F&V LEDs: Avoid em...

[Eric M Hurt]

I just tried out a set of the Bi-color K4000 Plus LED F&V lights because of a few reviews online.

- the daylight / tungsten knob was backwards: turn the knob to tungsten and all the daylight LEDs stayed on and vice versa
- the dimmer knob was backwards: up was down and down was up.
- they feel cheap and the V Lock "adapter thing" is ridiculously bulky.
- a row of LEDs went dead after three uses
- I told F&V about the dead LEDs and that the units were manufactured incorrectly and they said there might be a 25% restocking fee: for incorrectly manufactured units...
- they did return the money thank god, minus the shipping that I paid to have INCORRECTLY MANUFACTURED units delivered.

I say avoid this company and their products.

 

[Wil Wong]

Hmm. A shame about your experience. I own 4 F&V daylight lights. Only had one that had an issue. They merely sent out a new one since living in Canada, it would cost too much to perform an RMA to return the old and ship the new. No issues since.

Not a fan of their screw on frost gel but otherwise I don't mind them. They are not on the high end of LED in terms or quality but they look fine on camera with no flicker. Oh well. Not for everyone I guess.

 

[Eric M Hurt]

I can't imagine who an improperly manufactured light would be for ;-)

 

[Curran Giddens]

Thanks for the warning. I just bought some Bi-color LEDs from Came-TV.

http://www.came-tv.com/cametv-high-cri-bicolor-2-x-1024-led-video-lightstv-lighting-p-219.html

Came sells the F&V ones too. I will let you know how they work.

 

[Adam Rook]

Thanks for the warning. I just bought some Bi-color LEDs from Came-TV.

http://www.came-tv.com/cametv-high-cri-bicolor-2-x-1024-led-video-lightstv-lighting-p-219.html

Came sells the F&V ones too. I will let you know how they work.

Curran, I'd be interested to read your review. A friend of mine got 4 of the Came LEDs a couple months back and he really likes them. We never tested their CRI but he has been happy with them so far.

 

[Montgomery Sutton]

I've got a Daylight model that I bought used at $250, has worked fine for me. A very slight magenta cast, but has worked great as a backup fill. I probably wouldn't by another (because of the cast) but I'm not infuriated by the quality I'm getting at $250, either!

Those Came-TV lights look great, especially with the carry case! Very interested to hear how they work for you.

 

[DC Chavez]

I own the F&V daylight panels and they work great for what they are... I run a small crew most of the time and traveling with these is MUCH easier than taking my Kino Flo Divas... Battery power is awesome too... I bought the 3 light kit for $1,400 and they have been amazing for my purposes.

 

[Eric M Hurt]

I own the F&V daylight panels and they work great for what they are... I run a small crew most of the time and traveling with these is MUCH easier than taking my Kino Flo Divas... Battery power is awesome too... I bought the 3 light kit for $1,400 and they have been amazing for my purposes.

Great to hear. Maybe their quality has slipped since then. My purposes include having the knobs work correctly;-)

 

[DC Chavez]

Great to hear. Maybe their quality has slipped since then. My purposes include having the knobs work correctly;-)

Eric- after one trip (checked soft bag) I had a problem with one of the dials working, called F&V and they sent me out a replacement for free... Since then I bought a Pelican to put them in and have had no problems.

 

[Eric M Hurt]

Eric- after one trip (checked soft bag) I had a problem with one of the dials working, called F&V and they sent me out a replacement for free... Since then I bought a Pelican to put them in and have had no problems.

That's good to hear. If you read the original post first you'll see that the dials were backwards, meaning the units were manufactured incorrectly. Poor quality control in manufacturing is the main reason for the original post. After that the costumer service was unacceptable when they said they were possibly charging 25% restocking fee if the units were not in good condition even after knowing the manufacturing issues. This means they have put improperly manufactured units back in their stock which you may end up with if you buy more units