Well, my experiene with my HZ-300 at my event were nothing short of me really wanting to move towards more and more LED fixtures because I fail to see how I was able to function without a hazer.
I will say this though, but I need to evaluate the statement more:
It appears LED's don't have as well defined "beam" as non-LED fixtures, but still look good through the haze.
I know you said that you're not concerned about the lack of a DMX OUT because you say "hazers are set and forget". I'll first off agree that they CAN BE set and forget. In my case, I do want and need control. I did need to shut it off, I needed to turn it to full from around 75 or so(DMX values, not percent). Using the water-based fluid DID in fact cause it to vanish quick, but a lot still hung when I turned it off. But, each show has their own requirements.
Also, I took some of your other advise by placing off to the side. MUCH better! Less obvious where it was coming from.
Due to some wierd air-movement patterns in the room for reasons I don't understand, I could not get the ICE-101 to really give the results I wanted: it was getting blown back to it. The producer's fogger was doing similar type things on the other side of the stage. Yet, hase worked.
The HZ-300 is easy to use, a good, durable machine and is going to be your new best friend if you don't already have a hazer. This is so affordable, you'd be foolish to not get it. I'd rather bring my hazer than get a fogger, but I know I need to buy a real fogger.
Now, have to move to LED's to replace incadescent fixtures. Due to circuit shortages, this ensures i hae enough power to run the hazer and run all the lights I really want to.