$299 Boulder Pro 🆚 $1,935 R2X Zoom Wash Moving Head - Can it Compete?

[@ErnestDotPro]

The differences between these fixtures are: color quality, component quality and warranty. The direct-from-China brands (Boulder, Shehds, V-Show, etc) have internal board design, LEDs, motors, etc that are least expensive options. For example, the LEDs are mounted on the PCB in the fastest/easiest way possible. They are not consistently aligned with the lenses. If you look at the fixture off-axis while using a mixed color, such as orange, the top area is more red, the bottom is more yellow. As the fixture dims very low, you'll see one color LED turn off before the other. The color at full brightness is different than the color at low output. Does any of this matter in a typical church environment? Nope. Having purchased dozens of off-brand fixtures, I will warn folks that I have seen a 10-15% out of the box failure rate, such as DMX not working or partially working, internal components loose, etc. Always buy from Amazon and test immediately after receiving them to take advantage of the return policy.

[@RylandRussell]

Great info, thanks for sharing!

[@andremiller4255]

100% great comment. It’s about the quality and consistency

[@ladjkaoz]

@ErnestDotPro only a pro or very picky person see those details but those deals do count.. at least for me 👍😎👍

[@zackhinrichs7409]

Love these! We just put 4 in our new youth room with 9 foot ceilings, fans were pretty loud so I muffled the air intake grid on the back with some velvet super matte tape for projector screen edging, and cut slits in it to still allow air flow, being that they’re 9’ ceilings so close to the stage, we would never run these more than 30 percent brightness - it cut down on fan noise considerably!

[@phillyweddinglighting]

Thanks Ryland! I was looking for something just like this so bought 2 for a test drive. God Bless!

[@caymanjjorge]

Ryland, thanks to your previous videos on the boulders I went ahead and purchased 10 variable whites. Installed them a month ago for a school multipurpose hall and have been amazed by them especially for the price they’re at, I feel they can’t be beat. I’m now planning to purchase some RGBW fixtures in the future. Thanks again for all your videos and help, keep up the great work.

[@RylandRussell]

That’s awesome!

[@Seb512]

Nice. Now all we need is a showdown between the rogue R2X and the final boss, the Martin Mac Aura

[@lucasward9259]

I've had a dealer demo for this exact shootout (plus a few robe and glp units) and the r2x definitely holds it's own for output. The auras however are touring proven and very reliable

[@ThatV8Ranger]

This is a good comparison video, but I believe you missed some of the biggest differences between these lights. Dimming curves differences, as well as movement differences at fast and slower speeds. That is where you will see the biggest differences between these lights. I do not own any of the Boulder Pro lights, but I do have 15 of the Shehds washes. The dimming curve is not great, especially at slower speeds. Slow movements of the lights aren't great either. They jitter back and forth and are pretty much unusable for slow smooth movements. That being said, I do still like the lights and all 15 have been solid for me! I just had to learn their limitations.

[@hanssundin9793]

While its a good video i also feel its missout on comparing the builtin effects you can run on smaller channel setting, those can be very lazy done on cheaper units compare to more costly once.

[@davidsantiago397]

Thank you for the insight and honesty around using them in a church environment. Its nice to see a product that works well and is affordable for most churches looking to expand on their worship experience. Keep up the good work !!

[@RylandRussell]

Glad it was helpful. Thanks David!

[@timcleaver5533]

Bought a Boulder. Initially pleased with it. Hopefully will continue to give great service

[@RylandRussell]

@@timcleaver5533 still loving ours. 👍

[@slaction]

Glad to see someone making these kinds of videos. I'm tired of people acting like saving money is a bad thing in stage lighting. There is just no need to pay a 400% premium to a company just because they want to maximize profits for investors. As you can see from this video, the products do NOT cost that much to make, so it's all just corporate greed markup.

[@jeremymckee9649]

Love this Ryan! I have 18 shehds and 2 vw boulder alongside my rig of Chauvet fixtures and they absolutely hold their own.

[@titanicgrupomusical6953]

Great video 👍I don’t see the difference between the chauvet and the China one . Please make some more videos like this to let us save money in time.

[@practicalworship]

We own several of both of these lights and it’s hard to argue with the price of the Boulder…

[@ianm9038]

we have like 20 VLs at our main campus they are sooooo hard to hang ive done it since 5th grade it suckss. but the lights are so cool

[@jamestucker3661]

Great video! I echo your sentiment - I would rather have 6 of the generics vs one R2x for bigger looks

[@benratliff9157]

Dude the boulders are surprisingly good! We bought two at Christmas last year and then another at Easter and we used them as front lighting for our passion play as well as just back lighting and wall lights! And to be honest even if they don’t last but half as long as the chauvet it’s still worth it.

[@RylandRussell]

Awesome

[@crashingrhino]

These are so helpful. Thanks Ryland.

[@brucecolgate]

There is a similar $300 fixture by a company called Shehds, Excellent output, but I find it dims poorly - very steppy, particularly over long fades like 10 seconds. Is the Blizzard fixture better at this? Would love to see more of the demo'ed fixture in action. Even though you Ryland, are very handsome, seeing movement, fades, color rendition would be super helpful. Thank you for the videos!!

[@RylandRussell]

I've actually got the SHEHDS version in my office waiting to review. I"ll be sure to do some dimming tests. TBH It's very rare that we do 10 second dims but I'll check it out.

[@Ryky_Legg]

Something I'm always jealous of is how cleanly dispersed your haze is. Beams look great in your room - any tips?

[@RylandRussell]

Thanks man! I actually have a video all about that kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZWsnIerjseKjZYsi=DMmCBpZbrjqXBdR7

[@JSprayaEntertainment]

2:20 LED facts . cool ... ( i dont know if i need a 19x40 .... or if 19x20 , is cool enough to beam into the sky ) ??

[@rogerhita-ly2px]

Why does this video have 4 likes? Cmon brothers my dude saving us hundreds of not thousands .

[@hiptoalieu]

The R2 is a better wash light...it just is! BUT...the Boulder one is very nice, for a lower cost alternative...and especially for an US ground rig, I would definitely use them!

[@RylandRussell]

True

[@joshuabacarella9255]

How smooth is the pan and tilt at slow speeds compared to the R2? Same for color mixing, is it smooth and linear on the boulder? Any inconsistencies fixture to fixture? My church has 10 Rogue R2Xs and we love them, but we’re looking to replace some older Inno Beam Z7s with something more modern and low cost. Thanks for the insight!

[@RylandRussell]

I have noticed that the newest boulder rgbw lights i got have a slight color diff from the ones I got three years ago. Nothing the congregation would notice but getting the perfect mix for an orange calls for diff. settings between the two.

[@croissantproductions]

Cheaper lights are much more likely to have inconsistent colors from fixture to fixture using cheaper LEDs

[@paulharbin2510]

Hey Ryan what speakers are those in your worship center?

[@RylandRussell]

@@paulharbin2510 EVAsg2 line arrays

[@DustySeven7]

would love to see you compare the boulders to the shehds version and hear your thoughts about the differences.

[@RylandRussell]

I've been curious myself. I just ordered one of the SHEHDS versions to compare. :)

[@henrygrimmius8138]

How is the fan noise on both? That's a big deal where I'm using them in a Christian school theater. Need a quiet room. I purchased a couple of Elation Fuze-Wash 350. They've been great, but very expensive. These are above the audience but trying to find some quiet stuff for above the stage so when I've got a choir or a band, a play or musical, I'm not capturing/increasing the levels of the fans with my microphones. Love your channel and how practical it is, focused on ministry enhancement instead of tech takeover.

[@RylandRussell]

I have a lot of various moving head lights with fans. These are about the same as all the rest in my experience. Fans sound comparable between these two, although Boulder wins as it shuts off the fans when not in use :)

[@chazzanaty8415]

good stuff! absolutely dig this review format

[@RylandRussell]

Sweet. Glad you enjoyed the comparison.

[@reissallan]

The Rogue R2X Wash also has fan control and will turn off when the LEDs are off. It's on page 10 of the user manual, so it's not a win for the China Direct company.

[@RylandRussell]

That's great to hear, although in my testing they never turned off.

[@reissallan]

@@RylandRussell Gotta change the setting from the digital display. There's AUTO / ECO / FULL.

[@deathshot2084]

Hi! Would you have a link for the variable white version of the Boulders? I can't seem to find it anywhere online. Thank you and God Bless!

[@RylandRussell]

They are out of stock right now but should be back in stock on Amazon in a couple weeks.

[@RylandRussell]

amzn.to/3PD69iy

[@deathshot2084]

@@RylandRussell Thank you so much!

[@Iamjosueescobar]

would have been great to hear about the differences between color of the two lights.

[@RylandRussell]

They are pretty close but with all four rgbw the Boulder is cooler than the chauvet.

[@jamestucker3661]

I have the R2x and I’ve used a variety of the generic washes. The color is not the same - the R2x will get you a much better white if you need it. I have used the R2x as a video key light and it looks fabulous. The generics look bad on people’s faces. The generics are pretty great.

[@AaronBjorklund]

Are they noisy? Is the fan noise pretty obvious?

[@RylandRussell]

The fans are there for sure. About like every other mover we have.

[@huntereubanks1325]

Hey Ryland, love your videos! quick question, Do you have the manual for the boulder zoom RGBW? I'm needing to build a fixture profile for our lighting software due to the fact our lighting software doesn't already have a boulder zoom profile. I've seemed to misplace the manuals for our boulder zooms and I can't find the manual anywhere on the web! Thanks!

[@RylandRussell]

drive.google.com/file/d/1LTgo2uck5NN8aL84AJ28LitLIdsgf27s/view?usp=drivesdk

[@huntereubanks1325]

@@RylandRussell you are the man!!

[@djasere.]

Thanks for the info

[@jpikester]

Are there any issues with these along with the variable whites with flickering over livestream camera feeds?

[@RylandRussell]

I’ve not noticed any flickering. Even shooting 120fps

[@Mrdinosaur9999]

How loud is the fan for both options.

[@RylandRussell]

The fans are about the same volume but I prefer the boulder because it is variable. Meaning when not in use, the fan shuts off. It’s hard to describe how loud a fan is but it’s very similar to most other moving head lights I’ve used.

[@jeffreyrussell8516]

Anyone have the DMX profile list for one of these? How do you have them tied into your lighting system?

[@RylandRussell]

For which one?

[@osielarellano6209]

Do you have a fixture profile for the boulder for vista?

[@RylandRussell]

drive.google.com/file/d/1bnelmT-7oOMIthaOibb36391gcMBW0sy/view

[@maizesoft]

why is the vw one more expensive than rgbw?

[@RylandRussell]

Maybe variable white led is more expensive?

[@ladjkaoz]

I find out the hard way...go with chauved, they make very durable gear... chines generic products are cheap but you are gambling. the difference from.a pro and a beginners is the peo does not takes chances. 🤷‍♂️

[@RylandRussell]

@@ladjkaoz obviously if you are a touring pro then go with chauvet, Martin etc. if you are a small venue or church with minimal usage and not setting up tearing down all the time; I’ve had great luck with the lights I’ve purchased.

[@ladjkaoz]

@RylandRussell I'm just a mobil dj, and I agree those cheap fixtures may do what fixture 10x in price may do but I don't belive in luck. we always get what we paid for. 🙏

[@TheDJsGuru]

It's better to buy more crap then less quality?????? Wow. Some advice...

[@RylandRussell]

Based on my tests and years of using these lights now, yes it’s a better use of my funds to purchase 6 boulder pros for the price of 1 chauvet r2x.