best table lights?

I have a Diamond 4'x8' light. It is old school with magnetic ballasts and that is the only thing I would change I would like T8 bulbs with electronic ballast instant on and no hum other than that this is a GREAT light. Of course I do not jump or masse alot if you do that then the large light can get in the way. My light do its job perfectly lights the balls and no shadows and it looks great.I vote for the large Diamnd light as the light of choice.
 
ridinda9 said:
walk into LOWES .
Go to the lighting department , and grab an associate .
walk them out of the lighting department to anywhere else .
Point up , and say "me want dat"

Their whole store is lit up with 8' florescent fixtures 8 bulbs wide.
use cool whites - with that many , daylights will blind you !
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LOL......I did exactly that!!... I pointed to one of the fixtures and said....I want one of those......They called over the lighting expert after they could not find anything that matched in the catalog.

The expert looked up....grabbed his chin....made about 5 phone calls....and said that they don't sell that...It is what is standard for all of the stores..but I would have to get it through the company that is contracted to install the lights in new stores.

In hindsight..it may have been a Home Depot...but the fixture looked perfect....It appeared to be two 4x4s that were somehow bolted together in the middle with down rod supports on each end....It was basically 8 4' lights....

8 4' 10,000kelvin bulbs with honeycomb diffusers and I would not have needed cloth...I would have been able to grow my own......Wimbledon style.

Perhaps a California Sensemia / Kentucky Blue Grass blend.......(For all you CaddyShack fans).....:smile:
 
Table light.JPG

I agree that the Diamond lights are great lights but they are way too bulky. They make the basement, pool room, etc seem very closed in. The best lights I have played on are for the Gabriel tables. They not only look much nicer, they have better coverage.

This is a convenient thread because I just happen to have extras for sale. 3 for a 9' and 1 for a 7'. I just sold the tables yesterday and the person did not want the lights. Give me a call if anyone is interested. I am practically giving them away at $250 each, first come first serve. Not sure what they are new, but it has to be comparable to Diamonds at $800. Keep in mind that they are 220V. I still have five, 4.5' x 9' Gabriel Signature Pros for sale if you need the entire package. $2500 firm with lights, balls, racks. Already apart and in climate controlled storage.

Call or email thomas.lee.cox@hotmail.com. Don't PM me because I never check it here.

Tom Cox
608-516-7483
Madison, WI
 
Now, I have a an 8 foot table with a 3 lamp bar and I have no issues with shadows on my table; I think this set up is perfect for my purposes. The bottom of the shades are at 65 inches from the floor, and I use the GE Reveal daylight bulbs, 75 watts, with an electronic rheostat... because sometimes I just want mood lighting :cool:

Later this week I'm going to have dark pink Simonis 860 cloth installed on the table, at which point I may consider bumping up the wattage from 75 watts to 100 watts (that bright pink is delightfully intense just with the 75 watt bulbs; dark pink may need a few extra lumens.)

Fluorescent lights won't work with a rheostat, by the way.... just in case you're weird like I am..... moods and all....

PinkTable-vi.jpg
 
DeepBanks said:
The best lamps (bulbs) for this (IMO) are the GE Reveal Daylight bulbs . . . 100 watt.
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I picked some up on my way home and put them in.. Nice improvement for the new table! Thanks for the tip. I was running 60 watt (what I had laying around the house) and they were way too dark. 75 may have worked, but the room is pretty dark so I think this was the best.
 
I seen some of the best lit tables here in Korea far better than the dimond lighting. What they have is a very simple set up, im going to see if a have a pic and post for you guys.
 
Make your own light box

I had a 4 bulb fluorescent 8 foot fixture over my table 15 years ago.

when I moved about 5 years ago I built a light with 6, 8foot bulbs

Now when I moved to Vegas last year I built an light with 8- 8 foot bulbs and parabolic diffusers from home depot and the new light hangs 11 feet off of the ground and doesn't interfere with straight up and down masse' shots.

The most important feature is the parabolic diffuser grids. They make it so the light bounces around evenly washes the entire table with light.

Its pretty simple to make the light box and about half the cost of the Diamond. Of course if you have the dough,buy the Diamond. Good Luck
 
Here is the pic but it was taken with my wifes phone cam ill take a better one with my cam but you can see how well light the tables are .
 

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I use tracklighting for a 9 footer. I have 2 long bendable tracks (~10-12') each with 5 50 watt halogen lamps. Overall I wouldn't recommend tracklighting. It plays fine but there are little annoyances like uneven lighting, more light reflections on the cue ball, shadows, etc.

I went with them because they're cost effective and get the job done until I can get a diamond.
 
JoseV said:
Here is the pic but it was taken with my wifes phone cam ill take a better one with my cam but you can see how well light the tables are .
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The tables are well lit yeah, but the entire room looks blinding. I prefer a dimly lit room with bright tables. Just personal preference, it makes me more comfortable and in my opinion epitomizes what I picture in my mind when I think of a pool room.
 
Baxter , yes you are right is very bright there sometimes i like the dim places as well but here there thing is bright lights i counted 11 poolhalls in a six mile radious. And they all have the same light set up.
 
T. Cox said:
View attachment 167172

I agree that the Diamond lights are great lights but they are way too bulky. They make the basement, pool room, etc seem very closed in. The best lights I have played on are for the Gabriel tables. They not only look much nicer, they have better coverage.

This is a convenient thread because I just happen to have extras for sale. 3 for a 9' and 1 for a 7'. I just sold the tables yesterday and the person did not want the lights. Give me a call if anyone is interested. I am practically giving them away at $250 each, first come first serve. Not sure what they are new, but it has to be comparable to Diamonds at $800. Keep in mind that they are 220V. I still have five, 4.5' x 9' Gabriel Signature Pros for sale if you need the entire package. $2500 firm with lights, balls, racks. Already apart and in climate controlled storage.

Call or email thomas.lee.cox@hotmail.com. Don't PM me because I never check it here.

Tom Cox
608-516-7483
Madison, WI
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BINGO

This is the one I'd choose if my wife didn't have anything to say about it. If you have a short ceiling and some electrical and carpentry know how you could probably take the frame off and flush mound it. But it doesn't hang very low anyway. Expensive Ballasts are a drawback though, besides the expense.

Far and away superior design to any traditional table light.
 
T. Cox said:
View attachment 167172

I agree that the Diamond lights are great lights but they are way too bulky. They make the basement, pool room, etc seem very closed in. The best lights I have played on are for the Gabriel tables. They not only look much nicer, they have better coverage.

This is a convenient thread because I just happen to have extras for sale. 3 for a 9' and 1 for a 7'. I just sold the tables yesterday and the person did not want the lights. Give me a call if anyone is interested. I am practically giving them away at $250 each, first come first serve. Not sure what they are new, but it has to be comparable to Diamonds at $800. Keep in mind that they are 220V. I still have five, 4.5' x 9' Gabriel Signature Pros for sale if you need the entire package. $2500 firm with lights, balls, racks. Already apart and in climate controlled storage.

Call or email thomas.lee.cox@hotmail.com. Don't PM me because I never check it here.

Tom Cox
608-516-7483
Madison, WI
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I'm the one that bought the tables without the lights. We'll now have 13 4.5 X 9 Gabriels Signature Pro table on which we could run some pretty good tournaments.

I just want to point out three things

(1) Those Gabriels tables are the nuts
(2) Those Gabriels lights are the nuts
(3) Tom has a great deal here for anyone in a position to take advantage
 

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Baxter said:
I've never had a problem with the fixture in the way of a masse. And in my opinion, if you're stuck hitting a vertical masse in-game in the first place, you're already in a world of trouble. Don't let yourself get to into that situation lol.

The question asked for the best table light. The Diamond light is the best. It may not be the best for your situation, given budget or any other reason, but it is performance wise.

Also, I might have declared myself Captaion Obvious, but you Mr Wayne I'd have to declare Captain Negative. Every post I've read of yours has an aire of negativity and condescension.
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Dear Mister Baxter, you have never hit a masse in your life, and if you did, you would find out, its impossible with your light. Now and then, somebody leaves you a shot, where the cue ball is almost froze on the object ball, and you want to pocket it and draw down table for the next ball, and the only shot possible, is the Masse, and few shoot it, because they dont know it.

You find my post negative, because I am telling you that your light sucks and is a bad design. Rather than face the truth, you bought a overprice pos with a bad design flaw, you trash me instead. So typical of this place, you guys dont want the truth, cant handle the truth, and when you get the truth, you shoot your messenger. Few will ever admit, they made a mistake, or bought the wrong item. Instead, they will simply defend that. That makes them feel, better.

The postive part was, I am telling you the Brunswick light is better, and does not have that problem. I have seen all kinds of lights people have made, that are better than the Diamond. If I was negative, I would have just trashed your light and given no other options or advice. Have a nice day.

Pancho
 
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Mike Page - wow, i have never seen those lights before, very very interesting. Could you take that same picture again with the closest light turned on? thanks and cheers all.
 
Jcat said:
Mike Page - wow, i have never seen those lights before, very very interesting. Could you take that same picture again with the closest light turned on? thanks and cheers all.
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I don't have the lights. That's a picture from the now-closed Blue Chalk Club in Madison. These are the tables and lights that Tom Cox has for sale.
 
Baxter said:
The tables are well lit yeah, but the entire room looks blinding. I prefer a dimly lit room with bright tables. Just personal preference, it makes me more comfortable and in my opinion epitomizes what I picture in my mind when I think of a pool room


I agree, this does look too bright, but it could be the camera, hard to tell.
Yes, you are right, a dim room, and a bright table to play on, lots of light with no shadows. The best set up is to have all the lights on the tables off, and only turn the light on, when the tables is rented, when the balls come back in, the light goes back off.

Pancho
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