Mezel Mods Dynamic Light Kit Review

Cary Hardy·video·17m 9s·analyzed·Apr 4, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.021

TL;DR

Carrie Hardy reviews Measel Mods lighting kit: great product with poor documentation and QA issues.

Summary

Carrie Hardy reviews the Measel Mods dynamic lighting kit for Spike 2 pinball machines, providing honest feedback on installation quality, product design, and functionality. While praising the core lighting system and its aesthetics, she criticizes the poor installation instructions for speaker lights (made by Coin Taker), defective crimping on power connectors, and confusing product naming/matrix on their website. She demonstrates the system's capabilities and notes it works independently from game logic, unlike Stern's Expression Light System.

Key Claims

The Coin Taker speaker lights installation video is one of the worst instructional videos for a pinball product ever created
high confidence · Carrie directly states this after reviewing the instructions and even created her own installation video to send to the manufacturer
The power block connector had defective crimping that caused the wire to pull out easily with visible sparking
high confidence · Carrie demonstrates the loose connector and explains it prevented the initial installation from working until she repaired it
Measel Mods' website product naming (super, deluxe, etc.) is confusing but addressed by product matrix and detailed pictures
high confidence · Carrie explicitly criticizes the naming convention and notes the matrix helps clarify options
Light bars come disassembled, possibly to reduce costs
medium confidence · Carrie speculates this is cost-driven but acknowledges it may be due to diffuser positioning requirements
The dynamic lighting system is completely independent from game logic, unlike Stern's Expression Light System
high confidence · Carrie explicitly contrasts the two systems and notes the dynamic system doesn't interact with game state

Notable Quotes

“I'm going to try to control a lot of the things that I want to say because this is this is probably bar none one of the worst instructional videos I have ever seen for a pinball product.”
Carrie Hardy@ 3:45 — Direct criticism of Coin Taker's installation documentation; extremely strong language indicates serious QA/documentation failure
“I even stated that it was probably one of the worst install videos I've ever seen so but I on my own time and everything like that I created a new how to install video for them gave it to them”
Carrie Hardy@ 4:54 — Shows community member taking initiative to improve product documentation; indicates manufacturer failed at basic instruction quality
“the crimping job inside the connector wasn't very good this cord right here was in there and attached to this particular pin but i literally was able to just pull it out that easily because i saw like a little bit of a blue spark”
Carrie Hardy@ 6:10 — Documents specific manufacturing QA failure on power connectors; blue spark indicates electrical hazard
“So instead of the expression light system i have the dynamic meaning i get all kinds of effects and stuff that i can do with it by the control of a remote right here”
Carrie Hardy@ 8:35 — Clarifies product positioning relative to Stern's Expression Light System; independent vs. integrated operation
“If you have the expression light system inside of your game and would like it to expand to the outside, then this is a great option for you. And if you're like me and you just want your game to have a little extra flair in your game room, then this is still a great option for you.”
Carrie Hardy@ 15:36 — Positions Measel Mods as complementary to both Expression systems and standalone use cases

Entities

Carrie HardypersonMeasel ModscompanyCoin TakercompanyStern PinballcompanyFoo Fightersgame

Signals

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community_signal: Carrie Hardy proactively creates replacement installation video and submits to Measel Mods/Coin Taker to help future customers
high · Carrie states 'I created a new how to install video for them gave it to them like here you go use this for your future buyers' and manufacturers committed to using it
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market_signal: Growing adoption of external speaker/cabinet lighting mods on Stern Spike 2 machines; Carrie notes she feels compelled to add speakers to other Stern machines after seeing appeal
medium · Carrie states 'I feel I at least have to get the speakers lit on my other Sterns, because, I mean, I definitely see why a lot of you do this to your speakers now'
?
product_strategy: Measel Mods dynamic lighting operates independently from game logic, unlike Stern Expression Light System which syncs with game state
high · Carrie explicitly contrasts: 'it's not going to interact or communicate with the game in any way it's completely separate system' vs Expression system which 'mimics what's going on in the game'
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product_concern: Coin Taker installation documentation described as 'bar none one of the worst instructional videos for a pinball product' with numerous gaps and unclear instructions
high · Carrie creates replacement installation video to send to manufacturer; explicitly states general public cannot follow original instructions
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product_concern: Measel Mods/Coin Taker power connector has defective crimping causing connection failure on initial installation; documented with visual demonstration of wire pulling free with sparking

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.051

0:00

Yep, I'm gonna need more mods for this game. There are some on the way. I'm in talks with people right now but definitely would like to put some cool stuff in this game or even on it. I'm missing something. See I've got red on the getaway over here. I need something over here. How about maybe green underglow on Foo Fighters? What do you think?

0:30

Thank you. so full disclosure these products were sent to me by measlemods and they made it very clear to me that they did not want this to be some sort of like everything is awesome type of video they wanted honest feedback and a review for that matter and which is a little different than my typical because when products get sent to me my main goal is just to show you guys the product and like show you what it can do essentially and it's up to you on whether or not it's something that you should buy. This is not going to be a comparison video. I'm well aware that there are other products out there other options when it comes to lighting up your speaker panel or even on the outside exterior of your machine this is going to be directed towards this product alone and my thoughts and opinions on it i honestly went into this completely ignorant i don't have any inkling hey inclinations of what the other products that are out there look like in person in my game room this is the first as you can see the first like spike 2 led like system installed on my on my games this is the first one so again going in here just how I see it maybe down the road I will be able to do a comparison video but for the time being let's talk about what they sent me and the first product that I'm going to mention is not actually made by measle mods it's merely sold through them but it's created I guess made by coin taker and that is the speaker lights that are provided with this particular kit. Now there was a couple of concerns that I had with this product and since it is sold through measle mods I made both measle mods and coin taker aware of my concerns and both of them hopefully have been resolved since then. My first complaint on these speaker lights was the lack of a worthy installation video and when a product gets sent to me part of me judging it and giving feedback to the maker is how well the installation video is I'm not looking at this from someone that has prior knowledge or anything whenever I'm looking at their install instructions I want to look at it as the general public because if the general public can follow the instructions then surely an experienced veteran in pinball will be able to follow them as well. I'm gonna try to control a lot of the things that I want to say because this is this is probably bar none one of the worst instructional videos I have ever seen for a pinball product. This is very disappointing guys.

4:09

worst instructions ever. So it comes with a controller that obviously does fuck all And this is where mod makers tend to mess up when it comes to their instructions for their product because they've created it. They know how it works. They know how to install it. So as they're writing this or creating content, their mind is filling in the gaps automatically and those gaps are going to be found by the general public and I found their installation packed full of gaps essentially so I even stated that it was probably one of the worst install videos I've ever seen so but I on my own time and everything like that I created a new how to install video for them gave it to them like here you go use this for your future buyers so they have a better visual on how to install your product i mean i don't care if i get credit for it or anything like that just please take this video use it just to help people out that is that's all i care about and so they said that they would be using it so hopefully that concern has been resolved going forward. My other concern has to do with, hold on, has to do with their power block for those speakers and the crimping job done on this particular portion right here was not reliable and or lacking, I guess is another word to use, but honestly whenever I first installed the product it didn't work and once i traced the problem to this connector right here i discovered that the crimping job inside the connector wasn't very good this cord right here was in there and attached to this particular pin but i literally was able to just pull it out that easily because i saw like a little bit of a blue spark coming with inside this connector and i was like okay well that must be a bad connection sure enough comes right out like that so not happy about this so uh after i found and repaired said connector the product has worked fine ever since then and so my recommendation for them is like before you go shipping the product out give it a nice little tug that's my crimping job right there that ain't going nowhere so hopefully that gets fixed in the future mine could have been a one-off I don't know but the thing is if you buy the speaker lights from coin taker along with what you're getting from measle mods then it's not going to matter about their power blog anyways because you're going to be connecting your speakers to the pixel wave boards that are provided with their system so that's no longer even going to be a factor now as you saw at the beginning of this video I stated last year when I got it that I just wanted to have green underglow. That was my primary goal for my Foo Fighters was just to have some green underglow. That's all I cared about. Okay. And this system is giving me that. The thing is this system is capable of so much more than what I'm using it for. and since the install and getting footage of other people that have the actual expression system installed on their like le or even their premium foo fighters it really got me thinking that man i may want to just break down at some point and possibly buy that expression light board from Stern so that way I can get the full benefits for what this system can offer me.

10:44

now when it comes to moving your game to a different location packing it up to move it whatever these lights are easily removable from your game the back box they're literally just magnets so they can come off you can just disconnect them when it comes to the lights underneath your cabinet those are in brackets you can pull those off and once again remove them from the system unless you decided to use the 3m double-sided tape that they offer you to also use if you so wish but if you did use that 3m double-sided tape they ain't going nowhere that's some pretty tacky stuff so just keep that in mind if you want this system to be removable the 3m tape just be hesitant on using that i know some people have an issue with screwing things into the wood of their cabinets but these are very small screws and if for whatever reason you decide to remove them a little bit of wood putty in there and no one's ever going to know the difference let's talk about aesthetics they if you were to see this game in my lineup with everything turned off you would not be able to know if there was anything different about it because the lights are obviously in the back of the back box and the lights are underneath the cabinet now if you look underneath it then yes you will be able to tell but just walking around nothing sticks out or is obvious that's going to make it stand out the lights are very bright but if you feel like these are too bright let me go to a solid color here let me go to like a green that was pretty bright so if you feel like they are too bright then you can just turn them down so that way they not too bright now the camera is making it seem brighter than they actually are I mean it still glows I can still see it but just to really show you the difference and everything I push the wrong button so like the green and let's turn the brightness up there we go so you have control with the remote right here to do what you want with it so like I said make it your own now one of my complaints about the product is that I had to assemble these light bars myself I I feel like for some people out there that's going to be a little bit of an inconvenience but I'm I'm wondering if part of the reason why the light bars aren't already assembled out of the box is due to the way they uh thought that the diffusers had to go in position So it was probably just, you know, a little bit more effort on their end. I don't know, but it's one of those where if it comes disassembled to help on cost towards us as the consumer, so be it. They're not that difficult to assemble. I just feel like there's definitely going to be some people that would prefer them to be assembled. So maybe have that an option at checkout, Measel, to where would they like them already pre-built? add on a little bit of money you know or whatever on that just an option but no promises but maybe just have that as an option my my other complaint is that when you go to their website and you're shopping for these things there are a lot of options here and and it's like you're like well carry how many options i mean the thing is they have a product matrix okay so that should tell you right there that there's options and which is good that they have this matrix to show you the differences between the systems and um because you have names like oh super duper and deluxe and it's just like what does that even mean so i find it a little bit uh confusing on some of this But luckily, they have provided pictures and details on every product to make sure you are aware of what you're getting in the package that you're adding to your cart. But for those that want to know what system it is that I have back here, I have the... What do I have? I believe I have the dynamic pinball cabinet lighting super with the rectangle speaker option.