Botex DC-1216

We bought this controller to use it with 6 RGBW LED pars and one LED effect. It had few good reviews so we gave this unit a try. Programming and controls is mostly the same as any cheaper DMX controller. If you used one of them you can use this one also. Comes with manuals in 4 languages (which is not necessary for us but nice). Sadly no USB light but that is written in the description so no problem. AC adapter plug locks in the unit so you can not turn it off by accident.

But the problems starts when you start using the unit.

Transactions between fadder values is not smooth. It feels like value refresh time is to low and when you try to change fadder value smoothly you can clearly see that light output of the LED's is jumping from one value to another (cheaper DMX controller do not had this issue it is first time that i see it like this)

Also when you do not use unit for a while it has like 1 sec pause when you change fadder value. It seems like controller awakes from sleep or something. Feels very laggy overall. Do not know if all the units is like that or it is only mine.

Also the main problem for us is that TAP SYNC function is not working correctly. You can not sync music beat to a light switching. Somehow unit calculates switching times faster than i am tapping a button. It is not a first time that a cheaper units has this problem. We had to return Stairville DMX-Master MK II ENC for similar issue with a TAP SYNC function.

So, as you guessed it i had to return this unit. I contacted someone from Thomann light department to help me select DMX controller that works as i expect and now will be ordering Stairville DMX-Master 3 - FX.
Third time's the charm i hope.

We bought this to control a small theater setup (10-20 light sources with some effects occasionally) and sadly we are not impressed.

The range of functions is okay (on par with any other controller of this price point) but handling is poor.

The controls are not smooth, the DMX signal jumps in random increments sometimes when changed so lights brighten or dim unevenly.

However the most annoying part is the "sleep". If you have not used the unit for a while (a couple of minutes) it will not react to controls right away!!

So our techs had to fiddle with controls a bit before every scene change to keep the unit "alive" or to "wake it up". Currently the unit is not in use because of that.

And for that reason we do not recommend this. Even a cheaper "dumb" DMX box with 12-16 sliders will serve you much better.