Upgrading Mobile Light Stand

RaysWay

RaysWay

Autopia Specialist
I`ve got a full correction/coating on a black Cadillac scheduled for Sunday it has me thinking of upgrading my light stand. We all know how crucial good lighting is and I want to have the best solution possible before I get started on Sunday morning.

Right now I have the "DIY LED Light Stand" from zmcgovern45`s original thread here: http://www.autopia.org/forums/auto-detailing-101-a/45355-diy-led-light-halogen.html

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(2600 Lumens 5000K)

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Since I`m mobile, I`m thinking of going with "donbeezy`s" light setup here because of the upgraded stand:


Anyone have any suggestions before I pull the trigger? I`ve heard good things about Scangrip...
 
This isn`t a full light stand, but it`s replaced all of my flashlights and stuff for any mobile work: Astro Pneumatic Tool 50SL Sunlight 400 lm CRI 97 Rechargeable Handheld Color Match Light - - Amazon.com

It`s comparable to the Scangrip. I should do a full fledged review on it but it puts out an incredible amount of light, has a good charge time, and is very reliable. I`ve been using it for a few months. It spots defects like nothing else I`ve ever used(except the sun) I like that it never washes out the color like some other bright LED lights I`ve used.

They have a rolling color match light stand that I`ll be purchasing next season.
 
heisenberg- hey, that`s intriguing!

How long does its battery last between charges? I`m *so* fed up with the battery to my SunGun...
 
Accumulator said:
heisenberg- hey, that`s intriguing!

How long does its battery last between charges? I`m *so* fed up with the battery to my SunGun...
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It has a little charge indicator that is measured by five little squares - I`m at square 2 and I have only charged it once since I bought it in July or August. I use it for prelim inspections, checking my work as I go, and then a final walkaround with clients. I think I`ve done four or five jobs in that time span. Wish I had a better answer but I haven`t been very observant.
 
heisenberg said:
This isn`t a full light stand, but it`s replaced all of my flashlights and stuff for any mobile work: Astro Pneumatic Tool 50SL Sunlight 400 lm CRI 97 Rechargeable Handheld Color Match Light - - Amazon.com

It`s comparable to the Scangrip. I should do a full fledged review on it but it puts out an incredible amount of light, has a good charge time, and is very reliable. I`ve been using it for a few months. It spots defects like nothing else I`ve ever used(except the sun) I like that it never washes out the color like some other bright LED lights I`ve used.

They have a rolling color match light stand that I`ll be purchasing next season.
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Would be interested to know how the rolling color match light works out. I like that it is rechargeable and not corded.
Its definitely a great price over the scangrip.
 
Ray, if you`re focusing on just the stand, you want to consider adding a light boom to it (and if you do that, get a sandbag or other counterweight) and casters. You can get a set of casters that attach to the three legs. The dolly shown in the YouTube video consumes too much space. If I were to add casters to your stand, I`d opt for individual casters that are more compact.

In general and going forward, start with an Avenger or Manfrotto stand and you`ll know you have the best.

I`m not an expert on lighting for detailing, but I know my way around a photo studio. The only difference I see is that in detailing you`re using constant lighting whereas you`d use strobe lighting in a photo studio.

Starting from scratch, the best detailing lighting set up you could have would be a compact rolling stand with one or two booms, sandbags, and portable power (from SLA or lithium ion batteries paired with a pure sine wave inverter).

Keep trip factor in mind.
 
RaydiantDetail said:
Would be interested to know how the rolling color match light works out. I like that it is rechargeable and not corded.
It`s a great price over the scangrip.
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I have the scangrip color match as well as their Vega & Nova series. Honestly, the best light for detailing is a scangrip rolling stand and a Nova series 5k. I`ll post up a review this weekend when I do a correction with it.
 
I`ve got everything in my cart and it comes to $80 to upgrade to DonBeezy`s version. I`m thinking of getting single bulb outlets so I can have two light stands with single bulbs on each. Since having two bulbs puts a lot of weight on the brackets which makes it difficult to adjust.

Decisions decisions...
 
JRW67 said:
Vaga@Autopia Where can I find the stand you are referring?
Looks good to me.
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This is the original light stand or the stand I have now: http://www.autopia.org/forums/auto-detailing-101-a/45355-diy-led-light-halogen.html

This is the DonBeezy version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjgdgwaQTMk

And here`s the enhanced pro version: http://www.autopia.org/forums/auto-detailing-101-a/186002-diy-led-light-enhanced-pro-version.html

The pro version is a little too bulky for me for mobile detailing. I`m already tight on space and I don`t think I`d be able to easily move around with the pro version. If I had a garage or shop, that would be my choice easily.
 
Can anyone verify my suspicion that:

Rupes swirl finder is a rebadged scangrip penlight (they look identical outside of color scheme)
Astro 50sl is a rebadged scangrip sunmatch (they look identical outside of color scheme)

Did anyone try out the new scangrip sunmatch 2, d-match 2 lights? whats this CRI+ business??

For light I use... I use 2 Astro 40sl, someone said the cri is really good on these work lights, except a dip in the teal spectrum, Magnetic base, works well under my car port. It`s excellent to find any missed wax or high spots on coating because of the longer light source (looks like fluorescent bulbs) but for swirl finding, I find a more focused beam helps drastically (controlled direction so the light can bounce off the swirl instead of getting washed out by multi directional lighting)...
 
Raymoche said:
Can anyone verify my suspicion that:

Rupes swirl finder is a rebadged scangrip penlight (they look identical outside of color scheme)
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They are identical in how they look and the location of the on/off button. I have both. The scangrip is just a tad longer. The color of the light is different as is the brightness. Both use metal housings. The Rupes light is a little more white in color and is brighter than the scangrip. Both are great. I am not going to say they are rebadged as only Rupes or Scangrip can confirm that.

Raymoche said:
Did anyone try out the new scangrip sunmatch 2, d-match 2 lights? whats this CRI+ business??
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To my knowledge the new scangrip lights are not out yet but they were displayed at SEMA.

You can read all about CRI here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_CRI_LED_lighting
 
heisenberg said:
This isn`t a full light stand, but it`s replaced all of my flashlights and stuff for any mobile work: Astro Pneumatic Tool 50SL Sunlight 400 lm CRI 97 Rechargeable Handheld Color Match Light - - Amazon.com

It`s comparable to the Scangrip. I should do a full fledged review on it but it puts out an incredible amount of light, has a good charge time, and is very reliable. I`ve been using it for a few months. It spots defects like nothing else I`ve ever used(except the sun) I like that it never washes out the color like some other bright LED lights I`ve used.

They have a rolling color match light stand that I`ll be purchasing next season.
Click to expand...

I have the rolling color match light stand in my wish list for a potential christmas gift from my wife!
 
I was more wondering about their new marketing lingo of adding the "+" after CRI... Not the definition of CRI, but it seems they are claiming that traditional CRI only takes into consideration of values up to R8, when CRI+ goes to R15, I am wondering for those who saw the light in action (SEMA) did they some how demonstrate how their CRI+ improves upon color matching/quality of light compared to their tried and true CRI lights?

I`d imagine a demonstration would be showing some 2 panels of paint that looks almost identical with CRI lights, then with CRI+ you can spot a very subtle shade difference or something. Not overly important but I am very curious about these things.

With the rupes and scangrip, do you feel one is superior than the other when trying to spot defects?

Last note: Rebadging is not a bad thing, actually many companies do this, but they tweak it slightly so its different, but it will be manufactured by the contracting company (Example: Nikon, and Fuji gets their sensors from Sony with very minor design tweak or they add their own filters after). It is good because for example, lets say Rupes did contract out to Scangrip, they may use a brighter LED because it *may* be superior for swirl finding, since color matching is secondary on paint correction, while scangrip cares more about color matching because they want to appeal to body shops.

This is all in speculation of course, and I am probably not going to buy either one because I already have flashlights I trust, but their "focusing" ability is useful.
 
Raymoche said:
With the rupes and scangrip, do you feel one is superior than the other when trying to spot defects?
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No I don`t think one is superior than the other. If someone is in the market for a pen light and it`s between these two then one can`t go wrong with either one. Both produce a good amount of light for not only spotting defects but just as a light source.
 
im still rocking my boom pole set up. gives you good angles for hoods and trunks. it takes some time to twist all the handles and knobs to get it adjusted but its worth it to see what youre correcting. ive got it attached to my detailing cart now, so it follows me wherever im correcting.

i did have to replace the plug recently, kept having to bend and twist it to get power lol
 
Raymoche said:
Can anyone verify my suspicion that:

Rupes swirl finder is a rebadged scangrip penlight (they look identical outside of color scheme)
Astro 50sl is a rebadged scangrip sunmatch (they look identical outside of color scheme)

Did anyone try out the new scangrip sunmatch 2, d-match 2 lights? whats this CRI+ business??

For light I use... I use 2 Astro 40sl, someone said the cri is really good on these work lights, except a dip in the teal spectrum, Magnetic base, works well under my car port. It`s excellent to find any missed wax or high spots on coating because of the longer light source (looks like fluorescent bulbs) but for swirl finding, I find a more focused beam helps drastically (controlled direction so the light can bounce off the swirl instead of getting washed out by multi directional lighting)...
Click to expand...

Ray. I received my DMatch2 about a week ago and should receive the new second generation kit (Submatch2, multimatch2, iview and pen light) sometime next week. Honestly I was a little unsure about ordering the kit but so glad I did after the DMatch arrived (ordered it first). If possible you should seriously consider it if you are in the market. I can send pics or pm you the dmatch2 or the kit when it arrives. It`s just one of those things when you first put it in your hands you know it was meant to be. Same feeling I had when I first held on to my Rupes15 mark2.
 
Almost forgot to mention I also ordered the mobile light stand thro another similar site to this one and out of respect I won`t mention it but that Brandon need about 120 bucks before and 20% online promo code. The mobile stand seriously surpassed my expectations but honestly I do not know what similar stands are priced at so I couldn`t tell you how good of a deal it is
 
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