Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • 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 :)

LiteGear LiteMat or Alternatives?

Been doing some research myself as I'm about to buy some. I looked at Litegear's LiteMats, Westcott's Flex and Aladdin.

LiteMats are tried the true but their output seemed to be lowest.

Westcott's Flex has a much higher output (brighter) than LiteMats and looked good with water resistance, and the various attachments and light modifiers but upon talking to a few owners and resellers, the common complain were their dimmers. Not very robust and broke down easily.

Aladdin are the most pricey but dimmers are robust and can be battery powered (V-Mount or Gold Mount). Brightness slightly more that Flex when daylight balanced but slightly less when balanced in tungsten. In the end I opted for Aladdin.

BTW, I was looking at the bi-color versions when doing my comparisons.

Cheers,
e
 
Let me just say that LiteGear is really the new standard.... Lots of copies but they are at the forefront. I have bought the Westcott wand and love it but also use all the Litegear stuff all the time
 
That said, the LiteMat connectors are pretty flimsy at best.

CON-PH4-M-2.jpg


Really? That's the BEST they can come up with? But yes, they are great as an alternative to Kinos...
 
I bought a few Litemats, and they are really nice! Well built, and definitely going to be the industry standard. The guys at LiteGear come from, and work with lighting guys in film, so as a gaffer, it's nice to see that they are listening to what we want/need on the field. They are super light weight, almost a mixture of a very shallow chimera strip bank, and a kino flo. Their dimmers are well built, and you can cheaply make them run off V-Lock batteries. Some people don't like the connectors, but I personally like the phoenix connector since it's very versatile. It allows you to make custom size head cables cheaply, and they work fine. Litegear LEDs are probably colour quality I have used (MUCH better than the Kino Celeb)...

Quasar Science lights are nice as well, but I just use them to replace single kino flo tubes. Since the only time we need a single kino is for something subtle, and the tubes allow you dim/change colour.
 
Great thread, thanks for all the info. I went to look into Quasar Science LED'mate, and they seem to have something really nice too [Link]
Did anyone used them before?
 
Looks like it's something similar to the old rosco litepads. They didn't throw too much light, but it made a nice eyelight at times. I'm not saying this is necessarily the same thing, but rosco litepads were also edge lit.
 
I have a few of the Gen1 Westcott Flex LEDs and I agree. Although the light color and quality is gorgeous and they're light and bright, the cables and dimmer are a hassle.

I've replaced one dimmer switch already. Westcott was good about it, but it was a pain.
 
I own the Westcotts 1x1. They're great for small and travel jobs. Also for rigging light in tricky spots they're hard to beat. Be careful though. Make sure your crew does not fold or crease them. One of mine did and cost me a new flex light. Also, the 1st generation dimmers crapped out on me. Got the new dimmers. Much better. Color and output are phenomenal.

But for standard set work, Lite Mats are a better deal. More robust, better build, etc.
 
i've been really close to buying a couple litemat 4's but i cant seem to find a hard case that they could fly in. does anyone have any suggestions? the dimensions on the litegear site are 43" by 21".

they seem like great lights, but if they have to travel in a soft carry bag all the time they're going to get damaged.

as for the the dmg's, they are great. ive been using them on a show for the past 4 months. they are really well built and the header cables are more robust than the litemats. more of a kino style cable. they all fit well in pelican cases but they are definitly much heavier systems than the litemats
 
I own a few Litemat 2L's and 3s. I just bought them a couple months ago, but they are great fixtures so far. No complaints. The 2Ls and below can be powered with a p-tap cable that Litegear sells for like $15 each. I believe the 3 and 4 sizes require a higher output and can't be battery powered.
 
I also have a Small Alladin....which i grew to love.

which pushed me to buy a large 4' version. Recently used in on a short and was constantly using it.....it's a must have with me now....so far no problems....
 
Hans Bobanovits said:
Great thread, thanks for all the info. I went to look into Quasar Science LED'mate, and they seem to have something really nice too [Link]
Did anyone used them before?
Click to expand...


Any more info on these? I can't find anything other than that link. They look like a great option.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top