Current outer orbit or geissman infinity?

EpicWin · Apr 17, 2015

Alright team, I am in need of some educated opinions. I got my hands on a 72" fixture (3x250w +t5)of each of these and am only going to keep one. Here are the basic pros and cons

Current outer orbit
Pros: easy access for bulb replacement. Looks pretty sleek. Led moon lighting and switch on side of light to turn off LEDs and t5
Cons: fans are quite loud. Uses 8x36 watt t5. Heavy heavy heavy. It's black in an all white room

Geissman infinity
Pros: looks sleek and is silver! Uses 4x60 watt t5. No fan noise (but no active cooling concerns me). And it's geissman
Cons: not as easy to access bulb changes as the current. No switches to turn on and off t5. No moon lighting. No active cooling?

I need advice on what to do. How much better really is geissman? Whichever I keep will be using galaxy ballasts. Thoughts?
Thanks!

bobstir · Apr 17, 2015

i don't have either fixture, but had a similar issue w/ the ATI 6 bulb fixture w/ respect to the fan noise. Even though most of the reviews said it was relatively quiet, it was nowhere near quiet enough for me.

Instead of replacing the fixture, I ran out to my LCS (local computer store

) and picked up a couple computer fans that were the same dimension and ran at the same wattage as the ones that were in the fixture -- and that listed and were reviewed to be silent.

The result? I still have active cooling and it's dead silent -- I will often hold my hand over the vents to make sure they're actually still running.

If you plan on doing something like this, word of caution: check the connectors. For my ATI fixture, the connectors they used didn't match the standard cpu fan connectors. I'm personally comfortable working w/ electronics, so I simply cut off the factory connectors from the wires and attached new ones.

EDIT: fixed a typo

Trex · Apr 17, 2015

I used to have an Outer Orbit over my 75 (( well I still do, but the tank is empty

)). Over all I was pleased with it, but the fans are/were very loud. Heck, even the fans that came with the MH ballasts are loud. (( but since you are using Galaxy ballasts, that won't be an issue )).

I always had issues changing out the DE MH. The Current's end caps seemed very tight. Could only get the Phoenix lamps to fit, at least 80% of the time, and from my understanding those lamps aren't made anymore.

Only about 25% of the LED moonlights still work.

Overall is wasn't a bad fixture, and it did its job, but it was ok. I much preferred my Hamilton full fixture --that could be because it was SE and I used the Radium lamps.

Never used a Geissman, but everything I have reads states that they are top notch. Not that it should matter much, but the Current fixture hasn't been made in a couple of years, so some parts might be hard to come by.

reeferaddict420 · Apr 17, 2015

The outer orbit is a decent fixture as I have one myself just fans can be replaced and upgraded to ball bearing fans. Those cheap computer fans will melt and you will need to replace them if you use them