. We hope to be able to someday, but for now we're doing what we can.
 
It's really unfortunate that a pair of simple open faced lights for $165 would fail. That should not happen. There just isn't that much to them. No doubt you bought them because your resources dictated it which makes it all the more frustrating when it doesn't work out. I feel your pain bro. Regardless, you should be able to find some decent reliable stuff within your budget. Be patient, keep an eye on the marketplace and ebay.
 
Look, I don't mean to sound harsh. But the English critic, essayist, & reformer John Ruskin wrote in 1874:

It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money -- that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot -- it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.

There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey.


And that is still true in 2010!

Peter
 
augenblick said:
Look, I don't mean to sound harsh. But the English critic, essayist, & reformer John Ruskin wrote in 1874:

It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money -- that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot -- it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.

There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey.


And that is still true in 2010!

Peter
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Amen!!!
 
We're not trying to pay a little and get a lot. We're paying what we can afford and hoping to get something. If I payed $60 for a halogen worklight from Lowes and it died after a couple of uses, I'd be pissed.

As gco said, there's not much to them -- wires, switch, socket, bulb. It ain't rocket science. They could use really great quality wires, switches, sockets and decent bulbs, and still make a sizable profit at $165 for a pair. There's no reason why they should fry like that. The quality of the stand, reflector, etc. might be a different story, but the electrical parts should be adequate -- meaning they should last at least as long as the average Lowes worklight, IMHO.
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
Don't you think we would buy 'something decent' if we could? We're not looking at these lights because we're cheap -- we're looking at them because we're POOR. We're trying to do the best we can with meager resources. Sure, we'd buy the best of everything if we could afford to. But we can't. We hope to be able to someday, but for now we're doing what we can.
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No, that's not what's happening at all. You're looking at light kits that EVERY experienced person on this forum warns people away from. And you buy them anyway thinking somehow you'll be different. And you find out you're not.

For the same money, you could have gone to Lowes or Home Depot, gotten 2 constructions lights, and a silver worklamp, some bulbs, a piece of foam sheathing, and a piece of silver sheathing.

Then you'd actually have some lights that WORK.

Then you could have gone to the screen department, got some bare frames, and stopped by the fabric store and bought some muslin and some sheer white fabric, and maybe some windows shade material and some clothes pins.

Then you could have gone home and practiced with that stuff until you to the point you could light well enough to make some decent looks. That is how I built my first light kit. I wasn't rich either. But I took the people here and elsewhere seriously when they told me not to buy that crap that you guys seem to INSIST on buying.

You know what? My worklamps still work. My screens, sheers, and other stuff still work just fine, and still see duty. In fact, I had to silk a ceiling the other week and I was VERY glad to that the $2/yd fabric I bought.

So now, you guys are in the spot of having to buy TWICE. And for the cost of that, you could have bought 2 new Lowel lights or a Tota/Omni kit.

So how many "Cowboy Kits" are you going to go through before you pony up and buy what you should have bought in the first place?
 
That's the point, Perrone. I'm saying for the money, those lights shouldn't burn out like that.

But my original response was to the comment that said, essentially, "you can't get anything decent for $165, you have to spend more." But you make the point quite well -- you can get worklights for considerably less than $165 that can work just fine, with some accessories and some practice. So there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to buy some lights with barndoors for $165 that will last at least awhile and do the job adequately.
 
I guess I'll jump in here...

I'm based in Toronto and have a full kit of "pro" lighting equipment. I had a shoot lined up in Hong Kong where I needed to be set-up the morning the plane landed.
Since all my lights are 120v and HK is 220(or 230 or 240)v, I decided that I would buy a set of knock off red heads from e-bay and have them delivered to the hotel a few days before I arrived. I could check on their arrival before I flew from Toronto, if they didn't turn up then I would take a set with me.

My reasoning was: tracking down 220v bulbs here was a hassle, and getting them in HK when I arrived was also a problem. Ever been to HK? I have many times, and after a 17 hour flight I'm not aways thinking straight. Also I wanted to avoid an extra baggage charge since the budget was super tight.

Anyway, my plan was to use them ( I only needed one light for the job, bought the 3 light kit figuring if one didn't work I had two more) and then leave them behind with my fixer - this was way cheaper than the extra baggage charge.

They worked great! Smelled a bit when they first warmed up, but after that they gave off light just like any open faced 800w light.
Fit and finish was poor, and the electrical cords / connectors were a fire hazard... but they lit up and did the same job as a much more expensive fixture.

At the end of the job I wasn't as overweight with my baggage as I thought I would be so I brought them home. Spent $30-$40 bucks to re-wire them, put in 120v bulbs and now they are the back-up - back-ups.

Great lights?? No!! But if you re-wire them they will work as well as any "pro" light, and they look better to your client than work lights from the Home Depot.

Once you make some money should you buy better equipment?? Yes!!

G.
 
HeavyG,

Ok, so you played Russian Roulette on a paid shoot. I'm glad that worked out for you. But I wouldn't encourage any newbie to play that game. If the lights had not arrived, you might have been in for a serious lashing from the client and rightly so. But you know this.
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
That's the point, Perrone. I'm saying for the money, those lights shouldn't burn out like that.

But my original response was to the comment that said, essentially, "you can't get anything decent for $165, you have to spend more." But you make the point quite well -- you can get worklights for considerably less than $165 that can work just fine, with some accessories and some practice. So there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to buy some lights with barndoors for $165 that will last at least awhile and do the job adequately.
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The point is not *should* work. The point is WILL work. Price paid is nu guarantee that a light will work. We had a very nice Colortran fail on us on set in October. Paid shoot, and I really needed a 2K for that scene. But we had backups.

For $165 you can get a nice Lowel Omni, or maybe even a DP light. And it will work. And keep working. And it has a trusted name behind it. But when you start asking to get 2 lights, 4 lights, softboxes, stands, umbrellas, etc. for $165 well, you're generally going to get what you pay for.

No one here is saying that you can't get decent lights at a reasonable cost. What we ARE saying is to avoid crap brands that have burned people repeatedly over time.

But no one listens, and no one cares. So good luck to you guys.

I'm done here.
 
-I knew that the lights were at the hotel before I left Tdot; giving me the option to bring a set.
-I knew that I needed only one light at any point to do the job (Kitchen interviews) Mostly needed bounce card.

In the end we are talking to a guy here on the boards who *should* in a controlled situation be able to make these lights work, by re-wiring them. Should he buy better equipment - - YES! But he knows that...

G.
 
Perrone and Heavy G there is one thing to consider when operating lights at 240V. The amp load is reduced by 1/2 making these lights operate with less resistance.

Maybe these lights function fine at 240V, for which they were made, but will quickly burn and fail when operating with a higher load on them.

Best solution, when in the states stick to proven, reliable sources like Mole Richardson and others.
 
PerroneFord said:
The point is not *should* work. The point is WILL work.
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And we agree on that. It seems clear the Cowboy red head lights die fast. But they don't die fast BECAUSE they're only $165, as has been implied by others.

It's not unreasonable to expect to buy two basic lights for $165 and have them work for a reasonable amount of time. You haven't said otherwise, but augenblick certainly did. When he/she said "Don't you just love it when a 165$ lighting kit performs like a 165$ lighting kit!", that implied that it's perfectly acceptable for these lights to burn up after 2 uses. That's just not so. They may fall apart from a mechanical standpoint with normal use, but to burn up is totally unacceptable, and no one should have 'expected' that they would just because they cost $165.

For $165 you can get a nice Lowel Omni, or maybe even a DP light. And it will work. And keep working. And it has a trusted name behind it.
Click to expand...

True, but you can only do so much with just one light.

But when you start asking to get 2 lights, 4 lights, softboxes, stands, umbrellas, etc. for $165 well, you're generally going to get what you pay for.
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I don't see anybody asking for that. The kit in question comes with 2 lights, 2 stands, and barndoors. No umbrellas, no softboxes, nothing else.

No one here is saying that you can't get decent lights at a reasonable cost. What we ARE saying is to avoid crap brands that have burned people repeatedly over time.
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Fair enough. I agree with you. I'm just saying that the Cowboy lights aren't crap just because they only cost $165. So those of us too poor to buy better lights need to find another alternative that doesn't require construction and electrical skills on our part. That's what we're looking for.

But no one listens, and no one cares. So good luck to you guys.

I'm done here.
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Of course we care. I'm listening, agreeing with you, and clarifying what I was trying to say. Why does that irritate you?
 
phudsontx said:
Perrone and Heavy G there is one thing to consider when operating lights at 240V. The amp load is reduced by 1/2 making these lights operate with less resistance.

Maybe these lights function fine at 240V, for which they were made, but will quickly burn and fail when operating with a higher load on them.
Click to expand...

Very interesting point. Thanks for the education! I never thought of that.
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
True, but you can only do so much with just one light.
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You can do more with one functional light than you can with two or ten dead ones.

chapelgrovefilms said:
I don't see anybody asking for that. The kit in question comes with 2 lights, 2 stands, and barndoors. No umbrellas, no softboxes, nothing else.
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The kits that I have seen people ask about repeatedly on this forum, though not necessarily in this instance, DO have softboxes, umbrellas, and all the doo dads. And honestly, corners are really getting cut to make that happen. I think the Lowel lights are about as cheap a solution as I would be willing to put my reputation on the line with. Others have a different tolerance level. But once we start getting below the $75 mark for a professional fixture, I am less inclined to use it. Now you can see photos of me using home depot lighting on a movie recently like here:

102409_LuckyBreak_D287.jpg



But it was for a specific purpose, and it was the right tool for the job.

chapelgrovefilms said:
Of course we care. I'm listening, agreeing with you, and clarifying what I was trying to say. Why does that irritate you?
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Doesn't irritate me at all. What irritates me, is answering the same questions over and over and over again. Working with people to make a F.A.Q., advising people not to buy these crappy lights, and then being drawn into these threads where they gone against ALL recommendations to the contrary and the inevitable happens. Then there is the search for answers. As if the answer wasn't there the entire time.

But this is an oft discussed subject among people with some experience. New shooters will save up for a year a or more to get that "great camera" then leave $100 to buy a mic, and $75 to buy "a light". And then the threads start about poor color rendition shooting indoors, or the threads start about good de-noising software. Or the ever present... I can't afford real lights (because I just blew my wad on a shiny new camera) so will these $20 lights work?
 
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