Review & Video: ADJ PinPoint Go Pak Lighting

Full Go Pak Review

As lighting has become smaller, cheaper and more versatile, many more DJs are investing in lighting systems to go alongside their DJ gear, especially party and mobile DJs. One you’ve got something killer for your dancefloor, though, your attention may well turn to lighting yourself, that is to say, how you make your portable DJ booth look great. That’s where you may turn to something like the ADJ PinPoint Go Pak.

First impressions and setting up

The PinPoint Go Pak is basically four PinPoint Go lights, in a semi-hard (think nylon zipped outer, foam cutout interior) case. Alongside the four lights, you get four transformers (the lights are rechargeable), and a remote control (they’re IR wireless, too).

You also get four sets of five filters that clip onto the lights with a little metal ring, a bit like a large keyring; you can attach red, green, blue, orange or a diffuser, the latter changing the beam from 5 degrees to 15 degrees. Of course you can combine the diffuser with one of the colours should you wish.

Set up is simple. First, chances are pretty high you’ll charge these at home and transport them without the main leads, taking one worry out of the equation entirely. You get 7.5 hours to 11 hours of use time from a 4.5 hour charge, and a battery saver mode dims them at 20% remaining battery to get considerably more from them should you need to.

Secondly, they come with a couple of versatile mounting options. For clipping into false ceiling and the like, there’s a extendible “X” bracket, and for attaching to metal surfaces, there’s a very strong magnet on each light’s bracket, too. There’s a ring for you to attach safety cables if needed. Then it’s simply a case of angling them where you’d like (say, one on each deck, one on the mixer, and a diffuser light on you), and you’re all set.

In use

These are 3W LEDs, and they’re bright! The remote control and a small switch on the back of each light let you cycle through the programs, and a whole set of the available programs simply controls brightness, so you can set them to what you feel is right. There are also slow and last fade in/out programmes, and a speed-adjustable strobe effect, plus a blackout. It is best to control these things from the supplied remote, although be in mind you’ll be controlling all of the lights at once this way.

Of course, as they’re meant for highlighting parts of a room, DJ set-up or (for instance) venue tables, they’re expressly not dancefloor lights, and so you don’t get lots of variations in colour etc that you can control via programmes; instead, you use the supplied filters and set the modes so they do what you want, and that’s how you have them for your performance.

Conclusion

For what they are, these are great. As I said at the beginning of the review, they don’t make sense as a first lighting purchase (unless you’ve landed yourself a regular party/mobile gig where you take your own kit, but they already have dancefloor lighting). But once you hit the stage in your DJing where – as a mobile DJ – you need to look neat and professional behind your set-up, a simple, versatile and effective little “personal” lighting rig makes a lot of sense.

For instance, you could have a light on each deck/jog, one on your mixer, and a nice diffused one on you, and you’re instantly well presented.

No faults really here; true, any colours you want need fitting before you begin, plus the remote control is (as far as I could tell) “all or nothing”, so as I said you can’t control them independently with it, but this is stuff I can’t see anyone really wanting to do with mood lighting like this.

Especially when it comes to wedding DJs, and other times when you may be hiring yourself out at a premium, stuff like this get you noticed and ultimately differentiate you from the rest. As such, you’ll know already whether this kind of thing is something you should be thinking about. If it is, the ADJ PinPoint Go Pack is a good way to add to your rig along such lines.

Video talkthrough

Do you own this type of lighting, maybe even this set? What are your thoughts? Please share in the comments.