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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

CAME HMI GROUP BUY

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Kyle Gentz said:
On on the fence with not knowing how much noise the ballast makes. What is the size demotions of the aluminum case?
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23"x20"x15.5" (LxWxH) . The fan on the ballast is a little louder than the average computer fan? It's tough to describe how loud the fan is without a decibel meter, or without showing you.
 
You got it Noel.. I did try guys. Those of you that have seen our videos know we go ALL OUT on these things to make sure there are NO QUESTIONS whatsoever when we are done. I asked for 2 lights in exchange for videos on BOTH lights with all the comparisons you can think of.

But they turned me down flat. I hope you will notice I still ran the group buy, one thing was not conditional on the other. But I have no doubt they are missing a LOT of sales both here and elsewhere due to all the unanswered questions.

Perhaps they can find someone to do all this work for them for free, but I'm not interested in running the group buy AND making videos for free, or paying them to make them.. Sorry.. I hope you understand.

I did try.

Funny part is that my questions about the noise are the reasons I have not yet purchased a fixture from them.

Jay
 
Who knows what type of ROI Joey gets on these things, my guess is that they are a distributor via ebay and the ROI isn't that much. There are other distributors like Steven.Studio who sell the same lights. You'd probably have to get in contact with the manufacturer. Steven. Studio also sells the PAR 1200 but the price approaches that of coollights who have a silent ballast and support, and in that case I'd much rather go with coollights. If you consider price vs renting the 1.2K Fresnel is actually a very good deal and will pay itself fairly quickly. It may not last you a lifetime, but so far mine has been working great for me. There really isn't much of any information out there about the longevity of these things, but it's been about a year that I've had this light and it's still ticking.

If anyone in the Bay area would like to do a review for it, I'm open to meeting up and bringing my light down? Especially if you already have an Arri, so that we could do a side by side comparison.

Jay A. Kelley said:
You got it Noel.. I did try guys. Those of you that have seen our videos know we go ALL OUT on these things to make sure there are NO QUESTIONS whatsoever when we are done. I asked for 2 lights in exchange for videos on BOTH lights with all the comparisons you can think of.

But they turned me down flat. I hope you will notice I still ran the group buy, one thing was not conditional on the other. But I have no doubt they are missing a LOT of sales both here and elsewhere due to all the unanswered questions.

Perhaps they can find someone to do all this work for them for free, but I'm not interested in running the group buy AND making videos for free, or paying them to make them.. Sorry.. I hope you understand.

I did try.

Funny part is that my questions about the noise are the reasons I have not yet purchased a fixture from them.

Jay
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Jay A. Kelley said:
You got it Noel.. I did try guys. Those of you that have seen our videos know we go ALL OUT on these things to make sure there are NO QUESTIONS whatsoever when we are done. I asked for 2 lights in exchange for videos on BOTH lights with all the comparisons you can think of.

But they turned me down flat. I hope you will notice I still ran the group buy, one thing was not conditional on the other. But I have no doubt they are missing a LOT of sales both here and elsewhere due to all the unanswered questions.

Perhaps they can find someone to do all this work for them for free, but I'm not interested in running the group buy AND making videos for free, or paying them to make them.. Sorry.. I hope you understand.

I did try.

Funny part is that my questions about the noise are the reasons I have not yet purchased a fixture from them.

Jay
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Thanks for trying Jay! You're right, videos would go a long way to inspire confidence and help sales. A few years ago, I would not have even considered buying "direct" from China but things are getting better. . .slowly. It's still a case of buyer beware, but with certain items and a healthy dose of risk assessment, it can be somewhat "fun", in a game of chance sort of way. Sure there's always a risk, but I figure in this case, even if they buzz, I can always gang em together and throw em on a small crane, light window frames, or anything MOS.
I just received shipping info: 5 boxes and over 200lbs total weight, SO glad shipping was included. Now the wait.
 
There are other distributors like Steven.Studio who sell the same lights. You'd probably have to get in contact with the manufacturer. Steven. Studio also sells the PAR 1200 but the price approaches that of coollights who have a silent ballast and support, and in that case I'd much rather go with coollights
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Correct. In fact I posted here better offer from Steven :-) but had been asked to remove all by Jay.
Idea about manufacturer is not really good here, believe me. You'll get worse terms due to different shipping. Dealers are much better on this.

As for PAR, it is very good quality and no such noise.
 
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Vitaliy Kiselev said:
Correct. In fact I posted here better offer from Steven :-) but had been asked to remove all by Jay.
Idea about manufacturer is not really good here, believe me. You'll get worse terms due to different shipping. Dealers are much better on this.

As for PAR, it is very good quality and no such noise.
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Even if the quality is good, the problem is no support on the state side. Those PAR lights are approaching $3000. If something is bad the cost of shipping this stuff to China and back could be a couple hundred dollars. $3,000 is something I want to have support for. I want a year warranty with free shipping, and if something does break, I want to know that a technician can replace components for a few hundred with parts, labor, and shipping. How do we get that from China? Unless we have someone here that can provide that type of service, that's not the type of cash I'm willing to gamble with.
 
Even if the quality is good, the problem is no support on the state side. Those PAR lights are approaching $3000. If something is bad the cost of shipping this stuff to China and back could be a couple hundred dollars. $3,000 is something I want to have support for. I want a year warranty with free shipping, and if something does break, I want to know that a technician can replace components for a few hundred with parts, labor, and shipping. How do we get that from China? Unless we have someone here that can provide that type of service, that's not the type of cash I'm willing to gamble with.
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First, you will be shipping not all, but usually it'll be ballast only.
Second, how much more are alternatives with same noise and support of type you requested?
Third, your problem can be solved having small replacement stock in US and EU. But it all end up in the price.
 
If I were looking for PAR lights, I'd be talking to Cool Lights. Richard is the best of all worlds in that area.
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As far as I remember Cool Lights is one man (yet smart) reselling lights from one of Chinese factory. But he is involved in design according to his words. Do not know how much.
 
I have received my order of (2) 575w and (2) 1200w HMI'S yesterday and during initial testing, 3 out of 4 ballasts smoked and made loud popping noises. I unplugged them and put them aside. Only one 575w HMI works fine. As a separate issue, upon closer inspection of the Osram bulbs I ordered, it seems 3 out of 4 may be used bulbs and not new as there were pencil writing on the base of bulbs and the boxes of the 1200w bulbs were opened and resealed with a different type of tape. I wrote to Joey from CAME giving him an opportunity to correct these issues as I hope it was the result of error. I will update as I receive a response from CAME.
The bulb issue is just a slight nuisance, as I can always get additional bulbs here, but the defective ballasts are a much more serious issue. I'm currently finding out if I can exchange the defective ballasts. Waiting on response.
 
Michael, I have also written Joey and suggested she get back to you QUICKLY I have also suggestest she take care of this, and that it should result in NO SHIPPING CHARGES to you.

please keep us very well informed.

jay
 
Thanks Jay! I look forward to working with CAME in resolving the ballast issues. I sent them, as per their request, a preliminary cell phone video detailing the problem. Hopefully, they can make the exchange. The one light that does work however, works like a champ! After I get this resolved, I'll bring these lights to my theatre and make another quick video with them, and post the results. Thanks again Jay, I'll update as news arrives.
 
3 out of 4 ballasts smoked and made loud popping noises. I unplugged them and put them aside
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Looks pretty bad. May be they had been for wrong voltage. As I never heard that 3 out of 4 smoked instantly.
 
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Very cool indeed Jay! I have received their email and they said I can send the ballasts back for exchange and cover shipping costs. Great news! This goes a long way to bolster confidence and establish CAME as a honest dealer that stands by their products! I'm looking forward to firing all these lights up and evaluating their performance. Thanks again Jay for your assistance and voice!
 
Michael Ou said:
Very cool indeed Jay! I have received their email and they said I can send the ballasts back for exchange and cover shipping costs. Great news! This goes a long way to bolster confidence and establish CAME as a honest dealer that stands by their products! I'm looking forward to firing all these lights up and evaluating their performance. Thanks again Jay for your assistance and voice!
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Looking forward to a good writeup! Can't wait to hear!
 
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