Good beam from any LED "pars"?

[dd@n]

Hi,

Are there any fairly inexpensive LED "par" type fixtures that put out a good
visible beam? So far the only LED fixtures I've seen that do are the Martin
101s. Are there any LED pars that put out as good or better a beam than the
101s? I've been led to believe the 101s use a 3 watt LED...does anyone know if
that's true or not?

Thanks for any help!
David

[Atlantic Illumination Entertainment Lighting]

dd@n. wrote:

> Are there any fairly inexpensive LED "par" type fixtures that put out a
> good visible beam?

*** I haven't seen any, but it does not mean that they don't exist.

Since each LED projects light on its own, as opposed to a
concentrated-by-reflector, single light source, this aspect of the PAR
lamp is lost. As such, these fixtures tend to vomit light all over and are
rarely better for anything except wide washes.

Worse are the idiot designers that paint the inside of the front edge
of the fixture with white paint! (*)

To produce a beam, some competent designer would have to either
surround each LED with a reflector or place a multi-cellular lens in front
of the unit to get any sort of beam out of these fixtures. I have seen the
latter done with six-volt, lantern-style flashlights, of all things. It
works well.

Finally, LED PARs don't have enough shielding. The barrels need to be
longer or at least accept barndoors or snoots.

> So far the only LED fixtures I've seen that do are the Martin 101s.
> Are there any LED pars that put out as good or better a beam than the
> 101s? I've been led to believe the 101s use a 3 watt LED...does anyone
> know if that's true or not?
>

> David

*** I am not familiar with that model. You'd have to look on the
Martin website, but the 3-watt LED element is fairly common. We have some
rectangular wall-washer units that use them.

--
Richard Bonner
http://AIEL.chebucto.biz/

(*) That reminded me of the idiot track-lighting designers that paint the
barndoors white. )-:

R.