I've been offered a set of 4 Mad Scanners - HP305 set of 4, but I can't find any information about them - I've tried the Mad Fx site, but no joy there. I just wondered if anyone has come across them, and if they're any good. Apparently they have 150w discharge lamps - are these as bright as standard 205w halogen's?

Thanks,

Rob.

great build and very nice effect, but if its anything like my MAD magician (they share the same lamp type) the brightness will be a problem.....

Take a look at the Abstract XP2's if you want somthing brighter and similar.

Here is a picture and a few French words

Having owned a Mad Magician myself then I agree with Marc, the 150W discharge lamp is not all its cracked up to be - bloody expensive to replace as well! . Wasn't happy at all with the light output and it looked lost when working alongside a £120, conventional 250 Watt Halogen Datamoon .

My first concern would be, if you can't find anythinfg about them, then how easy would getting parts for them be?, should you ever need to in the future?.

Better to invest in what you know, or can find information on, rather than going into the unknown just because it looked like a bargain at the time

Thanks ADS, that's all I could find about them too.

Great advise from you all.

I think you've saved me from an expensive impulse buy (£400 for the 4 if anyone wants them!)

Maybe I'll save up for the ACME Winner's.

Rob.

MAD went out of business a couple of years ago. The name was bought by their largest rival, Abstract, who badge their high-end products thus (eg mad power flower), and the original company was taken over by BPC circuits who made their circuit boards for them. BPC still sell disco lights but under the EVL brand, with a mixture of self-made units (eg EVL spin) and products imported from the far east (eg. EVL minispot).

The original MAD scans were well regarded, new 150W lamps should be as bright as their 250W halogen equivalents but bear in mind that the cheap discharge lamps fade in intensity very quickly, (and new ones vary in brightness from one company to another) giving the impression of poor optics or dirty mirrors. A long life capsule is available but it's less white/bright than the standard types. It's swings and roundabouts! I'd say Philips lamps are about the best.

Discharge lamps are ideal for installations because you rarely run the risk of having odd lamps out completely: they're normally re-lamped in the venue's routine maintenance schedule, or when they're noticably dim.

K. Edwards

They look good as you can change the covers on them like you can a Nokia phone. Colours ranging from Yellow, orange to Black. They are considered Collectors gear now even though if they develop a fault it would be hard to get the parts. I have seen quite a lot of this effects advertised on Ebay

Right, like the MAD Q-Scans. The platic cased units were made by the orig. MAD company, I believe founded by ex employees of Abstract (as are most of the Leicester lighting companies!). By the way the MAD magician the previous poster mentioned as poor is an Abstract product in disguise.

I have 6 of these in black, 4 scans and 2 stars and I think they are excellent. Click here for a piccy.


I agree they may be difficult to get parts for, but, I haven't had a single issue with them in 4 years, i've only ever had to change the lamps.

That said, I am currently saving up to buy the new 250w EVL versions.......

They are cheap, but if they have been looked after and flightcased (because Mad sold a 4 unit case to go with them) then they shouldn't give you any trouble.

Also you can call EVL if you have any questions on them as they made most of the components and know the lights inside out.

I had HP305s but they mine were 150w halogen and not discharge. I don't think any of the MAD dj series had discharge lamps. Still quite bright though. A bit bulky and noisy. 5 gobos + open and four colours plus white on one wheel. A bit limited but a good effect when used with and e-pod or MAD 4-1 controller. EVL lighting may be able to give you support but there are not many spares left.

Come to think of it, Abstract and MAD were run by brothers I think.