The guys I've met using
Litepanels LED video lighting topside seem very happy with them.
Russ/Paul, how about adjusting the light level of these new lights? Are you planning multiple levels without filters so that we can do some stealth low-light shooting at night?
Is the battery pod for the Sunray 2000 going to be a complete redesign? I had 2 mystery floods in the past with your existing pod design, hence the guard that I've built for my Bluefin to protect those wee doors on the front. I think the pod design could do with a bit of beefing up. Also I can rarely get the IR light control from my handgrip to work properly. It's hit or miss and I end up having to use the red buttons on the pods to synchronise the levels of my 2 lights (halogens). Would much prefer a simple 3-position switch and some visual feedback about what light level I'm at without cycling through the levels to find out.
Also I'd love you guys to change cables from Subconn to EO. I've had the steel conductors in your Subconn cables fatigue through a few times at either the cable gland or at the change in diameter at the pod end. Never had that problem with EO connectors on various products I've owned. I think they might be copper rather than steel and so survive the repeated bending better. I've now converted the crimped connection inside the lamp heads to a tiny connector block so it's more easily serviced in the field by replacing or shortening the cables when they fatigue through again.
Oh, and I had a lamp head flood completely the other day when a cable gland worked loose without me noticing. That could be improved. It only cost me a new bulb after washing everything out.
And last but not least I'm converting my light arms from Locline to Gorillapod links as the Locline just gets noisier and noisier with age. It's kind of embarrassing and I've recently noticed critters actually flinching when I move my lights. In contrast the similar Gorillapod links are silent. I don't know whether that's because of different material from Locline or the fact that they're less hollow.
Sorry for all the negative stuff. My L&M halogens are brilliant lights when they're working properly, which is most of the time. Nice wide beam with no hotspots at all, having multiple levels is fantastic, and I've only ever had a bulb fail when the light head flooded or I turned the light on with a hot, very freshly charged battery.
Will shortly send a fuller report on my Bluefin and lights to Paul as discussed by email.