Sayonora Radion!

[RedoubtReef]

Want to send em to me I sure could use 40%off

Sure, $300 dollars. PM me your address

 

[Tonycass12]

L

Sure, $300 dollars. PM me your address

Lol spending 300 to get 300 off isint making much sense. Its pretty crazy they are willing to give you a discount like that I haven't seen anyone do a discount like that during any of the sales.

 

[Tonycass12]

Ballasts for 10+ year old T-5s and halides fixtures are available. And bulbs too. It's not so much about what I expect them to support as it is do I really want to be investing thousands into something that I can't repair myself and most likely will not be supported in the future? As I stated in my rant, "just my opinion".

I think big part of that is how far leds have come in the last 10 years. T5s and MH are still exactly the same for the most part led tech has gotten a lot better over the same timeframe.

 

[RedoubtReef]

40% off of the gen5 xr30's is still 600bills a piece, yeah its a discount but that burns the pocketbook!

Id have to buy 2 of the xr30's at least on a 48 inch tank, no thanks, lol. 2 grand for lights before a discount is outright obscene.

I'm curious on how many of the gen 1's the op had.

I ran 2. They were $800 each + tax when I bought them. If I were in a different spot financially, I may have taken them up on the offer. But I'm not and that's ok. You are right in that 2K seems obscene when I can spend $500 or less buying used on a T5 setup. I'll probably put one of the Radions over the new refugium to light the chaeto.

 

[RedoubtReef]

L

Lol spending 300 to get 300 off isint making much sense. Its pretty crazy they are willing to give you a discount like that I haven't seen anyone do a discount like that during any of the sales.

yeah, I appreciated the offer. Just not in my budget right now so I'll move to something different.

 

[Utubereefer]

I love my gen 4 pros. Just picked up a used one for $475.
I like the growth rate of t5 & MH but the same spectrum all day would bother me. I love starting and ending the day blue

 

[Utubereefer]

You should check out the orphek or3 bars for that blue pop!!!

 

[flashsmith]

I would say you got your money's worth out of those Gen 1s. On top of that they are offering a 40% discount on new ones? Seems they are doing something they don't really need to do and you're complaining. Yes they're still expensive. I can tell you from my experience you get what you pay for with lights. I have 2 gen5 on a reefer 625. Reefbreeders on my frag tank and 3 maxspect jumps on my SR80. They all grow coral but you can definitely see a difference in spectrum and blending. The maxspects to my eye just don't blend as well as the radions. They are good lights but they are not even close to radions. My personal preference is the reefbreeders. It's in the middle of the pack as far as pricing. But if I were offered 40% off on new radions I would take it and sell them and buy reefbreeders and have money left over. Look at the positive side. Take that discount and take that money.

 

[RedoubtReef]

I think big part of that is how far leds have come in the last 10 years. T5s and MH are still exactly the same for the most part led tech has gotten a lot better over the same timeframe.

Yes, LED has gotten better at catching up to the standard that T5 and halide set. And because those are still exactly the same for the most part, I can find parts if something dies, like a ballast. I don't need to have the mfgr repair it for me or say, "sorry, that's too old for us to fix".

 

[2000se]

Buy a used Gen3 pro if that's what you were looking to upgrade to.

 

[MaxTremors]

I ran 2. They were $800 each + tax when I bought them. If I were in a different spot financially, I may have taken them up on the offer. But I'm not and that's ok. You are right in that 2K seems obscene when I can spend $500 or less buying used on a T5 setup. I'll probably put one of the Radions over the new refugium to light the chaeto.

So you used two $800 lights for a decade, that’s $160 a year for 10 years, you’d probably spend that much on bulbs (T5 or halides) each year (2 $80 halides, or 8 $20 T5s), certainly once you factor in the cost of the fixture. And most definitely once you factor in the increased cost of electricity and potential cooling. I do agree that Radions are somewhat overpriced, but they’re not the only viable LEDs on the market, they’re a luxury/high-end product.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I love my gen 4 pros. Just picked up a used one for $475.
I like the growth rate of t5 & MH but the same spectrum all day would bother me. I love starting and ending the day blue

I ramp the t5's for that reason.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

I'll sell you my Gen1s for $300 and then you can go to Ecotech for the discount. Deal?

They were Good enough for u to get them originally. I think they were trying to look u out as a customer but if that’s not an option for u now then that’s ur business I don’t see a need to complain about a 10year old fixture not being supported. Many viable options out there for all budgets, just sayin.

 

[Panicked Reefer]

Seems like the discounted price vs the price of a new set up of MH and T5s are similar. Thats going off the assumption that the new radions will give you 10 years of service. This woukd be with out the maintenance cost of $100+ a year of T5s alone. That's over $1000 in bulbs alone. Basically like anything else do you want to spend the money now or do you want to spend the money later?

 

[rtparty]

There is a group of us that talk about this very thing. LEDs themselves may last 30.3 years or whatever ridiculous claim manufacturers use. The electronics running them won't. Then take into account that Tullio over at ReefBrite has already talked about and shown that LEDs degrade around year 4. 5-7 years is normal for LEDs. It's why I won't drop $800-1000 per fixture on them. (Although I've spent well over $10k testing 95% of them. I sell quick to make some money back.)

Replacing my halide bulbs is $55 a bulb every 18-24 months. Ballast? $200 for a "reef" ballast or half that for the same thing but no fish picture slapped on the box. These easily last 5 years. Reflectors? Mounted 12" off the water with a glass shield equals never needs replacing.

If you really look back at the hobby as a whole there is a clear line in the sand when it started getting a little screwy. It's when LEDs came out and companies realized there were massive profits to be made. Perfect example is when we were told PFO/Solaris had to sell 4 halide fixtures for the same profit as one LED fixture. Which way do you think companies will pivot with those margins at play?

Coral vendors realized blue LEDs mask an otherwise basic coral and prices started rising. Look at how much they Photoshop things these days and claim it's because cameras can't pick up the blue properly.

Yep, I'm the grumpy old dude (if 35 is actually old) telling everyone how great the glory days were and to get off my lawn. But the hobby was better back then. It wasn't all about profits and filling up a "display" tank with $1000 frags as fast you could to get that like and follow.

Okay, rant over. Hands are cold and I'm going to go put them under my halides to warm up.

 

[ninjamyst]

Complaining about 40% discount...wow. #entitlement

 

[eggplantparrot]

Take the 40% discount, sell for near full price. Easy money

 

[flashsmith]

There is a group of us that talk about this very thing. LEDs themselves may last 30.3 years or whatever ridiculous claim manufacturers use. The electronics running them won't. Then take into account that Tullio over at ReefBrite has already talked about and shown that LEDs degrade around year 4. 5-7 years is normal for LEDs. It's why I won't drop $800-1000 per fixture on them. (Although I've spent well over $10k testing 95% of them. I sell quick to make some money back.)

Replacing my halide bulbs is $55 a bulb every 18-24 months. Ballast? $200 for a "reef" ballast or half that for the same thing but no fish picture slapped on the box. These easily last 5 years. Reflectors? Mounted 12" off the water with a glass shield equals never needs replacing.

If you really look back at the hobby as a whole there is a clear line in the sand when it started getting a little screwy. It's when LEDs came out and companies realized there were massive profits to be made. Perfect example is when we were told PFO/Solaris had to sell 4 halide fixtures for the same profit as one LED fixture. Which way do you think companies will pivot with those margins at play?

Coral vendors realized blue LEDs mask an otherwise basic coral and prices started rising. Look at how much they Photoshop things these days and claim it's because cameras can't pick up the blue properly.

Yep, I'm the grumpy old dude (if 35 is actually old) telling everyone how great the glory days were and to get off my lawn. But the hobby was better back then. It wasn't all about profits and filling up a "display" tank with $1000 frags as fast you could to get that like and follow.

Okay, rant over. Hands are cold and I'm going to go put them under my halides to warm up.

Only 35.. That means I started when you were 5. I would never go back to MH bulbs. You may be old enough to remember when TVs looked like they were carved out of a block of wood. Lol. Even though they may still work today would you rather have a 4k big screen or that? That's how I look at modern lighting but as I like to say whatever helps you sleep at night. They still work fine but they have their own faults as well. My biggest challenge was trying not to boil everything in my tank. Lol

 

[rtparty]

Complaining about 40% discount...wow. #entitlement

Where did the OP complain about only being offered 40% off?

That's not what the original post says

#readingcomprehension

 

[MaxTremors]

There is a group of us that talk about this very thing. LEDs themselves may last 30.3 years or whatever ridiculous claim manufacturers use. The electronics running them won't. Then take into account that Tullio over at ReefBrite has already talked about and shown that LEDs degrade around year 4. 5-7 years is normal for LEDs. It's why I won't drop $800-1000 per fixture on them. (Although I've spent well over $10k testing 95% of them. I sell quick to make some money back.)

Replacing my halide bulbs is $55 a bulb every 18-24 months. Ballast? $200 for a "reef" ballast or half that for the same thing but no fish picture slapped on the box. These easily last 5 years. Reflectors? Mounted 12" off the water with a glass shield equals never needs replacing.

If you really look back at the hobby as a whole there is a clear line in the sand when it started getting a little screwy. It's when LEDs came out and companies realized there were massive profits to be made. Perfect example is when we were told PFO/Solaris had to sell 4 halide fixtures for the same profit as one LED fixture. Which way do you think companies will pivot with those margins at play?

Coral vendors realized blue LEDs mask an otherwise basic coral and prices started rising. Look at how much they Photoshop things these days and claim it's because cameras can't pick up the blue properly.

Yep, I'm the grumpy old dude (if 35 is actually old) telling everyone how great the glory days were and to get off my lawn. But the hobby was better back then. It wasn't all about profits and filling up a "display" tank with $1000 frags as fast you could to get that like and follow.

Okay, rant over. Hands are cold and I'm going to go put them under my halides to warm up.

I mean, it’s a little misleading to mention that LEDs degrade after however many years, but then fail to mention that halides will degrade after 9-12 months (after claiming, in a cost benefit analysis that you change them every 18-24 months). It’s not an even handed, unbiased look at the costs and benefits of each type of lighting. I also think mentioning the hearsay profit margins on 15 year old LED fixtures is, at best, irrelevant.

I do agree with you that LEDs helped usher in the age of the designer coral, but it’s also social media, the name game, and the mainstreaming of the hobby (which can just as easily be attributed to the advent of the biocube and AiOs). It’s hype culture in general, it’s trade shows like Aquashella, it’s vendors like TSA, there’s a confluence of a lot of factors that have made the hobby what it is today, LEDs are just a small part of it.