Just a question.... If they are "junk" , why does everyone give them 2 thumbs up ? U can buy a BMW and know ur in a German engineered car but I have no issues getting into a Volkswagen Passat! Gets me there and back on my budget. I don't see a reason to NEED a high end fixture. Just my 2 cents.
"If they are junk...", who is "they"?
And just to be clear here, I don't see the
NEED for a high end fixture either. I run EverGrow and OceanRevive, I put both of them in level 3 and my corals are doing great. But you can't stop people from spending their money. Lets face it, some people have it to spend and they enjoy having all the luxury features. But do you need them to have a well built fixture that can grow coral and look good and have good customer service? Heck no! But on the other hand, is there junk out there in the market? Heck ya!
IMHO, there are 3 or 4 levels of led fixtures (you could easily put #1 and #2 in as one group):
1) There is the long standing, top of the line, pay a premium for it types. They work just fine, have lots of bells & whistles (some we don't need at all), they grow coral, they look OK and the get good customer support (usually).
2) Then there are the somewhat more rationally priced fixtures that may lack some of the 'luxury' options of the top dogs. Still work good, have all the desired accessories, they still grow coral, most look OK and usually have good customer service. The main difference, as I see it, is they are somewhat more reasonably priced and they probably don't have more than 2 channels of control (moonlight control doesn't count).
3) Next is the well built, low tech, still work just fine based on my own results fixtures (mostly from China). Still work good, may or may not have all the features you want (but they are less expensive), they still grow coral, most look OK (some are a bit 'clunky' looking) and customer service is a bit more hit or miss. The main difference here is considerably lower prices
are possible, and if you are looking for the least expensive led that will still get the job done, there are fixtures with just dimmers that are still well made and grow coral.
4) And finally there is a mix of old tech (too old) and junk (1 watt leds) and more junk (poorly made) (mostly sold on Ebay and
Amazon). Some of these may work, at least for a while, may have some features, but they are cheap, may keep easy corals alive, but may not grow them, can still look OK, and have no customer service. What can I say? There are a lot of really crap led fixtures on Ebay and
Amazon. You can find good ones too, but you could probably find the good ones on their own website as well. But way too many of them are junk.
Like I said, it's just my opinion and I'm not saying I'm right, it's just the way I see the market. I'm sure some could... will, say I'm crazy and anything from China is junk. And as far as I'm concerned, you are welcome to your opinion too. It's a big hobby with lots and lots of choices.
