I have always wanted a hazer, but have been deterred due to the high price tags they sport. I have a couple cheapy fog machines but the effect and hang time are just not the same. Anyone know where to find a decent hazer, available in Canada, in the $300 price range?
Judging by the context, it would be apparent that the second Wikipedia article would be the relevant one, not to mention the eBay link is completely irrelevant as a hazer and fogger are completely different machines.
I have a couple cheapy fog machines but the effect and hang time are just not the same.
Judging by that statement, it can be inferred that the OP has:
1. Tried cheap foggers (such as the one you linked)
2. Wants a proper haze machine.
The distinction between the two may not be obvious, but the hazer has noticable advantages in laser light show applications, due to many inherent differences including but not limited to:
Hazers produce smaller fog particles, which have a longer hang-time
Hazer fog is not as dense as fogger fog, and is more easily dispersed
Hazers are often fan-assisted to aid in dispersion
Hazer fog disperses more readily, and does not impede visibibility as heavily as fogger fog
Hazers burn through less fog juice to produce the same visual effect as a fogger
These qualities are just a few of those that make them especially desirable for show applications- a fogger simply cannot match them. Consequently, a cheap 400W fog machine would, as the OP has stated, be of little to no use to him.
To answer the OP's question, proper hazers do not come cheap. The prices over there may vary, but over here, they start at $500 or so. $300 is actually an extremely reasonable price for a proper hazer.
If you're looking for a bit of a compromise between price and haze quality, though, a fazer may be an option worth looking into. They're essentially a low-output, CW fog machine, in which the fog is dispersed by a fan.
Here's a video of one in action:
It might just be an acceptable compromise; fazers often start at the $150-200 price bracket, and there's a noticable difference going from one of them from a fogger. Then again, there's the same noticable difference going from a fazer to a true hazer- if you're going to get good use out of one, it's well worth the investment.
Thanks for all the great info guys. I previously ruled out a fazers as an option. It seems you do get the haze effect due to the fan dispersing the fog, but the hang time still sucks. I pretty much could just set the timer on one of my current foggers and set a fan beside it to achieve the same out come.
But, I have read that some of these can use fog fluid OR haze fluid and that might make a large difference in hang time / particle size. I'm pretty sure these are water based and use a heating coil which is the same set up seen in popular, mid range haze units from Martin and Le Maitre.
I wonder how well a cheap fazer, or for that matter, my current cheap fogger would run with quality water/glycol (or water/glycerin from Le Maitre) haze fluid? I'm thinking it might work well for a bit, but would end up either plugging up the unit or cooking the heating coil.
There's a few brands of fogger juice that are designed for extra-long hang times; Froggy's Swamp Juice is one of those brands. People on the 'lexicon have had good experiences with it in a normal fogger.
Be aware that you fluid may not be interchangable- you can't use oil-based fluid in a water-based machine, and vice versa. You'll wreck the machine if you do.
But in any case, a fazer and some quality juice would be a good compromise.
Oh, and I forgot to mention- there's one more thing to consider. Fazers can run CW at low output (gentle trickle of fog), as opposed to foggers, which give large, sporadic bursts. A gentle trickle of fog is much, much easier to disperse.
chauvet makes a half decent hazer for a good price. Its called the Chauvet Hurricane Haze, you can find them for around $250 or so. I've put one of these in a night club and it seems to do the job well. maybe not a well as a Jem Hazer but still pretty good for the money. so if you are on a tight buget but want quality this is the way I would go.
