Overpriced lighting

[Sisterlimonpot]

Again I understand some people are willing to dish out that much for lights. I’m just saying that I wonder if they are charging people for a name or if their product is really that expensive to produce.

I'm sure they are, just like anything in this hobby the only way to drive prices down is to collectively not 0ay their asking prices... do you see that happening?

 

[ReefLab]

So the rd cost are more than the actual cost to build the light?

for kessil absolutely. for radions and others with similar technology, maybe not.

Dont forget about commissions to retailers, shipping, marketing, support/warranty costs.

 

[Jstn]

I got 2 radions g5s over my 120, super happy worth its price IMO.

 

[Jstn]

welcome to capitalism

which drives innovation.

 

[dawson reynolds]

I'm sure they are, just like anything in this hobby the only way to drive prices down is to collectively not 0ay their asking prices... do you see that happening?

I absolutely do not see that happening though I wish it would. I don’t understand why another company haven’t came in and undercut their prices. I guess the market just isn’t big enough

 

[dawson reynolds]

which drives innovation.

It drives innovation when you complete with multiple other brands to get a better product. From what I can tell Kessil is just about the only one that is innovative. I think if a few more companies joined the reefing community then you would see a lot more innovative/price drops

 

[Jstn]

It drives innovation when you complete with multiple other brands to get a better product. From what I can tell Kessil is just about the only one that is innovative. I think if a few more companies joined the reefing community then you would see a lot more innovative/price drops

Thats your opinion and you are entitled
to it. There is mobius and for better or worse i dont think has demonstrated it full potential yet and their in house circuit board printing (i recommend reef dudes video). Phillips has a v2 LED fixture that is going to be released in Usa soon, its in the similar price range as far as I can tell and they have vertical integration (they make their own leds) so if anything you should be mad at them next.

 

[dawson reynolds]

Thats your opinion and you are entitled
to it. There is mobius and for better or worse i dont think has demonstrated it full potential yet and their in house circuit board printing (i recommend reef dudes video). Phillips has a v2 LED fixture that is going to be released in Usa soon, its in the similar price range as far as I can tell and they have vertical integration (they make their own leds) so if anything you should be mad at them next.

I’m not mad at anyone lol. If people are willing to pay for it then good for that company they deserve the profit. My original statement was wondering how much these units cost vs how much they charge for them.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

I’ll never pay the money for a new Radion but I don’t think they’re getting a fair shake in this thread. Eco tech funded the research that discovered the AB+ spectrum that’s now widespread in this hobby.

 

[dawson reynolds]

I’ll never pay the money for a new Radion but I don’t think they’re getting a fair shake in this thread. Eco tech funded the research that discovered the AB+ spectrum that’s now widespread in this hobby.

I’m not a expert on lighting so maybe they aren’t getting a fair shake. It just shocked me when I first got into the hobby why everything is so dang expensive lol

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Coming from the film world where there is a very similar industry of lighting products shifting heavily towards led light fixtures, i find it very funny the lack of discussion on the CRI rating of these reef lighting fixtures in the sw hobby. It makes sense that everyone is more concerned with par, but there is also a ton of manufacturer boasting of wavelengths and presets of combined wavelengths from various leds in their fixtures, but no actual CRI data to guarantee the accuracy of those wavelengths.

The cri of fixtures in the film world really drive the market in terms of pricing with extremely high cri fixtures commanding the higher price point, because this defines the color accuracy recorded on camera and hence... cheap low cri lights end up costing big budget movies more money in post correcting for their poor color accuracy.

Being new to sw, i actually expected cri to be more intensely discussed because of how detailed and precise people in the hobby tend to be.

I'd love to see @Bulk Reef Supply or someone else do an actual cri test or any other wavelength accuracy test that exists on all these fixtures to see if they are actually providing accurate color/wavelength targets or are just ballparking it. Cause that will tell you if their LEDs used in their products are actually worth the money. Everything else in their fixtures is just markup like the infamous gold audio cables sold in home audio back in the 90's!

Is CRI similar to Spectrum output? Because I do think we’re getting there. I’ve been in this hobby for just shy of 5 years now, and I feel like it was all about PAR when I first got into it Now, in the past 6 months, it seems like there’s been a focus on spectrum. BRS gives you the settings needed to light any tank type and size with each light they carry. And there’s also Telegraham Putting together a lot of spectrum data on other lights. Not at all perfect but, now that we know all the lights are powerful enough, it’s all about making sure they’re providing the optimal lighting.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

I’m not a expert on lighting so maybe they aren’t getting a fair shake. It just shocked me when I first got into the hobby why everything is so dang expensive lol

The main one, in my opinion, is that people get really excited about lights because they’re the only thing that’s really innovative, and frequently have updates. There’s new skimmer and pumps but it doesn’t get people excited. Because of this, people will pay more.

All that said, there’s a ton of cheap options out there. Noopsyche, Zetlight, etc. Even AI is somewhat of a low cost option these days since they make all their money on Radions.

 

[Amado]

So in all Business you need to understand your market.
Most people in this hobby want nice things.
If you don’t want to spend the top $$$ for high end lights
You can always get cheap” backbox” lights. These lights
Have been proven to grow corals
Look at this guys tank it’s light we 3 x $100 amazon lights

 

[ppatches24]

LOL in b4 locked thread

 

[NitrateKillah]

I’m not disagreeing with you. I’d just like to know how much these really cost to produce

I believe it was 10 years ago or so, Nike shoes in South Korea was only 7 US dollars after cost.

 

[SR Reefing]

Everyone in the supply chain need to make some money. Manufacturer, shipping, advertising (here, YouTube, Facebook), then retailer (LFS, BRS). Sure light to be made for $200 and sell for $800. But this is how economy works.

Go to china, find a LED factory. Tell them to put some blue LED in them and bring it home. Maybe only cost u $50. Do it...Just do itttt...

Kidding aside, I do think this market is too small. I don't even think they are making a killing.

 

[ppatches24]

I’ll never pay the money for a new Radion but I don’t think they’re getting a fair shake in this thread. Eco tech funded the research that discovered the AB+ spectrum that’s now widespread in this hobby.

Plus with the new G5 30s You get 102 LEDS that are picked out to grow your coral. They are "only" lol 840 so what like 8 ish bucks PER LED thats not HORRIBLE when you consider everything else you get with it. Including all the years of previous research.

 

[Jacked Reefer]

IMO kessils are the only "premium" light worth it because of their proprietary dense matrix. It gives incredible shimmer, spread, and absolutely no banding of colors. Orpheks, radions, black boxes, hydras and pretty much every other light functions on distinct diodes.
Of course the black boxes generally don't have as much controllability but I wouldn't consider radions because how similar the technology is to much less expensive competition.
Nothing compares to kessils.

Unless you wanna grow sps

 

[dawson reynolds]

I believe it was 10 years ago or so, Nike shoes in South Korea was only 7 US dollars after cost.

I understand what your saying.

 

[dawson reynolds]

Everyone in the supply chain need to make some money. Manufacturer, shipping, advertising (here, YouTube, Facebook), then retailer (LFS, BRS). Sure light to be made for $200 and sell for $800. But this is how economy works.

Go to china, find a LED factory. Tell them to put some blue LED in them and bring it home. Maybe only cost u $50. Do it...Just do itttt...

Kidding aside, I do think this market is too small. I don't even think they are making a killing.

Agreed I think if as many people reefed as played Xbox lights would be at least 1/2 the cost