ARRI M18 knockoff for 1/3 of the price

[ian dart]

i have used the light on a couple of jobs so far and am more than impressed

nice and light with good beam spread

no need to carry around a lens box helps and standard wires fit it

it meets all aussie electrical specs and had no problems passing a test and tag

 

 

some more pics here

http://www.andrewlocklighting.com.au/pdfs/new%20to%20rentals.pdf

 

cheers

[Matthew Parnell]

I have seen some really good chinese knock offs, and some terrible ones.

 

Sometimes the knockoffs solve a few of the problems both electrically and design wise that were just accepted in the original, and are obviously built with good components and strict quality control.

 

Other times they are great new, but don't age well at all. Melted and easily broken flood/spot knobs. Flood/spot mechanisms that bend and contort. Lock offs that fail. Lampholders that fail. Ballasts that are poorly soldered. Connectors incorrectly terminated. Etc.

 

The thing to be careful of is aftersales service in terms of parts, repair guidance, component quality and general quality control.

 

HMIs in Australia are in the order of $100-150 per hour to repair plus parts. I have seen a simple $20 component cost upwards of $500 to replace, with a quick diagnostics check. Repair technicians get a lot of guidance from the manufacturers which saves a lot of time. Entire swap out of board assemblies can save time as well.

 

Do your research into aftersales service in regards to parts and support provided. A single simple repair could turn costly if you have to rebuild a board because you can't get a spare. Over time repairing and maintaining HMI gear is inevitable and very expensive, so it is definitely worth considering.

 

Another thing to consider is the base components of this gear. The design might be identical(it might not be either. http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pricey.html?m=1 ), but the components chosen may be much cheaper. A failure in a cheaper capacitor, or bridge rectifier can very easily snowball into much larger, more costly problems. Using a lower grade steel, aluminium or plastic can also cause problems.

 

I know Chinese manufacturer Filmgear has done a lot to address these issues in the past few years, and have become quite innovative with their own product lines and designs.

 

Doing your research is the answer here. You can get quality gear that can provide a cheaper option that just rips off the original manufacturer the hundreds of thousands of dollars of R&D and tooling, or you could get a dud, that will cost you the same or more than the real deal by time you pay it off.

[Phil Rhodes]

Bear in mind outside Australia, where I believe there's rules about people without specific paperwork doing electrical work, it's often possible to do basic repairs yourself.

 

(And yes, I'm willing to be responsible for the work I do in that sort of regard; let's not have the you-don't-know-what-you're-doing-oh-yes-I-do dance of destruction)

[Taylor Roesch]

If you are looking for cheap HMI alternatives, start by looking at high quality ballasts from Powergems and Power-to-light. They are a little bit cheaper than Arri and are recommended and sold by Gilbert at Galaxy Repair Service in LA. He's my go-to for HMI advice.