By Mike Wood
Way back in June of 2004, David Barbour and I put together the idea of doing these in-depth reviews in Lighting&Sound America, and later in Light & Sound International. The brief was to carry out various measurements on products rather than take the datasheet’s word for it. That was 16 years ago and, in that time, I’ve tested around 100 lights. In fact, I think that this review is number 100 – which would be particularly fitting as the very first product I tested was the Vari-Lite VL1000, and today I’m looking at the new VL5LED Wash. It seems highly appropriate to me that Vari-Lite, one of the founding fathers of the automated light industry, should get this spot.
I’m also pleased to be reviewing another additive colour-mixing luminaire. Regular readers of this feature won’t be surprised that I believe additive mixing is the way forward, and where I think we will all end up. Right now, getting fundamental brightness in white light is still tough with additive mixing from LEDs, but we’ll get there . . .
Read the full review at Light and Sound International
