Blizzard Lighting is based in Waukesha, WI. I’m not sure where that is either, but it turns out it’s about 30 minutes west of Milwaukee. Blizzard Lighting is a newer company to the industry, but not as new as you may think. They have been manufacturing lights since March of 2010. In fact, their first LED moving light was called “Flurry Wash,” which certainly aligns with their theme of “cool” and “wintry.”
They’ve carved out their own place in the entertainment lighting industry, focusing on mid-sized production users, houses of worship, and regional touring, making products that work with prices that are affordable. Blizzard’s slogan is “Cooler By Design,” so in today’s Road Test, we see how cool the design is on their newest moving light, the G-Mix 200.
Warm Inside
The G-Mix 200 is a new LED moving head spot. Medium in size, but packed full of features including two gobo wheels (one static, one rotating), CMY color mixing, three color wheels, zoom, focus, iris, frost, and 3- and 8-facet prisms. Blizzard sums it up by calling it, “Mix’n Out Max’n Relaxin’ All Cool.” (To fully understand what all of that means, you may need to go to blizzardlighting.com and sign up for membership as an “Illuminati,” a secret club of sorts.)
Replacing lamps is not necessary in this fixture, as the bright 200-watt Osram LED engine has a life expectancy of 20,000 hours. The engine is a white LED system that has a color temperature of 6500K and a CRI of 80. At 10 meters, the engine generates 11,200 lux (at narrow zoom) and 245 lux (at wide zoom).
To change colors, there are two options. First is a subtractive CMY color mixing as you would find in a typical discharge lamp fixture. Each cyan, magenta, and yellow mixing wheels are actually half wheels. The other half of each of the three wheels are fixed colors dichroics. Second, are three colors (plus white) on each of the three wheels, which include the more saturated colors that are harder to mix.
- Wheel 1: Cyan color mixing, green, violet, blue, open white
- Wheel 2: Magenta color mixing, bright red, magenta, deep red, open white
- Wheel 3: Yellow color mixing, green, orange, peach/salmon, open white
Snowy Beams
The G-Mix contains the three key features to transform the G-Mix Spot into a wash — zoom, focus, and frost. In any zoom range, the variable frost can be applied to remove the hard edges. Adjusting the focus further softens the beam. The zoom adjusts the diameter of the wash, which measures 5°-42° (beam angle). Can this fixture be used as a beam? You betcha. Combine the iris with the zoom, and it’s easy to achieve tight narrow beams, all without introducing another fixture type into your lighting rig.
Inside are two gobo wheels. The first wheel is rotatable and indexable and contains seven glass gobos plus open. Each of the gobos are installed in a removable slot-n-lock gobo cup. It’s similar to the Mac 2000 days where the planet gear gobo cup can be quickly removed. The gobo can be replaced in the cup and retaining ring re-installed.
On the static wheel are seven metal gobos, plus open. There is a mixture of linear breakups, square/triangular breakups and swirly breakups. Although they do not rotate, you can add the 3-facet and/or 8-facet prisms along with some rotation, and the gobo appears to rotate. Both wheels offer a great set of patterns, breakups and aerials, which should be received well by all types of lighting designers. Morphing between wheels is achievable, but some intensity is lost.
Thermostat Controls
Blizzard has given users a few control options to keep things simple. First, you can select 25-channel (standard) or 30-channel (extended) operating modes. Extended mode adds 16-bit “fine” control to the dimmer, gobo rotation, focus, zoom, and autofocus. Autofocus is a feature that, once set, allows a gobo to remain in focus while changing the zoom. Both operating modes can be controlled from DMX via the 3 and 5-pin XLRs.
In addition, the fixtures can be run in standalone, master/slave, or auto mode. Auto mode is the go to “set it and forget it,” which works well in clubs and for dance floors when specific programming is not required. The operating mode can be setup with the on-board 5-button display which is simply and intuitive. Kudos to Blizzard Lighting on one of the better displays and menu systems on fixtures in the market. It has a circular array with up/down/left/right buttons and one “enter” in the middle. The display reads out nicely, and there is no need to reference the manual in order to figure it out.
Cold Outside
As the manual indicates, the fixture can be rigged in any position using the two omega brackets, which attach to the fixture with quarter turn captive finger screws.
The 16-bit pan and tilt are smooth and accurate. This fixture doesn’t have continuous pan/tilt, but is consistent with other fixtures on the market, with 540° pan and 270° tilt, which is the norm. The pan and tilt are fast, panning 540° in just over 3 seconds and tilting 270° in less than 2 seconds. If you’re running movement effects, the fixture is quick to respond and can immediately change direction. The speed can be changed by a dedicated pan/tilt speed channel.
Both dimming and strobe are electronic. The dimming curve was faultless and smoothly faded out all the way to 0%. The strobe flashes at a maximum 15Hz (times per second) or can pulse or be set to a random flash pattern.
Shoveling Sidewalks
The G-Mix 200 weighs in at 41.9 pounds, consumes 334 watts of power and contains an auto-ranging 100-240VAC power supply. The plastic covers have a smooth matte black finish. It comes with a two-year warranty, and Blizzard prides themselves on turning most repairs around within 48 hours.
If you are looking for a low wattage LED fixture for a small to mid-size applications, this is a great option for you. With an attractive price tag of $1,999.99 (MSRP), Blizzard Lighting’s G-Mix 200 is sure to suit your needs for all four seasons.
Cool Spot, Chillin’ Price
G-Mix 200 is a medium-sized moving spot luminaire. Output is generated from an Osram 200-watt white LED engine. Shaping the bright beam is a motorized 5°-42° zoom. The fixture is a blend of versatility and illumination, filling in rigs that require short-medium throws with the benefits of a white LED source.
G-Mix 200
- Pros:
- – White LED source
- – Spot/Wash/Beam
- – Affordable
- – Fast movements
Cons:
- – Pixilation on CMY wheels in some zoom ranges
Feature List:
- – Osram 200-watt white LED engine
- – 5°-42° Zoom
- – Autofocus
- – CMY color mixing
- – 3 fixed color wheels
- – 2 gobo wheels
- – 3 and 8-facet bidirectional rotating prisms
- – 3&5 Pin DMX in/out
Stats:
- – Size: 25.5” x 16.4” x 11.4” (HxWxD)
- – Weight: 41.2 lbs.
- – Wattage: 334W
- – Voltage: 100-240, 50/60Hz (auto-ranging)
- – MSRP: $1,999.99
- – Manufacturer: Blizzard Lighting
- – More Info: www.blizzardlighting.com
