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[Don Ernst]

I have a small sound company that I have had for 15 years and have not needed to purchase lighting (I always rented when I needed them).  I finally purchased 8 MBT LED PAR 64 and a rudimentary controller.  I am not really a lighting person as I just need to light a stage with white or a solid color.  I have never been asked to do a complicated light show.

I am not really happy with the light I am getting from the LED's.  The brightness is OK but the color balance is not consistent even between the cans.  White light is very blue.  I know that LED's have a hard time making white.  

I purchased a Blizzard Puck because I liked the size of the can.  Space in my truck is limited so packing these small flat cans is very appealing to me.  The color balance of this can is much better than the MBT's, also.  The cost is less than the MBT so I could buy more of these.  However, the brightness is lower.  There is a power out socket on the Puck so a bar of these lights does not need an outlet strip.

I also bought a Colorkey PAR64 can to compare.  This light is brighter that all the other lights and the color balance is good.  It is the size of a normal short PAR can.

I really like the size of the Puck because of the packing aspect.  I could pack 4 or 5 bars of the Puck lights compared to 2 bars of the other cans in the same space so this is the way I want to go.  The drawback is the brightness.  I would need twice the number of Pucks to equal the other cans.  The price of the Pucks allows 2 for 1 of the other cans, so that also figures in the whole picture.

Are there any other choices out there that are the size of the Puck with more output?

[Jeff Wheeler]

Hey, Don, I own some ColorKey 1w PAR64 LEDs and I get a much better "white" out of them with a preset that is approximately Red 255 Green 255 Blue 230 or there-abouts.  I assume that inexpensive fixtures like these are never going to be as close as an RGB/W or RGB/AW, but I'd still rather have these than a bunch of regular cans with gels, and the power/dimmer requirements that come with them.

[Duane Massey]

You have to pick your own poison with LED's. The low$ fixtures (MBT, Cheaplights, some Chauvet) are not consistent either in color balance or smooth dimming, do white very poorly, and may not last very long (but they are cheap). The better fixtures will cost more but will look better and last longer. The high$$ fixtures are typically brighter, behave much more consistently, and should give you a longer period of service.

If the Blizzard Pucks will perform up to your needs, then they probably make sense. I've not been impressed with anything I've seen from MBT, but there have been mostly favorable comments on ColorKey and Blizzard ( a newcomer to the industry). Also check out ADJ/Elation.

[Mike Pyle]

I had one customer return some pucks becaue he was unhappy with the output, and he opted for the Chauvet SlimPar 64. I frankly doubt he was setting the puck correctly, but at any rate he WAS happy with the performance of the Chauvet.

I'll pm you further info.