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View Full Version : Blizzard Torrent F5 Initial thoughts/Review



Nick_EventPro
07-25-2012, 11:13 PM
Some of you may have heard me talking about the Torrent F5. I just got 2 of the first units off the line in today. I'm planning on doing some video for everyone over the next few days, but I figured I would start with my initial thoughts.

Appearance/Visual:
Size-wise its bigger than the Torrent90. Not quite the size of a Mac250... pretty close to the size (and even the profile and shape) of the Elation Platinum Spot 5R. At right around 30lbs it's surprisingly light. It has the nice rubberized texture coating that the Torrent 90 has which makes it easy to grip, and a pair of well positioned, comfortable handles. You can easily rig this light with one hand- it's not awkward at all. It looks and feels well-made- definitely a pro unit as it carries the pro price tag.

I really like that it has powercon in and out so you can daisy chain fixtures. A bright LCD menu that is easy to navigate. The buttons are crisp to press. I like it. My only criticism of the menu screen is that it is not rotatable, so it could be a bit hard to address fixtures that are hanging upside down on a rig. Minor, but I wanted to point it out.

LED engine, optics, gobos etc:
Powered by a 150w LED, I have to say- this thing is bright. I just got my hands on one of the new trackspot bolts from HES that has a 150w LED and its pretty comparable to that. Definitely brighter than the platinum spot 5Rs I was using.
Nice, rich color wheel, and awesome gobo selection. It has two of the coolest gobo's I think I've seen in a long time. Of course it has a prism and front filter. The saturation and evenness of the frost filter is a little in question- its got a bit of a hot spot, but I really need to get this up on a rig to test that out. It does do a nice wash, but I won't be able to tell really until I have a chance to do more testing. Motorized focus, Iris, but no zoom- as you might expect in a fixture this size.

Operation, motors, movement:
The first thing you'll notice about the movement of the fixture is that its smooth, but FAST. Dare I say almost Mac101 fast. almost. Relatively quiet in operation as well.I think Blizzard really paid special attention to the movement in the design process.

Overall, I think this is going to be a big win for Blizzard. These are of course just my first impressions, and I'll have more detailed reviews once I can log some time with the fixture, but my initial thoughts are "I'm impressed." It fills a segment of the market that I personally thought was lacking. We needed a well featured, strong small profile mover, that is reliable and pro in the 2k-3k range. If this light holds up on the road, it has the feature-set at this price point to really dominate this niche.

I'll be doing a video review asap, but for now enjoy a few pictures. I've got units 1 & 2 of the first shipment according the the Chinese stickers on the boxes. =)
Feel free to contact me for pricing & availability on this or any Blizzard (or any other manufacturer's) product!
nick.eventproshop@gmail.com
443-599-9335

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Synaxis
07-26-2012, 09:35 AM
Looks really nice!!

Very slick, yet elegant.

Looking forward to seeing some video, +Rep.

BillESC
07-26-2012, 01:11 PM
Will's doing a heck of a job.