Blizzard LightingBlizzard Hotbox 5 5-in-1 RGBAW LED Color Mixing & Advanced Electronics Stage Lighting, 5.00 x 5.00 x 4.00

I really wanted to love these lights, but this one falls short if you plan on using it in "Stand Alone" mode. I ordered 2 of these for an LED light show I am building for small club (rock band use). The light is very bright, and is capable of fantastic color mixing, but when used in "Sound Active" mode the sensitivity is far too high. There is only one sound-active setting (confirmed by Blizzard), and it looks terrible when the band is playing. It flashes through its pre-programmed chase so quickly, that it appears as a bright white strobe light.When I first received these lights, one was DOA out of the box. I sent it back, and waited about 3 weeks, never hearing from them (Blizzard). Finally after I complained they got a replacement shipped out. So it was a good month before I had a chance to use it in the field. So now I'm stuck with these 2 lights that can't really be used unless I opt for a light controller (not what I wanted).

Great light. Easy to use

One of the worse uplights I have owned, if not the worse. Company (Blizzard Lighting) claims that's just how it is: READ FULL STORY:I wanted to write this thread to make people aware of the poor customer service behind Blizzard Lighting.I ordered a big batch of HOT BOX 5’s after speaking with Frank, part owner of Blizzard Lighting. He promised me consistent color matching and color mixing on this particular light, thus reasoning the cost compared to other “inferior” products, including the lower end model Blizzard Lighting sells.I took his word, and bought 18 from a dealer called PRO DJ, http://www.prodjsoundlighting.com, which was absolutely no help in trying to resolve the problem. I highly advise not buying here as there are no returns accepted, even for defective items.Anyhow, I received the lights, and not only did the lights not match from one to the next as they demonstrated different hues, meaning one pink would look different than the next pink (same value settings), ALL the lights had a horrible halo, very poor color mixing of RGBAW. The worse I have seen on a LED light. I literally was getting two colors out of the light, when trying to achieve a single color. Even my cheapest $80 lights don’t do that, and it is the same technology, 5in1 3-5watt leds.So I called up Frank, and told him I was very disappointed in the lights, and told him that his promise of high quality was as far from the truth, and asked him what I should do. He admitted that his own lights do that too, and tried making excuses on that’s just how it is, even though he promised me they would not do this before I ordered.He told me I could send them back, and he would include the call tag to include shipping, OR I could try out this diffusion he would send to me. He said it completely eliminates the bad color mixing issues. However, I wondered why he just didn’t include this in the first place if it truly eliminates the problem with these lights.Since I just wanted working lights, I of course agreed to try the diffusion lenses rather than sending them back, and having to find another light, meaning more wasted time and money.I received the lenses very quickly, and while they helped, it was not much of a difference. There was still a huge halo and multi color banding on most colors. Look at the example below. It was so bad that when I asked my friends who know nothing about lighting what color I was shining, they responded with “which part of the wall are you referring to.” Need I say more.I then called the dealer and Frank, and they both told me that there is nothing that can be done, and Frank now would not accept the lights back even though he originally offered to.I called and called and emailed, and they both just ignored me, although one time I caught Frank on the phone, and he called me a liar, now all the sudden stating his lights don’t do that. As if I was making the whole thing up.I have never ever dealt with such bad customer service in my entire life. It bothers me that one would operate a “professional business” like this.Anyhow, just wanted to let everyone know about this, and how Blizzard Lighting treats their customer, not to mention, build low quality lights, and don’t care about customer satisfaction.Notice how there are literally two colors in the light. NOT ONE!

Great instrument, solidly made, and reasonably priced. Good clear color gamut.

I love these lights, so I had to post in response to the other guy who was ragging on them. I have had these lights for about a year, and I have been nothing but happy with them. I am using them to light my 3-piece band, and they work GREAT. They are so small and bright, that I simply put them on top of my main speakers and point them back at the band (no lighting stands). I use one on each speaker, and one behind the drummer either shining into his kit or on the wall behind him (whatever looks best). They are VERY bright (a lot brighter than the old Chauvet 4 bar system I had, and ten times less of a hassle!) The color mixing on them is FINE! Maybe I am not picky enough, but blue looks like blue to me, red looks like red, etc...If you have all of the colors firing at once, you can see some slight variations (halos), but they are minimal, and you can only see those if you are shinning these on to a plain white wall (which I rarely do). I could see that if you were doing high-end set lighting, you may want a different fixture that has a little bit better color mixing, but this thing is only two hundred bucks, and it's built like a tank! I agree with the one guy that said the audio mode was a bit quirky when using these with a band. I think the sound active mode is more for DJ's, so I just put the front lights in a slow fade mode, and the one behind the drummer in sound active, and it looks great. Plus, I only have to carry three SMALL lights, no stands, no controller. It works great for me.

My company owns several dozen of these fixtures, and they are really, really great fixtures. There is another review on here that complains about color mixing, and i'm just not sure what that person could be experiencing. We bought these at different times and from different places, and have never noticed any issues like the ones that guy had. What's more, the diffusers he received for free from Blizzard are normally like $20 each, and don't come with the lights, so it seems pretty nice of Blizzard to send those out to try to fix an issue which I've never seen even exist. I've also dealt with their support on occasion, and the guys there seem to know the product pretty well and are always happy to help however they can. I've even spoken with Frank before, and found him to be about the nicest, most accommodating guy on the planet!Beyond that, though--these are built incredibly well - like I think you could park a school bus on top of them and they'd still work fine. The menus are easy to understand, they have powercon-type connectors on them so your cords won't get kicked/pulled/rattled out, and the dimming is really smooth on them. The color mixing is also GREAT imo. I have trouble finding any fault in these little fixtures at all. Blizzard's manuals even have some funny stuff in them if you go hunting for it. I have no problem recommending these to anyone!