After seeing posts by a few people in the Subbuteo Community who had invested in the F50 Replica of the Classic Subbuteo Floodlights and getting feedback from a couple of them, I decided it was time to invest in getting some to replace the desk lamp ‘floodlights’ I already had. There was nothing wrong with the desk lamp version I had but aesthetically the Replica Subbuteo ones looked great and as a child I had always wanted them so decided to upgrade.
I picked the Silver Metallic option as I felt these looked more realistic. There is the option to get white like the original Subbuteo ones or metallic grey too. Service from Subbuteo Stadium was great and when they arrived I was pleasantly surprised that they came with 4 different filters that you could put over the LED floodlights. These being clear, white, blue and burnt orange colour. Each give a different effect, my favourite being the blue and the white covers. I think orange would be great if you wanted to create that effect of a game back in history like a 30’s World Cup, as it gives a sepia kind of effect over the pitch.
These lights are very bright and I keep them on the lowest setting from the 3 and that covers the entire pitch with no need for any other light on in the room. They really give a realistic floodlight night game effect which I love! The lights come with a small lead that you connect to the LED housing units and then will need to be connected to a USB plug to charge them. The charge lasts around 45 minutes before you need to recharge again. This initially would have been a negative but then I worked out a way to power them for hours and hours.
To do this you will need portable USB power bank/s (I have two which power two floodlights each which are attached to either end of the table), plus you will need to buy two longer USB to Micro B leads that will reach from the head of the floodlights to the power banks (see pictures). These then power the lights and means they last for hours and hours. The result is every game can be a floodlight match, even if it is day time just pull down the blind, get the floodlights on and away you go! All you then need to do is switch off thefloodlights when finished and unplug them from the power banks. When your power banks are getting low just charge these up.
One mistake made when ordering is I didn’t order the bases with the lights, which meant at first, I occasionally would knock them over. I then contacted Ron at Subbuteo Stadium, again great service as they got them out to me as quick as possible and now I have them secured to the table with pins but even without pins the base will provide you with more stability.
Overall, I love these lights they fit well with my set up and really look the part. They don’t get in the way of playing and most importantly provide stunning even light across the whole pitch and with the set up I described above they last for hours and hours. So pleased I invested in them as they no doubt will now provide years and years of use and I highly recommend them.
Phil Marsden