I knew Wybron was launching a new light- some articles can be found here, here, and (of course) here. I remember seeing it at LDI last year, but to my fault I passed it over. I was not prepared for the light that I pulled out of the box that UPS handed me.

Spec wise it’s got it goin’ on. At full on it pulls 105w with 12 RGBW LEDs pumping 2205 lumens. The built in color correction has a beautiful range from 7000k all the way down to 2800k. The optics have a set beam angle of 13° and a field angle 25° and 4 lenses to choose from (narrow, medium and wide floods, plus an elongated lens) to modify the beam. Data connects through 5 pin DMX, is daisy chain-able and RDM compatible.

Four profiles give you a range of usability from 8 and 16 bit color mixing to the option of a white LED or an intensity master. The built in strobe functions are impressive and could very well rival actual strobe fixtures out there. Probably one of the coolest features on this light is the high speed mode which is optimal for HD recording (see below).

The first thing I noticed about the light was its construction. It was a bit bigger than I expected at 10″ long and 6.5″ wide- about the same size as a Source4 PAR with a clamp. The housing is constructed from aluminum and at just over 9 pounds I didn’t feel like it was going to break in my hands like a lot of new LED fixtures I’ve used. The tilt knob was also large and sturdy feeling allowing me to crank down on it without the fear of cross threading. I was very happy to see a dedicated loop for a safety cable attached right to the fixture.

The next thing that caught my eye were the LEDs. All 12 of them. All integrated RGBW units. All very blinding (I may or may not have peaked down the barrel while it was on). The dimming on the fixture has  3000:1 ratio and is comparable to an incandescent light.  The next obvious thing to do is to test the throw of those very blinding LEDs. Since I didn’t really have a stage at my disposal, I used the next best thing: The apartment building across the street.

The distance of the garage to the third floor windows is close to 75 feet, if not more. And it punched. The color and intensity were bright and crisp. After putting the lenses in I was impressed with how little they cut the output and still flooded out the light. Shadows, both multiple and rainbow, were minimal at most.

For the quick and dirty there are a couple of cool stand alone features like 8 recordable scenes and a master / slave configuration.

The only downside for me is it’s rated at IP20 so that means dry indoor locations only. This is a bit of a bummer for me since I do a lot of outdoor work.

What I thought I was going to review was a small fixture meant for display installations. I was mistaken. Big time. I was given a light that I’m sure will give  a lot of conventional wash fixtures a run for their money. From the smooth Dimming of the LEDs all the way to 0 and a strobe that would make any rave the place to be this light packs some serious heat in a small package.

The Cygnus VN100 has an MSRP of $1,547. The Cygnus family also comes in a VN200 and MF200 model at 200 watts and very narrow and medium flood respectively.

Do I really have to give this thing back?

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