I don’t normally post this kind of thing on my sustainable living blog, but I feel pretty strongly about this P.O.S. light made by PBL. I’d be suspect of any of their products, based on my experience with the PBL MX6-CF.
The most obvious flaw is the nut into which the bolt that clamps the light to the light-stand screws. The threaded nut, insert, bushing, or whatever you want to call it, is simply pressed into the plastic mount. All of my other lights have some kind of washer or flange that prevents the threaded metal part from pulling out. This one has nothing. Here is a video, that demonstrates the design, and how it fails …
I have two of these lights. They have both failed in the same way. They have also gone through 7 halogen bulbs in about 50 hours of combined use. The last bulb didn’t last 2 hours.* At about $15/bulb, the bulbs have cost me more than one of the lights. These lights also have a focusing feature that is totally worthless. I hope anyone who is thinking of buying one of these finds this information in time to save them from wasting their money. The lights are inexpensive, but you cannot rely on them.
I’m pretty sure I’m going to migrate my entire light setup to LED lights. The HMI lights are just too expensive for my business, and the LEDs are lightweight, cool running, energy efficient, and virtually indestructible.
*I do not touch the halogen bulbs with my fingers when I install them, and I have other lights plugged into the same power source that have been using the same bulbs for 10 years.
Sustainable Living 