Prolight "The Winch" wind up stands - any good?

[BrightLights]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of buying a couple of Prolight wind-up stands (with T-bars), and was just wondering if anyone's had any experience of them. I searched the forum and found a few comments but would like to get an idea of whether they're generally regarded as worth the money?

Also, I wonder if I might be able to use them to support my 3m truss instead of the non-winch ones that came with it. I'll only do this if they prove to be a good stable fit in the brackets, so if someone's got some, would they mind measuring the diameter of the top (vertical) pole where it would join the truss?

Thanks in advance!

Steve

[Danno13]

Mine are in the shed... broken. Lasted a good 12-14 months though, but i wish i'd bought something better to start with really.

I now use these - http://www.thomann.de/gb/millenium_ls2800_lichtpastativ.htm

Which are 5 times as good, and not much more expensive.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I had a Prolight winch up system, the same as Dans, and it was OK and fairly strong, but the winches themselves weren't that great. I had mine for around a year and then got the Ultimax stand which has much better winch mechanisms on and is CE safety tested.

[flatliners]

i got the prolight winch system with the 2x2 meter tri truss and had no problems with it

[pagan_flame]

i got the prolight winch system with the 2x2 meter tri truss and had no problems with itSo did I, but only just got 'em, so too soon to say about reliability. Once up, though, there are safety pins to lock it all in place so no real issues about gig safety that I can see.

If you were ultra-paranoid about winching it up you could put the pin into each hole that comes visible on the pole as it went up (I do!). Once up at gig height I secure the poles with the pins and then back the pole down so the weight is resting on the pins, not the winch cables.

Diameter of the top of the pole is 35mm / 1 1/4". Cheapest place for them that I know of is Discoworld (http://www.discoworlduk.com/index.html?lmd=39162.441910)(Click on Stands & Brackets on the menu and scroll down the page a bit) - but two of 'em are £150, the whole trussing system is only £29 more...

[BrightLights]

Thanks for all the info guys. 35mm's a bit small to support my triangle truss - the brackets expect a 38mm pole, so it sounds like that's a non-starter but never mind, it was only an idea.

The whole point of buying these things is so I've got the option of using T-bars instead of the truss in smaller venues, although it does seem a bit annoying that I could buy a whole new wind-up truss for only slightly more than the T-bars!

I've already got a couple of old T-bars but they don't look good, are steel (and therefore heavy), and don't have locking pins - so I don't fancy using them in public.

Maybe I'll just give them a go. To be honest even if they only last me a year or two I'll be happy, and when they fail it'll just be a good excuse for another upgrade! I do tend to look after my gear so hopefully they'll last a good while.

Cheers,
Steve

[flatliners]

nice idea there pagan flame with the pegs in each hole
thats a top tip

[soundscapes]

ive not had any probs with our prolight winch stand, had it for 15 months now but it never carries anything heavier than 4 dynamos, currently using a funky wind up truss for the big show and not had any probs yet.

[Ricesnaps]

nice idea there pagan flame with the pegs in each hole
thats a top tip
We have the Skytec version and I would never ever (and never have) trust the winch to hold the truss when up. Alway winch up to a hole, pop the peg in and lower to take tension off the wire.

have to say, I have had one of my winch stands go on me while raising the truss, so be careful