I'm interested in any feedback ppl might have from LED and/or fire hoops from Trick Concepts.
I have fire fans from them; love them, love their gear.
I was checking out their fire/LED all-in-one hoop and was wondering if anyone's used it -- or just their LED *or* fire hoops -- and has any feedback at all to share. Positive? Negative? Neutral? Anything?
It just looks like a pretty great all-in-one solution: coils down, lights up two ways, flex spines, available "off-the-rack" in my preferred size, etc. Free shipping within the US. Very tempting....
I have a collapsible fire hoop from them. Bought it about a year ago. I love it. It travels well because the spikes come off and the hoop breaks down to 3 pieces. I can take my breakdown hoop to regular festivities and add the spikes for the fire shows. They also offer a 1 year warranty. The doodad that breaks down the hoop broke on me and they sent me a new one right away for free. Also having replacement spikes is nice. If you break one, you can buy a replacement easy. I like that they have this foamy lining under the tape on the inside too, helps with minimal bruising. It has this rubber (?) part of the fire spikes which is nice because it allows the spike to bend if you hit something. The one thing I do not like about it is if the rubber gets really cold it can snap. I live in Louisiana so not really an issue. Other than that I l-o-v-e my TC hoop and would definitely recommend. I’ve been thinking about getting the LED one too, their price for 32 leds is a bargain.
someone else is asking about this hoop! check their threads in the fire hooping and led hooping tribes in case they get some helpful reponses too
as far as the trick concepts regular (no fire hoop.... i've heard that other than the foamy/less bruising inside edge, it's very similar/the same as the spinsterz collapsible fire hoop. i have a spinsterz fire hoop and it's really heavy and i never liked it much because of that. but 'heavy' is all relative! maybe you like heavier regular hoops?
It's been a while since I used one but I found them to be prohibitively heavy. I prefer Skati Sunfire's Fire Hoops and also Jewels from Hoop Drum. They are the lightest hoops I've found (except for mine, which I make myself but don't really sell because they are such a pain to make) and that's important to me.
D'oh "Shakti". Pardon the misspelling.
I'm just repeating what someone else said in the fire hooping tribe, but Trick Concepts and Spinster fire hoops are one in the same.
Eek -- nope. I'm gonna keep looking. I like lighter/zippier hoops, myself. Thanks!
Aigh! Hrm. Yes, I seem to have utterly spaced on the all-important weight issue. Ya, I think I am going to shop around for something lighter. Thanks!!
I just finished a Firehoop RoundUp for Kindle Fire Arts Magazine. It has hoops from all of the major manufacturers as well as weight comparison, cost info, etc. We tried 12 hoops in all. Look for it in about a month. I'll also be posting the data on my website once the magazine article comes out. If a light weight hoop is of primary concern, Renegade, Hoopdrums, and Cosmic Fire definitely led the pack.
Although my answer may be a bit limited because I have only tried one fire hoop, I have to say that I am 100% satisfied with my trick concepts hoop. It has the six shorter, smaller wicks and the nice foam tape on the inside. I looooove it. I feel like it's very durable and safe for a fire prop. The wicks are really nice because they won't break if they smack up against something while performing. It takes me a little longer to get ready for a show because I dip all my wicks at the same time and spin/cast off before screwing them all in.
I highly recommend a TC hoop, I feel like the people who make them are extremely well-knowledged in the fire arts and engineering fire tools.
Good luck and be safe!
I just ordered an LED hoop from them, not the combo should be here any day, I'm interested in knowing their quality and will let you all know
Rich I look forward to reading your article. I know how thorough you are.
I have done a lot of this research too. Over the years, I have tried a lot of fire hoops by a lot of different crafters and I used to document the various qualities of each in my quest to find the perfect fire hoop. I have always wanted one that approximated the qualities of my own day-to-day hoops, wihch are light and have a small diameter tubing that fits easily in my palm. I prefer wicks that are not over 7 inches from the hoop and that are not very big and I prefer them afixed to the hoop with airplane cable that bends if dropped rather than threaded rod or other heavier, less forgiving methods. I also prefer the part that is inside the hoop to be very flat and almost imperceptible as to where that connector affixs to the hoop (rather than a small lump of metal that can leave bruises on my pelvis and hands or that creates a bumpy feel to the inside of the hoop). So over the years as I tried all these hoops and compared and contrasted all their various qualities, I noticed one unifying factor in the hoops I love. The fire hoops I love are made by hoopers. Now you might think, "But aren't all fire hoops made by hoopers?" No, no. Many of them are made by manufacturers of other fire props who just want to have a fire hoop available for sale on their site ... but they're not hoopers.
Many of the first fire hoops out there were big heavy monstrocities, hoops so huge and so heavy I could hardly manage to get them to hoop, let alone come anywhere close to the grace and flow I was able to attain with a regular hoop. For years, I would ask these crafters if they could make a lighter hoop -- and for years they would argue with me why I didn't need one. They'd say things like, "My hoop is so sturdy you could back a car over it and it would be fine" and I'd be like, "But I don't need a fire hoop I can back a car over. I take care of my tools. I can honestly say I have never backed over one of my hoops. What I need is a hoop I can wield easily and do as many of my full range of moves as possible." Most of these crafters, without exception all males, would continue to try to convince me that I needed what they made instead of that they could craft what I needed.
So look for the qualities you want in a hoop with regards to weight, rods, fixtures, wicks, etc. but also ask yourself, "Who is making this hoop?" "Are they a hooper?" because hoopers are going to have approached the whole process from a totally different perspective -- creating a fire hoop that is the most hoopable.
My two favorite fire hoops are made by kick-ass female hoopers who don't make other tools. Their thing is hoops. And they create fire hoops that are the closest approximation to regular hoops, particularly "their" regular hoops, which have qualities similar to my tastes in a hoop, of any I've seen on the market. These master crafters are Jewels and Shakti -- two women who are also masters of the hoop. So this is a long winded way of saying that as you look for the fire hoop of your dreams, ask yourself, "Who made this?" If you choose a hooper, you not only are more likely to get a hoop you really love, you willl be supporting another hooper. And there's a lot to be said for that too.
Rich, sorry I didn't have time to get one to you, Sept and Oct are funny months for us. Any chance of sneaking one in?
LED HOOP FROM TRICK CONCEPTS:
Very well crafted. The lights are sooooo very bright and color changing.
Not too heavy not too light, I can't get over the quality of the hoop, it's stunning
If it were a combo/fire hoop I think it would be WAY WAY too heavy.
Thanks for all the kind words about our hoops. Here is a little feedback from Trick Concepts. I have designed all the Trick Concepts hoops, and personal made or overseen the making of all of them.
I will try to address all of the questions here.
First on a Trick Concepts hoop vs. a Spinsterz Hoop.
We supply the Spinsterz with hoop spines, but they make their own hoops. We use Gas Pipe and they use 160 PSI Irrigation pipe. We believe the gas pipe holds its shape much better. We also pad our hoops to make them more comfortable. All of our inserts that hold the hoops together are machined in a precision machine shop so everything fits smoothly. This is important in the breakdowns if you want it to go together smoothly and not wobble. I have not personally used a Spinsterz hoop much, so I can’t comment about them.
Hoop spines:
It is true that some of our older hoop spines broke in cold weather. We replaced all of these free of charge. Out new design is much stronger. We have made thousand of them and never had a breakage of the polyurethane. If your hoop is less than 6 months old, you probably have these new ones.
Weight:
Our focus has been on providing a very solid hoop that can be used by anyone and I think we accomplished that well. As hoopers are getting better there is a demand for lighter hoops. We believe our standard hoops are still the way to go for most hoopers as smaller lighter hoops are harder to use. However we realize the need to a light hoop to push hooping to limit. Because of this we will be introducing a super light performance hoop in the near future. It will be available in smaller tubing, shorter wick spines and still a lot of fire. I don’t have an exact weight, but it will be less than 1 pound and still have the flexible spines.
LED Hoops:
We have put more engineering into out LED Hoop than any other product we sell. Our hoop spines take a close second. We have worked for months, and I mean 8+ hours per day for months to get our hoop down to the $99 level without any sacrifice of performance or quality. We could only do this because we knew how popular they would be. After 3 weeks of offering this hoop, it now outsells everything else on our site put together. We think it has been a big win for everyone.
LED Fire and Glow Hoop:
This might be surprising, but our Fire and Glow hoop is actually lighter than our regular fire hoop. The reason for this is because the LED hoop is a newer product and the recent push has been for lighter hoops, so we designed the LED hoop to be light. I hope to have the weight posted on our site in a couple days.
I will gladly answer any other questions.
~Jaz
I have the Weights for the LED Hoops. We will be coming out with a lighter version of it in the near future. I would consider this to be our "standard" hoop.
36 in 1.23 lb
38 in 1.26 lb
40 in 1.29 lb
Hoop that Breaks down into 2 hoops:
36 in 1.49 lb
38 in 1.52 lb
40 in 1.55 lb
Fire and LED hoop
36 in 1.38 lb + spine weight
38 in 1.41 lb + spine weight
40 in 1.44 lb + spine weight
Weight of Spines
Size 1 Hoop Spines Set of 6 Hoop Spines
Small .11lb / 50g .66lb / 300g
Medium .13lb / 59g .75lb / 341g
Large .16lb / 72g .96lb / 436g
Fire and LED Hoop that Breaks down into 2 hoops:
36 in 1.64 lb + spine weight
38 in 1.67 lb + spine weight
40 in 1.7 lb + spine weight
Hope this helps.
~Jaz
