Rotators, slow or fast?

Fast or Slow

  • Fast

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Slow

    Votes: 23 100.0%

  • Total voters
    23

Bigassfireman

Member
May 23, 2010
823
U. S. of A. Ohio
What is everyone's oppinion on rotators, slow with longer exposure or fast with more flashes per minute?
 
May 21, 2010
1,591
Berlin, MI, 48002
I prefer slower on outer lenses, faster in the middle maybe or alternating (F/S/F/S/F).


Just my opinion:


All fast (in a fullsize bar) is just too much of a blur & with standard outers, you get more of a punch.
 

WireKing

Member
Dec 16, 2010
523
USA Southwest
I say slow, especially for D-Techs. However, having all the rotators slow or fast doesn't help with creating a random flash pattern.


Dwell time of the "flash" that hits your eye each time the beam comes around in my opinion is more attention getting. That's why I like the old visibars and the MSP beacons. Even at steep approach /departure angles, the beam is still strong and visible (well I guess some of that might be due to the par32/36 fresnel optic bulbs used in some of them.


I guess that was a longer answer than you needed. Oh well.
 
May 21, 2010
2,201
Elmira, ny
all of my bars in my collection have a mix of both. Only one that has all fast rotators is my all light streethawk, rest are s/f/f/s.


I guess it all depends to be honest though.
 

Newberry13

Member
May 21, 2010
613
SC, USA
Mainly I like slow, put I like the center clear rotator tobe fast. For D-Techs, they need to be slow. On high speed it's a purplish blur.
 

Bigassfireman

Member
May 23, 2010
823
U. S. of A. Ohio
Newberry13 said:
Mainly I like slow, put I like the center clear rotator tobe fast. For D-Techs, they need to be slow. On high speed it's a purplish blur.

I've noticed with the D-Techs, it doesn't seem much like a flash, just a more steady dim light with very brief periods of increased brightness. Does that make any sense?


What about dash lights with reflectors? Any thoughts on those?
 

Newberry13

Member
May 21, 2010
613
SC, USA
True. They do seem to always be lit. For dash lights like the dashlaser-M or FS FB3 with the Ultra Flash, regular speed. That means the dashlaser is putting out about 500 FPMs, and the FB3 is 720 FPMs. I used to have a dual speed FB3, and I noticed that people would be pulled over further ahead if it was on standard speed. Put if I was in town in bumper to bumper the intersection cleared better on high speed.
 

Station 3

Member
May 21, 2010
3,395
Edinburg Texas
I dont like fast rotators i dont know if its just me but they just dont look like they are doing much when they are spinning fast like that. I preffer the regular speed rotators something like a tear drop or the federal firebeam.
 

irsa76

Member
May 24, 2010
342
Australia, NSW
I prefer slow rotators. Would prefer to have counter rotating lights as well, had a couple of cheap throw lights that rotated in different directions once and found them to be actually effective despite the low output.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Doug

Member
May 23, 2010
1,151
Maryland
Newberry13 said:
True. They do seem to always be lit. For dash lights like the dashlaser-M or FS FB3 with the Ultra Flash, regular speed. That means the dashlaser is putting out about 500 FPMs, and the FB3 is 720 FPMs. I used to have a dual speed FB3, and I noticed that people would be pulled over further ahead if it was on standard speed. Put if I was in town in bumper to bumper the intersection cleared better on high speed.

If I recall correctly, the FireBeam was 95FPM on standard (665 FPM with the UF7 mirror), and the fast was 175FPM (1225 FPM with the mirror). Just a bit of trivia. :)
 

Newberry13

Member
May 21, 2010
613
SC, USA
Doug said:
If I recall correctly, the FireBeam was 95FPM on standard (665 FPM with the UF7 mirror), and the fast was 175FPM (1225 FPM with the mirror). Just a bit of trivia. :)

Thanks Dr. Doug! I couldn't remember if they were 90 for standard or 95. Also, could you tell I was doing late night math?!
 

nerdly_dood

Member
Jun 15, 2010
2,312
Georgia
Slow if you've got mirrors or at least 6 rotators; fast if you've got no mirrors and 5 or fewer rotators.


...Which means that slow is generally best since mirrors are pretty much standard everywhere.
 
May 25, 2010
7,072
Tunkhannock, PA, USA
I've always liked the set-up for the mini vector s/f/s... Now if they would only come from FedSig with the 2 outer rotators going in opposite directions, is would be sweet... LoL


I wonder what a f/s/f mini vector would look like...? LOL
 

Newberry13

Member
May 21, 2010
613
SC, USA
TritonBoulder47 said:
I wonder what a f/s/f mini vector would look like...? LOL

I used to have one in R/C/R, and it worked beautifully!
 

NPS Ranger

Member
May 21, 2010
1,988
Penn's Woods
TritonBoulder47 said:
I've always liked the set-up for the mini vector s/f/s... Now if they would only come from FedSig with the 2 outer rotators going in opposite directions, is would be sweet
Couldn't you just swap +/- to one of the rotators?
 
May 25, 2010
7,072
Tunkhannock, PA, USA
NPS Ranger said:
Couldn't you just swap +/- to one of the rotators?

Yeah, but I'd like it if they came from FedSig like that... LoL I've done this with most of the halogen mini bars I've had... LoL
 
Last edited by a moderator:

FedSigFan

Member
May 21, 2010
177
DFW
I'm a fan of slow -- quiet, smooth, gets attention without blinding.


Place red and blue fast rotators next to each other and result can look purple IMO.
 
Oct 27, 2010
279
Irving TX
03crownvic said:
The best setup (and factory recommended) is slow for the outboards and fast for the inboards, especially if any of them are clear.
+1, My current MX7000 Mimmics this setup, and i love the pattern it makes.
 

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