E Q U I N OX - HELLO@ MSRP: £ Moonflowers. Remember those old things? Once upon a time, they were the number 1 lighting fixture carried by every discerning mobile DJ in the land. You were a nobody if you didn’t have one.

Abstract Twister 2s, 3s or 4s, Martin Destroyers, NJD Datamoons, EVL Spins, MAD Power Flowers and iShow 4s were regularly found atop DJ tripods all over the UK… so where did they all go? 68 68 sponsored by In my opinion, the problem with lighting is that us DJs are like lemmings. When the latest shiny thing appears on the market, we all dump our old kit, join the queues and buy the new thing! Let’s start with a quick history lesson.

At one point in my life I had two Abstract Twister 3s and a pair of Twister 4s. I then got rid of those and replaced them with EVL Spin 250s. Then, when they were considered to be old hat, with their retro A1/259 lamps, I got some MAD Power Flowers. I liked those, but hated the shadow on the lamp so I got some iShow 4 HIDs, which were also great but suffered from lamp shadow too.

And then the dawn of the LED lighting revolution came with the introduction of the ACME InvincibLED and MiracLED! Before long, dancefloors all over the UK were sprinkled with bright, shiny, red, green and blue DOTS. It was the age of the DOTS folks and those pesky things stuck around for some time! During this time, ACME, one of the Prolight Concepts Group’s other brands, released a couple of white LED-powered moonflowers, the 50W Cheetah and a lesser powered, 25W unit called the Dynamic Spin 25.

I actually owned a pair of Cheetahs and really liked them to be fair, but the beam angle was really narrow and just didn't give enough coverage on the dance floor. Fast-forward a few years and the word on the street was that Abstract were looking to return to the scene with the Twister 5. Everyone sat up with interest, only to feel let down after an unfortunate launch at a SEDA ShowNight in 2017. So, I think it’s fair to say we all love moonflowers.

They’ve been a major part of the mobile DJ lighting evolution, but, in a world where moving heads are king, can a moonflower really make a difference once more? I think so. So here we are… finally. The Helix 100W Moon/GOBO flower from the guys at Equinox.

There’s no getting away from it, it’s been a long time coming, with lots of design changes to ensure that this is the right product. But all that time seems to have paid off! It’s a small, compact unit, about the size of an A4 sheet of paper, and it’s pretty bright too. Some would say the elephant in the room is the shape, and yep, it’s not rectangular.

But it will still fit inside a compact flight case no problem [Prolight has a dedicated twin padded bag] and, at just 4kg, it’s EQUINOX HELIX certainly not a back breaker! It's also set to be available in both white and black versions, which means it's an option for those who like to maintain an 'all white' rig. On the front you have the lens with a manual focus ring and around the back you’ll find all the connections. You get an IEC power input and thru as well as 3-pin DMX input and output sockets.

Unlike some other lighting units I’ve looked at recently, Equinox have gone for a small LED display, with four, eight-segment characters. Personally, I would’ve liked to see one of the nicer full colour displays that are becoming more common these days, as trying to work out some of the menu options can be a little confusing, unless of course you have the manual in your hand at the same time. Equinox Helix Equinox Helix Inside, the beating heart of the can’t get a pink/white unit is a mega bright 100W cool you could on the white (7400K) LED.

Now, I, and Although, I guess many others, saw this at BPM in one unit on pink October 2019 and it really didn’t white if you wanted stand out. I was hoping that this similar look for a was down to there being so much pollution from other lighting For those of you units in the building so was really run sound-to-light, pleased when I powered my pair number of sound of review fixtures up at a gig. you can access They are bright, even with a load If you have two of mood lighting they really do you can run them stand out.

The 40° beam angle slave mode as well gives really nice coverage as well, built-in shows, of so if your average dance-floor are eight to choose size is anywhere between 12ft manual breaks these and 18ft square, these will be and tells you what perfect. which I think is Another clever feature The GOBO wheel features 11 can exclude the static patterns plus open, and heart GOBOs, but you’ll be pleased to know that and not individually. the terrible ‘hand’ and ‘radiation symbol’ have left the building!

For real power over Instead, you get some really nice is where you need breakout shapes and the inclusion get a choice of of hearts and snowflakes make DMX modes, offering this f ixture ideal for many channels, giving you occasions and events. more control over I use the popular Colour-wise, you get 9 dichroic app on my iPad filters plus open, with some lighting and had to really nice, rich and vibrant fixture profile so I options included. You can split Helix.

It was easy the colours too, however I was a Lightrider doesn’t little disappointed to see that you of controlling the 7700 70 a dish inside a moonflower (it’s better for moving heads and wash lighting to be honest), I had to think outside the box a little and pretend that the dish rotation channel was actually the PAN channel of a moving head. This way I could easily set up a movement in Lightrider to make the dish spin around randomly, as well as give me access to the dimmer, GOBOs and colours, and this actually worked quite well.

Now, for first dances, you might, like me, want to set up a very slow rotating scene, perhaps using the hearts GOBO and split like the aforementioned white/pink ACME Cheetah. colour combination, something you could have like that. One thing about the and another on Helix that really blew me away to create a was the ability to slow the dish first dance. rotation right down to almost nothing, with absolutely no jerks who like to in its movements whatsoever! there are a One of my DJ friends asked me active modes how slow I could make it go and via the menu. when I sent him a video he was or more units, equally impressed.

The transitions in master/ between colours and GOBOs are as access the also extremely smooth, so under which there DMX you can get the Helix to do from. The some really interesting things. shows down each one does, There is no doubt in my mind that really helpful. the Helix is going to be a gameis that you changer for a lot of DJs. It’s been snowflake and a long-awaited product, and one only together I feel will be a hot seller for the Prolight Concepts Group.

The 100W LED is extremely bright control, DMX and looks great on the danceto be. You floor and, with a bit of haze, will three different look absolutely stunning. 2, 5 or 7 increasingly Where to go from here though? the fixture. I would love to see a V2 of the Lightrider Helix with a higher power LED and to control my maybe interchangeable, rotating make my own GOBOs.

That, for me, would make could use the it the ultimate moonflower! But to do, but, as for now, the Helix is fantastic and have a way worth every single penny. rotation of EQUINOX HELIX