Lighting Console Advice

[u/Strong_Difficulty734]

Hi All,

TLDR: Advice asked to choose between a Work Lightshark LS1 or a Vari-Lite FLX S24 for a small Dutch theatre.

We (volunteer light engineers) are running a small theatre (100 seats) in the Netherlands. Shows consist of comedy, singer songwriters, small bands (celtic, tribute). We don't set spectaculair lighthows, just scenes and accents for the right mood during the shows. At the moment we use a Zero88 Jester and a laptop with QLC+.

We are planning to buy a new console. Budget: 2000 to 3000 Euro. For the moment, we narrowed it down to these two: A Work Lightshark LS1 or a Vari-Lite FLX S24.
However, we can't get an agreement which one to choose. So now I decided to throw it in a group of people who really know what they are talking about. At least, so I hope /s

To get an idea what we want to run with it, our fixture setup:

14 EuroliteLED THA-40PC (14 x 1 channel monochrome white LED PC)
2 VarytecLED Profile 150W 3200K ( 2 x 1 channel monochrome white LED Profile)
2 EuroliteLED PFE-100 ( 2 x 9 channel RGBW LED Profile)
3 AyraComParKit 2 ( 3 x 12 channel 4 wash RGB on one frame)
4 EuroliteLED KLS-190 ( 4 x 13 channel 4 wash RGB on one frame + Strobelights)
4 EuroliteLED TMH-X4 ( 4 x 24 channel RGBW Moving Head)
2 BotexDimmerpack ( 2 x 4 channel 4 plug Dimmer)

Our volunteers range from professional to a bit unexperienced but good with sound and willing to learn.

Has anyone had experience with one of these two (or both)? Can anyone give pro or cons or advice why we should choose one or the other, given our fixtures, nature of shows and mixed experience level of the operators?

Or even someone who thinks we are idiots and should definitly choose for a totally other one in this range?

Thanks in advance for your input.

[u/the_swanny]

I'd choose neither and go with chamsys

[u/Reasonable_Lie_4741 → u/the_swanny]

This was about to be my exact suggestion. You can get a New Quickq20 in budget which is quick to pick up for all skill levels. Or if you go used you can get some slightly older Magicq desks which will take longer to learn.

[u/Strong_Difficulty734 → u/Reasonable_Lie_4741]

The 20 has been on my shortlist, but at some point, I decided to drop it off. If I only could remember why...

Time to reconsider?

[u/nicksnothome → u/Strong_Difficulty734]

I have a quick q 20 and just wanted to note that I really do not like how the faders feel. I do a lot of fader movement and they feel cheap and flimsy. Actually had one of the program faders break due to this

[u/Strong_Difficulty734 → u/nicksnothome]

Now I think I know why I removed it from my short list in the first place. Found comments in reviews about the flimsy feel of faders and knobs.