Four cost lines, not one
Buyers compare the hardware price and then discover the artwork, the mounting hardware and the access costs. an indoor outdoor 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
Hardware scales with output and rating. an indoor outdoor gobo projector at the bottom of the 30–200 W range for a sheltered indoor position is a different product from one at the top of the range rated IP65 for an exposed facade — same category, very different bill. The jump is driven by the LED, the driver, the thermal design and the housing, in that order.
- 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
| Specification | Lower cost | Higher cost |
|---|---|---|
| Output | 30 W class | 200 W and above |
| Ingress rating | Indoor rated | IP65 for exposed positions |
| Optics | Fixed lens | Zoom with lockable focus |
| Artwork | Metal gobo | glass gobo with fine detail |
The recurring line
Custom artwork is the recurring line, and the one that gets forgotten. Every rebrand, every new branch, every seasonal change means another gobo; if you are running an indoor outdoor gobo projector across several sites, that is a standing cost, not an one-off. Standardise the gobo size across the estate and reorders become cheap and quick.
- Engraving per unit, and any minimum quantity
- Artwork preparation if the supplied file needs work
- Shipping, especially on small reorders
- Lead time, and the cost of waiting
Installation, power and access
Price the site, not the fixture. Two identical indoor outdoor gobo projector installs can differ by a factor of three depending on access, power availability and whether work has to happen outside trading hours. Get that number before the order, not after.
Total cost of ownership
Total cost is dominated by whatever you have to do most often. If the indoor outdoor gobo projector is easy to reach, cleaning is trivial and cheap; if it needs scaffolding, it gets deferred, output declines, and eventually somebody replaces a unit that only needed a wipe. Design for access and the running cost halves.
- Hardware, once
- Artwork reorders, every rebrand or new site
- Cleaning, twice a year
- Power, continuously
| Cost line | Frequency | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Once | Output and ingress rating |
| Artwork | Every rebrand or new site | Number of sites and change frequency |
| Cleaning | Twice a year | Access method, mostly |
| Power | Continuously | Wattage and daily run hours |
Where to save and where not to
The false economies are the rating, the bracket and the artwork. an indoor outdoor gobo projector with an under-specified IP65 rating fails in the first winter; a lightweight bracket drifts and needs re-aiming; a low-resolution artwork file produces an image you will not accept. Save elsewhere.
- 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
