Why the unit price misleads
The unit price is the smallest line in most zoom focus gobo projector budgets and the only one anybody quotes. Hardware, custom artwork, installation and the replacement cycle are the other three, and on a five-year view they routinely exceed the cost of the fixture. Price all four or you will be surprised twice.
- 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
What you pay for the fixture
Two things move the hardware price: watts and ingress rating. Output costs money because it needs a bigger LED, a better driver and more heatsink; IP65 costs money because it needs sealing, gaskets and a design that survives being opened. Neither is worth skimping on if the site demands it, and neither is worth paying for if it does not.
- 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 |
Custom artwork and gobos
The artwork cost hides in the reorders. Engraving a glass gobo is not expensive per unit, but minimum quantities, shipping and the time spent re-approving artwork add up. Keep the original vector file, record the gobo reference, and every future reorder is a formality rather than a redesign.
- 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
The line that surprises people
Price the site, not the fixture. Two identical zoom focus 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.
- Access equipment — ladder, scaffold or powered platform
- Power run and any making good afterwards
- Out-of-hours or trading-hours working
- Fixings, bracket and cable management
Total cost of ownership
The three-year picture: hardware once, artwork a few times, cleaning twice a year, power continuously. Of these, the one buyers underestimate is cleaning — and the one that decides it is whether the unit can be reached with a ladder.
| 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 |
Cuts that cost you later
The false economies are the rating, the bracket and the artwork. A zoom focus 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.
