getting heavy fog?

[hitekvoop]

It is. I "retired" a df-50 to my office.

Adam, I needed something bigger both for effect and outdoor use. I'm confident this guy will blast out medium/heavy fog but I'd have to run it on high, could probably get away with a lower setting if I had two. The bigger venue I find myself in holds 3500 and is pavilion-like in nature. Also several of the venues I've visited in the last year voiced their displeasure with oil based haze.

[norty303]

If you look at the documentation for the TH2, the 'sweet spot' on output vs fluid consumption is about 70% pump.
Once you get in excess of this, you are probably worth adding extra units if you are doing shows that size with any regularity.

[buffo]

Isn't the DF50 an oil cracker Adam?

It uses oil-based fluid, but it's not a cracker, no. It uses a compressor to atomize the fluid just like the American DJ Haze Generator does.

Cracking generators use heat and are a lot messier.

Adam

[Laser Wizardry]

" 15 characters"

[Bradfo69]

I've been revisiting that Phantom Pea Souper haze unit again. They sure make it sound good in all their promotional materials! I think it may be a step up from the DF-50's although, I do like mine but they're noisy.

[buffo]

Karl;

My experience is the polar opposite of yours. I've never had an oil slick form in front of my ADJ units or the DF50's I've used. I'll grant you that the oil *will* end up on surfaces around the venue after an extended period of use (weeks or months of continual use, such as in a club), but that will happen with any oil-based hazer, so it's a wash. (After all, you are putting oil into the air no matter the method, so sooner or later it will always settle on things.)

My experience with heated/cracking hazers is that the nozzle area gets gunked up (similar to the nozzle of a glycol-based fog machine) and ends up dripping unused haze oil. Yuck.

Admittedly I have never owned a cracking unit, and I couldn't tell you the brand of cracking hazer that was installed in the venues where I've experienced this problem, but it taught me early on to stay away from the cracking units. (Ever have hot haze oil drip from a ceiling-mounted unit and land on the back of your neck? Or on your touch-screen monitor?) In my experience those units were just as messy as an old, run-down fog machine. Whereas the compressor-based hazers were much cleaner, albeit a bit louder due to the compressor.

I run my ADJ haze generator in my living room (hardwood floors) quite often and I don't have any problems with an oil slick.

Adam

[norty303]

Although the MDG and equivalent EU units are very impressive, I find the Smoke Factory/Hazebase/Look water based hazers strike a nice balance between quality of fog, reliability, cost, maintainability and resale value.
I seem to be giving them as much money as the laser companies these days!

[buffo]

We had one of the Look Unique units at a FLEM a few years back (it belonged to LJK) and I have to admit that I was stunned at the volume it produced. It was almost as prolific as a standard fogger, but it had the hang time of a hazer.

They're pricey though. (Then again, a DF50 is pricey too.)

Adam

[norty303]

I prefer the Smoke Factory and Hazebase units because they're built into a flight case. They can be pricey (maybe moreso for you as they're made in Europe), but they're worth the money i think. Certainly I've wasted more money on crap fazers than if I'd just bought these from the start.
I keep looking on ebay for used ones, the Base Hazer Pro I picked up last was basically brand new, but half the price of a new one. I paid about the same price for my Tour Hazer 2.

[hitekvoop]

Pricey is relative. DF-50's MSRP is $3k. I've seen units costing even more.

I picked up the TH2 direct from Germany as I couldn't find a US distributor. Thomann.de worked with me on conversion to 110V and the whole thing (even with a 5L bottle of juice, conversion rate and shipping across the pond I paid ~$1200USD. To some that's spendy, to me it's bliss. It replaces my DF-50 which cost me $1500 used and is cleaner, easier to move around (similar weight but the road case is superb) and produces everything from a fine hazer type output to full-blown pea soup.

Are there good units in the sub-1000 range? I'm sure there are, but seeing the abuse gear takes on the road, I'm happy to have a nearly indestructible unit along for the ride.