Scanners vs Spots

[DJFranchise79]

Hi All, first post here so thank you in advance for reading and providing input. I have been a DJ for 16 years and never got involved into the lighting scene. I want to add this onto my business and was curious to know which heads are better, the scans or the Spots? I am assuming I can get away with using 2 lights and adding other effects to my bar (like a laser and some color strips maybe?). The guy I outsource all my lighting to always had 4 heads on the truss. In very large venues this made sense but for 90%+ I thought it was slightly over kill and 2 would suffice.

What are thoughts/experiences with these style lights? Just for some information I am eyeing up wither the Chauvet Intimidator Scan LED 300 or the Chauvet Spot LED 350.

Thanks again!

[DJzrule]

Depends entirely on the effect that you want. Fast moving with the ability to do slow sweeps, but limited to 180º of pan? Scanners. Slower movement but the ability to cover 360º, and usually comes with more effects in a smaller footprint than its scanner counterpart (rotating prism, different prisms, multiple gobo wheels, etc...), then moving heads. Also, if you want to mount on top of totems, moving heads are the way to go. Scanners are awkward to put on top of totems.

Chauvet Intimidator Scan and ADJ Vizi Scan Pro LED are good high-end DJ-grade scanners.

Chauvet Q-Spot series and ADJ Vizi Scan series are good high-end DJ-grade moving heads.

Either way, you really need a lot of color wash. That means at least 2 heavyweight par cans or LED strips (think ADJ QWH5X or FlatPar Tri7X, Blizzard Lighting Snowbank, Chauvet SlimPar Pro, etc...).

[sss18734]

If you're only planning on using two lights, go with movers. Most versatile lights on the market. Scanners are really only appropriate if you have a small fleet of them, and the ones that are really worth getting aren't that much cheaper than a similar moving head.

You will like the Intimidator 350's. If you are doing very dark venues, you will want some additional color wash, though.

[Synaxis]

DJrules summed it up pretty nicely. It really depends on the type of coverage you want or need. If they are going to be against a wall most of the time, you might as well get scanners. Otherwise, I'd prefer the greater coverage of moving heads.