EPIC Fan Tests // Old Fans vs New Fans

[Robert Ruffo New]

Are you planning on selling these Patrick?

 

[Patrick Tresch]

Christ, that thing is huge. I am thinking the size of half a playing card. Will post photos when I am done with it in the next month or two.

The Epic is small... ;-)

If you do one more, can I order one?

Pat

 

[Patrick Tresch]

Are you planning on selling these Patrick?

Absolutly not. I m only selling the FanPlate, the best cooling solution out there ;-) !

But I would gladly buy a smaller, lighter, screw on front fan blimp.
Anyone?

Pat

 

[Thatcher Bean]

Final Verdict
So I'll try not to beat around the bush here. Why would you want the lower fan 2.0? Well I think if your goal isn't necessarily silence, but rather avoiding the dreaded hair dryer mode, in locations/environments that are normally not as permissive to Epic's current fan setup.

Outside of that, I can't really think of anything. I've heard some reports, pardon the pun, that there are some lower fans out there that are as silent as the 1.0 fan. In fact on receiving my 2.0 kit I immediately became a little perplexed by the increased noise and electronic whining. This lower fan, used in testing, was sent to RED for examination. Their technicians verified it was working within specification. So if anyone proposes that the lower 2.0 fan in this test was flawed, I can disprove otherwise.

So what's the best setup for those chasing the concept of a quiet camera? To my ears, and equipment it's fairly apparent. It's keeping your 1.0 bottom fan, and adding the Top Fan. In the process of adding the upper fan you extend the Epic's quiet record mode by nearly 250 percent. This is a pretty dramatic increase, and even once the Epic cycles it's lower fan up at the 4 minute 45 second mark, the audio increase is fairly minor. In fact I'd even say the best upgrade for your Epic is just the new fan algorithms if you're on a tight budget!

The information gathered in these tests have given me enough confidence to say that the best combination for your money is the original bottom fan, and new top fan. If RED re-engineers the lower fan to be as silent as the original fan, especially in quiet record mode, while still moving the increased volume of air, then they'd have a winner hands down.

Isaac - I really appreciate your blog post and the deep dive you've done into the fan noise issues. I was wondering if you knew if the tactical top plate 2.0 reduced fan noise at all? I've been searching around for an answer but haven't come up with anything yet. Thanks!