MARCUS BOND - MSRP: £219.00 - £ ADJ’s Elements Series of wireless LED uplighters – a bright idea! (Fnarr fnarr). Ok, sorry, I’ll try to resist the puns for the rest of this review, but I can’t make any promises! Instead, I’ll start by laying my cards on the table and admitting that I love these fixtures. In fact, I ended up buying three dozen I liked them so much!

So, while I may be a bit biased, I’m also in a good position to write this review as I’ve got a LOT of experience of using these units on a regular basis. 7766 sponsored by Before I go on, I also want to acknowledge the fact that these fixtures couldn’t really be considered ‘new’, having been on the market since last summer. However, because battery-powered units have a tendency to degrade with use, I thought it would be a good idea to write this now that I have not only had a chance to really put these fixtures through their paces, but to do it over an extended period of time.

ADJ is, in my eyes, the one company that constantly brings out useful, efficient, user-friendly lighting products, at realistically affordable prices, for mobile DJs like me and you to rock gigs and events week in, week out. Thanks to their focus on the above, combined with advances in both LED and battery technology, the Element Series is a range of truly wireless up-lighting fixtures that are ideal for use by mobile DJs. All good reviews start with the first impression, right?

The look, feel and build of the item you’ve already studied in all those YouTube rundowns and sexy Facebook posts witnessed for the first time in the flesh. Well, the first thing I noticed and loved was how sleek they look, with no giant contrasting logos on the exposed sides. I immediately knew they would be great for the work I do, from elegant weddings to modern conferences. Size-wise they follow the form factor of what we have come to know as ‘standard wireless uplighter size’ comparable to their dearer CHAUVET and Smartbat counterparts.

The next big green tick was how solid they feel. They have a tank-like build but weigh less than 3kg each, so even when stored in a case of six or eight they are still easy to manoeuvre. So, now that I’ve given an introduction to the range, let’s look at the differences between the four Element Series uplighters, which can be easily split into two separate categories. First we have the Element QA, which consists of six 5-watt 4-in-1 red, green, blue and amber LEDs.

The amber element is especially handy as it allows for the creation of warmer hues and popular colours such as gold, which was simply impossible to achieve using the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) LEDs of fixtures from previous generations. The QA features a 14-degree beam angle making it perfect for accentuating walls and columns, amongst many other architectural features. THE AARDTJ OELFE AMDEVNETR TSEISRINIEGS The brother to this unit is the and purples Element QAIP, which contains all with lesser of the aforementioned attributes is a tad bigger, but comes with the added benefit it's capable of of being IP54-rated.

This makes it area with it's the perfect fixture to plonk outdoors, rain or shine! The IP54 rat- The brother ing means its protected from dust Element HEXIP as well as splashing water from all guessed it… directions. If you’ve got a building of the features front, statue, tree or marquee, the on (I’m confident!) Element QAIP is perfect for lightready to face ing it up with a splash of colour couldn’t resist without the fear of mother nature claiming your investment(s)!

It’s worth stage that the On the other side of the family have the same there is the Element HEX. This the non-IP unit features four 10-watt LEDs 190.5mm) but each with red, green, blue, amber, of subtle white and UV elements. This reis the menu sults in a wireless LED uplighter under a flap capable of true white AND, thanks is the IEC inlet to the inclusion of the UV elenon-IP units ment, the ability to achieve pinks the front (with ADJ ELEMENT SERIES ADJ Element Series that isn’t possible timeout feature so they won’t be LEDs.

The beam angle seen by your guests). The non-IP too. At 20-degrees versions also have the added adcovering a wider vantage of IEC input AND output colour wash. sockets on the bottom of the unit, to facilitate daisy chain charging to this one is the and mains powered use with ease. which is… you IP54-rated! So it’s all All of the Element Series models you’re already sold feature an integral carry handle in an enclosure on the top of the unit, so they can the elements (sorry, be simply plonked into place and the mini-pun!). not worried about.

They also have a cool kickstand design, which I pointing out at this find really useful for angling the IP-rated versions beam to a wall or particular focal dimensions as point for a more intense effect. variants (140 x 140 x This also minimises light-spill, there are a couple onto a ceiling for example. differences. The first one access is recessed and Battery life is advertised at 11 on the IP version, as hours. However, my personal units for charging.

The – which have easily seen 150 chargfeature the menu on ing cycles – manage well above this a handy display lement Series (12-16 hours on a static single colbuy a divers watch our), which is awesome. The only sistance of 1000 trait they carry that I’d class as a are that you’ll never niggle is that the first 20% of the a kilometre under battery life indicator falls within nice to know your about half an hour, which initially able to withstand will lead you to worry that they in the sink or at won’t last a full night.

But from the pool in Tenerife there the drop in power slows so to tell the tale! The they can easily last beyond half with DMX range; I a day. On the other hand, all four ever need 350 Element Series uplighters can 700, but I feel be charged from 0-100% within ‘wirelessly-controlled 4.5 hours, a feature I’ve come to that spans 150-200 love after owning other batterying the EXR is up to powered uplighters that can take up to 8 hours to charge! For wireless DMX either use one of We’ve covered the LEDs, the caswireless controllers, ing design and the battery, but WiFLY NE1, or use what about the wireless DMX?

Battery wireless Well, each of the four models is up your preferred fitted with a wireless DMX transor software control ceiver equipped with ADJ’s EXR lessly to your Element technology. This stands for Exwireless DMX doesn’t tended Range and means the wireboat, you can also less DMX signal can reach as far ular DMX using 3-pin as 700 metres! This is what I call or control the ‘divers watch peace of mind’. You’ll using ADJ’s UC-IR Marcus' 78 with a water reor Airstream IR interface (allowing metres.

Chances remote control from an iPad or iP- find yourself hone app). the sea, but it’s watch will be You don’t actually need a conbeing dropped troller at all. If all you want is the bottom of simple up-lighting to match with and still live a party’s colour scheme, wireless same applies Master/Slave operation is easy to don’t think I’ll setup. With all of your fixtures metres, let alone set as Slaves, all you have to do confident selling a is choose a colour on the Master light display’ head and the rest will follow suit. metres knowthe task.

So, if you’re looking to up your uplighter game (pun three? I’ll stop control you can now!), the ADJ Element family is ADJ’s dedicated certainly worth joining. They can such as the make you more money as an addthe ADJ EXR on or create extra value for your interface to hook existing clients with no headache DMX hardware to set them up, make them work system wireor pack them down! fixtures. If float your I’d definitely recommend them. connect up reg- In fact, after writing this review, XLR cables I think maybe I should buy some Element fixtures more… remote (cheap!) Element Series fixtures in action at a recent Bar Mitzvah ADJ ELEMENT SERIES AD OPERA .pdf 1 05/12/2016 12: