Kessil has upgraded its popular A360X LED light fixture with better thermal management, more advanced LED chips, and 15% more light output than the existing A360X. The new A360XE isn’t all new as it shares the same chassis, 90-watt power draw, 130-degree beam angle, reflector, and control options, but improvements to the dense matrix array and optics have resulted in 15% more light being emitted, versus the old one.
The new, even denser, dense matrix allows for better color blending and a more even beam profile, and improvements to the dimming capacity make the unit more flicker-free than before for smoother dimming.
Control remains the same, with two, manual intensity and blue/white spectrum knobs on the top of the unit, and programming is only available by further investment in either the Spectral Controller X or the wi-fi dongle, which also unlocks three extra red, green and violet/indigo color channels.
What we think
We love the shimmer, reflector options, and angle adjustment options of the Kessil A360X. And we weren’t unhappy with the output or color blending delivered by the old model. The red channel did stand out but it’s always the most difficult to blend, and we welcome smoother dimming. For us though, it wasn’t the A360X that needed the upgrade, it’s the now 10-year-old A160WE and eight-year-old A80 light fixtures, both of which would have benefitted from the ‘X’ treatment.
Calls for integrated wi-fi/Bluetooth connection from a new Kessil light have also been overruled in favor of the previous hard-wired control from a K link cable or the wi-fi dongle, although we know from experience that sometimes, nothing is more frustrating than a light that won’t connect (especially for installers,) so having the simplicity of a wired controller or even a twisty knob can be a blessing!
The price of the A360XE Tuna Blue remains the same as the A360X Tuna Blue, with the freshwater A360XE Tuna Sun also being announced this week. But if you want a wi-fi controllable Kessil with multi-channel color control straight out of the box, it still has to be the bigger, more expensive AP9X.
