Neptune basically assembled other people's technology, not as bad as say as the $300.00 Neptune Dose
The large differentiator of the DOS is the integration aspect. AWC and automated dosing adjustment. The price point again being inline with similar dosers. If you want to use Ali Express and Jaebo for dosing, good luck.
In other words, Neptune came to game late, road on other's coattails as to technology, previous mistakes not to make, and design. Neptune could have the priced the Sky accordingly; the Sky's R & D was massively cut down by other manufacturer's years of work on improving the application of LEDs. But instead of providing a nice light at a nice price (which truly would have been revolutionary and possible got people like me to join band wagon!) Neptune engaged in a--LOOK AT ME IM REVOLUTARY WHEN I AM ACTUALLY NOT--hype machine and marketing blitz. They made false statements and attached a premium price to a product that is not special and for which is Johnny Come Late to the game, offering nothing new but maybe nicer software.
This is often referred to as "standing on the shoulders of giants". When creating a commercial product, this is how it is done. The people who invent the core tech often lack either the resources or user base knowledge to create a full solution that appeals to the masses.
Panel LED's have been the revolution. Point or puck style lights suffer from uniformity when the aquascape is added and corals grow. This facilitates the addition of hybrid solutions with either T5 or LED bars. This is the current state of the industry.
As is often the case in paradigm shifts, there are early products which pave the road. Often these suffer from issues that hold it back from mass adoption. In this case, weight and integration are the major limiting factors. So let's look at the weight issue for large format LED panels:
SKY: over 4 lbs (~4.2-4.5)
CC G2: 15 lbs
Orphek: 16.7 lbs
Straton: 9.4 lbs
Another issue, the price of these larger fixtures is often higher than other solutions:
SKY: 870
CC G2: 930 (Formerly 1030)
Orphek: 1100
Straton: 1100
Terence gave a nice description of his experience/ how the development was kicked off. Saw a new tech at a show... but noticed it was not suited to the masses. Licensed the tech and elevated it from a feature to a full solution. That feature being that unlike the straton and orphek, this light uses the mixing panel. Not lenses... not just a diffuser. But a specially engineered mixing panel to provide both direct and indirect illumination.
The SKY is the first panel style light designed not for the few, but for the many. Tesla was not the first electric car and iPhone was not the first touchscreen phone. Rather they were the first full solutions to combine the core technology with user interfaces and formate that appealed to the larger market.
I do not agree the with the price of those units. They all should be cheaper.
It is worth what someone is willing to pay. The current state of the industry is that a 200W fixture goes for $800-$1000.
That said, those other fixtures offer better control of spectrum (Sky's only allow control of four spectrums), often more spectrum (e.g., Orphek) longevity in construction (e.g., Phillips), a track record (e.g., Radions), and/or greater utility/flexibility in application (Kessils X500's, for example, can be mounted at many different heights and in tight applications--a feature that boarders on actually being revolutionary because you can literally ceiling mount them=--changing the way people design their entire aquarium setup) than the Sky.
You are cherry picking features and overestimating benefits for the general home reefer.
More channels: Orphek has 4. Kessil has 1 white to blue, 3 supplemental (=4), CC G2 has 1 channel, Radion has 9 (+moonlight). SKY is at 4 plus the moonlight (which technically has 2)
Orphek expanded spectrum: The benefits of the expanded spectrum is up for debate. It may help, it may hurt.
Philips and longevity of construction: It is a commercial lighting fixture. There is no evidence to say that it will last longer in a home reef tank application.
Radions track record: Applies more to the G1-4. G5 was a large deviation which shows in the cracked cases and poor fan performance.
Kessil flexibility: Yep, just make sure you have extra lights to cover the shading.
Moreover, you're purposely avoiding my entire point--Neptune's marketing is not just "marketing." It is obnoxious hyped up infomercials with more than a dusting false and misleading statements and omissions. Three sky's don't replace five G5's. The Sky did not "beat the BRS test." Neither the Sky's design, construction, nor performance is "revolutionary."
Nope, it is marketing. You find it obnoxious, others find it informative. No one forces you to watch it... it is on YouTube... just don't turn it on. You have yet to provide the non-opinion derived false claims. A 6 ft tank can be lit by 3 SKY or 3 G5, but in many cases people are using 5 G5 to overcome shadowing and uniformity which the SKY will cover with 3. You will also find reefers adding supplemental bar lights to their G5's to overcome the shadowing.
Terrance's statement that he'd rather let third parties compare the G5 to the Sky--while literally performing a comparison on the G4's--is a weaselly admission that the Sky either cannot compete with the G5 or was not designed to and thus should have a lower price.
Neptune has done more to disprove these made up allegations than any other vendor. Even if they did the test, you would be questioning it. I have provided the data sets above from BRS. You can see that the G5 and SKY shows similar performance by the test criteria, but in the 12 and 18" levels you can see the increased uniformity in the SKY compared to every other light.
I am happy for people that buy the Sky and find added value in the hype. But i want to be clear that is what they are buying.... Hype. And i don't buy hype. I'll pay for a brand name and the reliability that comes with that--but i won't buy hype.
Having bought it and run it for a month now, I bought it for the value of the solution. I am very happy with it. No loud fans, even coverage and the color is great.
Here is my 1 month pics: Aug 5 (nem in front) to Sept 6 (nem on top)
The only problem I am now having is that some of the corals are growing so large that they are stinging neighbors.
I find hype and marketing as to the Sky obnoxious and a utter and complete turn off. The Sky was total missed opportunity for Neptune to offer something truly different--a nice light a light price....Companies late to the game on a product line up, benefiting from other's previous R & D and learning from other's mistakes, often make and offer products for less money to buy market share--even if profits are less. Neptune made the opposite decision, kept profits high on the Sky, and used hype and misleading marketing to hook customers instead of hooking them with a nice light at a fair price. That's my opinion.
I respect your opinion. But the comments about the profit margin are not based on facts. The light is a well built complete solution. Making something simple takes a lot of engineering. They found a really amazing tech in the marketplace, then combined it with their own designs and engineering to create a complete solution that brings the panel light form to the masses.
I will end on what I have said all along. This is a great light. If you prefer the Radion or Kessil looks, those are great too. With a Radion you will get more of the T5 Blue Plus Green-Blue color and a par MONSTER (in a good way), with the Kessil you are going to get that awesome shimmer and ability to light specific tank areas. The Sky gives uniform illumination and more of the Royal Blue/ violet look. Unlike previous panel lights, the SKY was designed for the home reefer at a better price point, full integration and a form factor that is easier to integrate into a wider variety of setups (due to the weight). With any of these lights you are going to be successful. We are very fortunate that in such a select hobby we have so many people working hard to bring a wide variety of choices.
www.bulkreefsupply.com
