I've been wanting to add lasers to my small setup for overhead beams, only thing holding me back is the price. Now looking at the Revo Xpress, it looks like it may do the job, if not better with the more colors!

It doesn't have that cool hella flat laser look, but it looks like it still does a sharp enough beam to look cool. I was thinking maybe 2 of those on a 10ft truss pointed over heads with haze would look good. What do you guys think?

(Small venue, budget = whatever I can afford, not much)

Woahhh, looking at the pricing of it, 440 USD. Looks like it cost just as much as a laser... I'd think a non-dmx fairly basic LED would be a lot cheaper?

DMX-capable fixtures always adds to the price.

My suggestion is go with the DMX fixture anyways, especially if you are already using DMX for lighting control. I think in the long run you'd appreciate it better. Even if you don't have DMX control right now, please take into consideration that when your small set-up expands and you need control, now you have less gear to replace or to "retrofit" using dimmers/switchers.

I would strongly discourage using LED effects as a substitute for lasers and here's why: LEDs simply don't have the projection and lack of divergence that true lasers have. Yes, in a small room with a lot of fog you might be able to get away with the effect, but in any larger room I think you would be disappointed with how they look. Like you said, LED units are not capable of making the trademark laser traces like skies, fences, and such. From experience, for a laser to look good and be awe inspiring it needs to be able to cut through any ambient light and dominate the room. LEDs just aren't able to do that.

As you mentioned, the unit in question will cost just as much as a real DJ level laser. The other major drawback to the unit you mentioned is that you either get 4 channels of DMX or 256 channels of DMX. Neither option to me seems terribly useful to create a laser simulation (unless you can spare 256 channels). I think your best option would be to get a real laser. ADJ makes some decent units. True, they perform nowhere near to what a 1/2w green laser will do, but using a powerful laser requires an FDA variance which is not a picnic to get (trust me). If you really must go with LEDs I think the Revo Sweep will give you a better, more versatile effect, but that's just my opinion.