Bristol-based lighting rental and installation company Utopium has invested in Novalight High Ground fixtures for its rental stock. The sale and delivery was completed by Novalight's exclusive UK distributor, Lightfactor Sales.
Utopium needed a reliable, high-powered searchlight style effect, particularly for the increasing number of film premiers and large events they have been servicing.
The DMX-controlled Novalight High-Ground uses a 2,000W MSR light source and outputs 174,000 lumens. The moving yoke version pans 540° in 3.2 seconds and tilts 262° in 2.9 seconds, making it a very agile fixture. The unit offers five dichroic colours and white, plus shutter and strobe effects; another advantage is that there's no central black hole when the beam is opened to maximum.
Lightfactor's Peter Coles arranged a demo, which proved to Utopium's MD Colin Bodenham and Hire & Sales Manager Ben Knowles that the High Ground was a "Very strong and bright fixture," says Knowles. He also comments that the other fixtures they looked at didn't have the same beam strength or the affordable price tag of the High Grounds which was a big factor. "Some fixtures are twice the money for the same effect," he qualifies, adding "The build quality of the units is faultless".
There are plenty of other features they like about the High Grounds, including the beam angle of the searchlight, which is wide enough to spread the light across huge spaces. It also has a tight beam that reaches into the skies for miles.
Peter Coles says, "We're seeing an increasing number of hire companies buying and showing an interest in these fixtures. It is recognised as a bright, solidly-built, well-priced product that is also unique in effect, which is a great endorsement for the brand".
Since joining Utopium, the High Grounds have worked hard! They have been utilised on a plethora of festival sites around the country, often as an attention drawing effect that people can see from afar.
Knowles says they work spectacularly in this context when positioned together, creating a fan as they pan and tilt up into the sky, especially when there is a bit of cloud cover to enhance the effect.
Utopium has also used them indoors and for conferences, including the recent HCA Awards, staged at the Roundhouse in Camden, London. The High Grounds were positioned behind the stage and slightly offset, creating dramatic slim, solid, slices of light across the audience and up into the roof behind them.
"The service from Lightfactor has been excellent," concludes Knowles. "They set up demos at our convenience and are always informative and great to talk to on the phone". Utopium has not yet needed to contact Lightfactor's tech support department as they have had no faults or problems at all with the fixtures since purchase!