Troubles with high end lights

[Redox]

I won't mention names but I know I'm not alone here. I have invested time and money and lots of both. Why is everyone so quick to say operator malfunction or just bash someone that is having issues with equipment. I am not new to saltwater by any means and have tried almost every brand of high end equipment on the market and will continue to do so. I have found some really good things and have wasted money on the others. That being said I'm not venting but looking for open minded people that can see pass the hype and realize some of the hype is bs

 

[nezw0001]

I spent thousands of dollars on high end LED lights to eventually land back at good ole MHs. sure they give off a lot of heat but the corals sure love them.

 

[jda]

None of this will matter or help if you don't name names. As long as your post is honest and fair, it is OK to call out vendors and stuff. Whining and unfair criticism does not help anything, but honest feedback helps future buyers and also vendors (some - the good ones) to get better. I don't mind naming names of the stuff that I feel was a waste of time or money, but I have more than one experience to form my opinion and have also posted some good things where the vendors tried to make things right... what I feel is fair and honest.

This site is full of fanboys that will want to discount any perceived negative - not as much as Facebook, but still plenty. Just get past all of that. There are some people on here that get free product to say good things or to discount the negative.

BTW - High end is in the eye of the beholder. Expensive DOES NOT mean high end. ...just like new does not mean upgrade.

 

[stacksoner]

Expensive light buyer here. I'm with you all the way. What I've learned about expensive lights is that they offer the user complete control over every little aspect of the light. I'm sure everyone has bleached their corals by cranking up new lights and realizing that one will never need the intensity that they provide. I imagine that only .0001% of reefers actually benefit from this amount of precision while the rest of us wonder if our fancy lights are the reason behind our algae outbreaks, coral dying, coral not growing, etc.

 

[jda]

I office out of my car and I drive a LOT... gotten to where I like really nice cars since they ride so much better, are quieter and more comfortable. I can make calls, talk to people and get home from a day's work being less worn out from being in a car for a lot of hours. It is crazy to see all of the gear in a flagship sedan from a German, British, Korean or US (not many of these anymore) manufacturer and all that I care about is the ride, comfort (nice seat and bluetooth are enough) and quietness. The rest is a lot of expense for nothing... do I need 45 FM presets (is there this many stations?), heated/cooled and reclining rear seats?, screens on the back of the front seats?, who uses a CD player anymore let alone a changer?, GPS enabled ride that adjusts the vehicle height an inch if I ever take a flagship off road (like who does this?), do I need 540 horsepower (the rear wheel drive is nice to drive), leather dash and dashboard or the back seat (kids or passengers) need to change the radio, DVD or navigation (climate is OK)? It all adds up to a bunch of bragging points from owners to other owners that are nearly meaningless in the end. I feel that some LEDs are the same way, which is why I can see why something like a Photon is so popular since they have a few channels of separation, but otherwise just work. Just like some car manufacturers would be better served to offer like a flagship ride and comfort without all of the stupid bells and whistles stuff (like sensors for every little thing, or everything possible for a $25k upgrade) with just ride, powerful engine, nice stereo with bluetooth and a nice drivers seat for less money and be more reliable with fewer points of failure. Why not make more good lights without all of the apps and control that just kick butt... like a EcoTech Radion Lite with lots of powerful diodes and three or four channel knobs? ...probably would be even better that what is out now.

Again, high dollar does not mean high end... just high dollar. Sometimes you just have to pay to drive a BMW 750, A8, Mercedes 550, G90, etc. just to not use 75% of what somebody thought to put in the car the same way that you have to pay for bad reefing software which is bad all of the time and we only wish that it was good 25% of the time.

 

[Snoopy 67]

I remember a story of a fellow needing a special program for his computer.
He laid out the specs to the programmer, who came back & wanted to put all these fancy upgrades that were in his opinion needed. He was told 'NO" just what I need, nothing else.

 

[jda]

Anybody can make fun of my halides if they want, but in over 20 years of having multiples of them on many different tanks, I have had to replace a few ballasts, a few ignitors and a bunch of bulbs, but maybe have a total of 2 hours of doing this in 20 years. Ask a Mobius user how much time they spent on just their "upgrade..."

 

[Bruce60]

As the equipment gets more complex, the possibility that a human makes an error increases a lot. However, the FAULT lies with the manufacturer of the equipment. Some vendors focus on cramming the most functionality but spend little time on user interface. Thus, most never even know about much of what the equipment they purchased could do.
I have a combo of T5 and LED over my tank. What I found frustrating about the LEDs is that while they can do just about anything...there is little guidance or recommendation on how they should be set or even a typical range. After searching around online for quite a while, I just copied someone else's routine that seemed reasonable with different temp settings throughout the day...I rented a PAR meter to adjust the intensity. Now it just runs its program.

 

[stacksoner]

As the equipment gets more complex, the possibility that a human makes an error increases a lot. However, the FAULT lies with the manufacturer of the equipment. Some vendors focus on cramming the most functionality but spend little time on user interface. Thus, most never even know about much of what the equipment they purchased could do.
I have a combo of T5 and LED over my tank. What I found frustrating about the LEDs is that while they can do just about anything...there is little guidance or recommendation on how they should be set or even a typical range. After searching around online for quite a while, I just copied someone else's routine that seemed reasonable with different temp settings throughout the day...I rented a PAR meter to adjust the intensity. Now it just runs its program.

Isn't it interesting that none of the light vendors include/sell par meters?