Has the FLX been discontinued.....????

[Uriahdemon]

Evening all,  I have been looking for a few months for another FLX desk as a back up to my existing desk.  There are a few advertisements from various companies however digging down they are consistently out of stock.  Just wondering what the direction of travel is for them.  Anyone have any clues please....??

[kgallen]

Doubt it (Zero88 don’t have any other product in that class) just component supply issues I guess. But Jon can confirm 😉

https://shop.centraltheatresupplies.co.uk/zero88-2048-flx-4285-p.asp

This desk will be shipped straight from Zero88 normally within 2 - 3 days from order , but please phone to check availability

Mine was ordered from CTS, although admittedly in 2015 😆 but it was shipped directly from Zero88 to me.

[Uriahdemon]

19 minutes ago, kgallen said:

Doubt it (Zero88 don’t have any other product in that class) just component supply issues I guess. But Jon can confirm 😉

https://shop.centraltheatresupplies.co.uk/zero88-2048-flx-4285-p.asp

This desk will be shipped straight from Zero88 normally within 2 - 3 days from order , but please phone to check availability

Mine was ordered from CTS, although admittedly in 2015 😆 but it was shipped directly from Zero88 to me.

Thanks Kgallen, much appreciated.  I will pursue the link but there does seem to be a lack of options to buy them unfortunately.   Zero88 do not indeed have any other product in that class and I am wondering if the various company changes over recent times have influenced the availability.    

[kgallen]

I'm sure Stage Electrics could source them too if Zero88 have availability. SLX aren't listing the FLX at the moment, just the S24 and S48, but I'm sure they would be able to supply the FLX (my account manager there was a bit miffed when I bought mine from CTS! 😄 )

[Edward Z88]

To answer the title of this thread - no, it certainly hasn’t. 

However, we are currently experiencing significant supply issues on components required for FLX and ZerOS Server hardware, resulting in exceptionally increased lead times. We’re working hard to reduce these lead times as soon as possible. 

Let us know if you have any questions. 

[Uriahdemon]

7 hours ago, Edward Z88 said:

To answer the title of this thread - no, it certainly hasn’t.

Thanks Ed, very reassuring and I will persevere with getting one.

[iank99]

13 hours ago, Uriahdemon said:

Evening all,  I have been looking for a few months for another FLX desk as a back up to my existing desk.  There are a few advertisements from various companies however digging down they are consistently out of stock.  Just wondering what the direction of travel is for them.  Anyone have any clues please....??

Sadly the FLX series is at the end of a very long supply chain that originates in the Far East so it's subject to the same issues affecting other electronics manufacturers e.g. long wait times for processors & display panels, long shipping times when stock is available and interminable chinese factory city lockdowns at the slightest sniffle by a worker (can anyone say covert economic warfare?).

You only need to try and order a Raspberry Pi to see this at work - lots of places list them but very few have stocks (hence eBay does a roaring trade in Pi Zero's) because the processor supply chain is strangled in the Far East. Sadly it's all a result of Europe & the USA deciding that they could offset their carbon & manufacturing costs by having processors fabricated in the Far East rather than on 'home' soil - I suspect it's also part of the reason for renewed hostility toward Taiwan by China, they simply want to control the chip fab plants there too.

@kgallenCTS might list the FLX but they don't have them 'on the shelf' - when I last spoke to them about this, they'd got 3 on back order since last August with a long projected delivery time. They've stopped spec'ing the FLX for many of their installs apparently in favour of desks they can actually get hold of but even the alternative manufacturer they chose has supply chain issues based around processors

I've currently got a FLX S from a customer that needs a new display panel - projected delivery time of 6-8 weeks (which I suspect is to Holland & then another week or so before it gets to me...).

Folks wonder why Fat Frogs, Solutions & Jesters sell for silly money on eBay - for small rigs, they're available, reliable & just as worthy   

[Uriahdemon]

On 4/15/2023 at 8:42 AM, iank99 said:

Folks wonder why Fat Frogs, Solutions & Jesters sell for silly money on eBay - for small rigs, they're available, reliable & just as worthy

Hi iank99, do these desks work as efficiently as the FLX with the latest ZerOS software please.  I am assuming the down side may be the outputs i.e. numbers of universes they are capable of controlling.   Would you recommend any of them above the others to home in on please.  As a back up and spare I would make do with 2U output....???

[iank99]

10 hours ago, Uriahdemon said:

Hi iank99, do these desks work as efficiently as the FLX with the latest ZerOS software please.  I am assuming the down side may be the outputs i.e. numbers of universes they are capable of controlling.   Would you recommend any of them above the others to home in on please.  As a back up and spare I would make do with 2U output....???

Solutions (and Orbs) will meet you partway as they run ZerOS but obviously don't have built in touchscreens whereas Jester ML & Fat Frog use older software to control movers and LED's.

Their main 'advantage' is availability as people upgrade to larger consoles (often for features they won't use but because it's new) - you don't need bells & whistles to operate a 24 channel rig of conventional tungsten (yes - there's still lots of tungsten around) that used to be controlled by a now dead Strand MX or Sirius 24 and people still don't have £1400 plus 6 weeks or more to buy a replacement console that looks nothing like the desk that died during the pandemic.

I've just sold a Sirius 24 Mk1 to a church drama group & repaired their own Sirius 24 (also a MK 1) because they don't have money to update their dimming to DMX (they don't have money at all - I suspect what I'm being paid is coming out of the pocket of the lighting man - who's in his 60's) or even to buy a cheap DMX Fader desk & demux. They're not unique or alone - I regularly service Lightmasters & so on because people don't want/can't afford FLX or FLX S and all the implications of that brings. -

Tungsten isn't dead yet but I suspect if the current supply issues with spare lamps continues then a lot of these smaller groups will simply stop lighting creatively as they can't afford £200 or more per lantern to replace with LED.

[kgallen]

1 hour ago, iank99 said:

Tungsten isn't dead yet but I suspect if the current supply issues with spare lamps continues then a lot of these smaller groups will simply stop lighting creatively as they can't afford £200 or more per lantern to replace with LED.

A little off topic but Stage Electrics finally got in a stock of 500W T18/T25 Tungsram lamps at a sensible price of about £9 each, rather than the crazy £20-up I’ve been seeing recently.

I stocked up for our local venue that runs Quartets/Minuettes.

https://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/View/23113/tungsram-93106505-t18-t25-lamp-240v-500w-gy9-5-base

[Edward Z88]

On 4/29/2023 at 8:11 PM, Uriahdemon said:

Would you recommend any of them above the others to home in on please.  As a back up and spare I would make do with 2U output....???

If you are looking for a small "spare" console, with a maximum of 96 fixtures & 1024 DMX channels, I'd suggest looking at FLX S48...

https://www.vari-lite.com/global/products/flx-s48

You will feel much more at home using this having come from FLX, compared to a legacy ZerOS console.