Four cost lines, not one
Buyers compare the hardware price and then discover the artwork, the mounting hardware and the access costs. an HD gobo projector is a system: light source, optics, a piece of custom glass, a bracket and somebody's time on a ladder. Quoting only the first of those produces budgets that do not survive the first year.
- Hardware — the fixture, lens and bracket
- Custom artwork — the gobo, and every re-cut after it
- Installation — access, power and making good
- Running cost — cleaning, power and replacement cycles
Hardware
Price follows the thermal and environmental specification more than the marketing category. an HD gobo projector built for a convention hall will cost more than one for a large facade for reasons that are entirely justified — better seals, better heatsinking, better finish. The saving is real only if you never needed them.
- Output, which sets the LED, driver and heatsink size
- Ingress rating, which sets the sealing and housing design
- Lens quality, which sets how much output reaches the wall
- Finish and hardware, which set how it survives the site
The recurring line
Budget for artwork as a subscription, not a purchase. A single HD gobo projector might need one gobo in five years; a twenty-site rollout will need dozens, and every one of them is a small project with artwork, proofing and shipping. Standardising the file and the size is the single biggest saving available.
The line that surprises people
The surprise lines are access and power. an HD gobo projector that needs a cherry picker, or a new switched spur run across a finished ceiling, can cost more to install than to buy. Both are visible in a ten-minute survey, which is why the survey is the cheapest part of the job.
Total cost of ownership
Over three years the honest ranking usually changes. Add the hardware, the artwork reorders, the cleaning and the electricity, and the cheapest HD gobo projector on the unit price is rarely the cheapest to own. The two variables that dominate are servicing access and gobo replacement frequency.
- Hardware, once
- Artwork reorders, every rebrand or new site
- Cleaning, twice a year
- Power, continuously
Where to save and where not to
Save on image size, not on output. Halving the projected area doubles the contrast at the wall for nothing, and it lets a smaller HD gobo projector do the same job. Do not save on the ingress rating, the bracket, or the artwork file — those three cuts cost more than they save within two years.
- Reduce the image size before increasing the output
- Standardise the gobo size across every site
- Choose a surface with lower ambient light
- Keep the original vector artwork file
