We Should Vote With Our Wallets!!!

[kyleinpdx]

Well what aquarium goods are you referring to i was looking at the hardwear side of things

In my OP I was referring to livestock prices, but I know you were talking hardware. I dont disagree with you, more so lamenting what I see as market of opportunists in terms of price/margin on everything... just b!$^&ing. I've been in the hobby since I was pretty young (grew up in S. FL and the caribbean) and I suppose I'm nostalgic for the days when equipment and livestock didnt have the boutique price tag that seems to be associated with anything of baseline quality now-a-days.

 

[Forsaken77]

Really it’s greed tho because if these CFOs weren’t trying to get rich. Or get payed 200x more then some of they’re employees,they wouldn’t need to source this stuff in China. I don’t mind paying top dollar for quality but i do mind paying top dollar for China crap that’s being promoted as quality.

This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. The so-called "premium" brands aren't that premium. They all mostly use the same Chinese parts, yet claim they were made in the USA. As long as you stick the air line onto a venturi in the US, it's considered made in the USA.

Some people say that the premium price denotes better quality. In some cases it does, but most it does not. It's greed, propaganda and marketing.

What's that old movie with Chris Farley where he sells brake pads (Black Sheep?) and says "you can sell a point of sale in a box, and you can sell the same point of sale with a warranty, but at the end of the day you're still selling a point of sale."

 

[Shameless_Dood]

I don't disagree. In some cases in this hobby you get what you pay for, but not always. I have some of that name brand equipment. Sure it's nice, but worth the sticker price is debatable. Many times I store up rewards points to knock the price down to something that gives me less heartburn.

 

[Dsnakes]

I buy my BMWs used.

This killed me! I just bought a used BMW last week ;Hilarious

 

[Roggio]

That's why I buy jebao. I do spend when it counts, but is one water splasher 10x better than another that has similar features? There are things that count and things that are hype. My reef octopus 220 skimmer is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship and parts are affordable and easy to repair. Coralvue support is great, like really great, so when I find a good company, I support them, but it's really a financial decision as their equipment is going to last because I can repair it. Everything breaks eventually, if your investment can be kept up with modest costs in the long run, it's cheaper than buying two in the same 10 year stretch. With that said, maybe a tunze or vortex is a better water splasher that lasts longer... It's a decision everyone has to make for themselves what has value.

I feel like there is way more variation in value in reefing than in automotive. New Deltec dc skimmer with Jebao pump is a waste compared to a RO with a Varios pump. I am not knocking either selection, I actually use Coral Box and I like them quite a bit.

After the hurricane wrecked my set up I bought Jaebo pumps to set up temporarily. My logic was keeping them for backup in the future. These pumps are garbage. Including the wave makers. They’re loud, get extremely hot and unreliable. This isn’t a huge market like cars. There’s not that many companies and although the market is growing there’s not a whole lot of mass production. There’s a very good reason the Jaebos only have a 30 day warranty. In this hobby you usually get what you pay for. In my experience I have used a lot of the Reef Octopus line. I have four Varios pumps, external skimmer and calcium reactor. I haven’t had these long but prior to this I had water and bubble blasters. I’m really happy with these products and I’m protecting my pets and investment in coral.

Ecotech is another great company. I use a lot of their products and the service has been great. I believe the warrenty is a year but they service products for a reasonable price for years.

 

[rushbattle]

After the hurricane wrecked my set up I bought Jaebo pumps to set up temporarily. My logic was keeping them for backup in the future. These pumps are garbage. Including the wave makers. They’re loud, get extremely hot and unreliable. This isn’t a huge market like cars. There’s not that many companies and although the market is growing there’s not a whole lot of mass production. There’s a very good reason the Jaebos only have a 30 day warranty. In this hobby you usually get what you pay for. In my experience I have used a lot of the Reef Octopus line. I have four Varios pumps, external skimmer and calcium reactor. I haven’t had these long but prior to this I had water and bubble blasters. I’m really happy with these products and I’m protecting my pets and investment in coral.

Ecotech is another great company. I use a lot of their products and the service has been great. I believe the warrenty is a year but they service products for a reasonable price for years.

I agree all the way up to Ecotech being great. I think they used to be a good premium product producing company. Now they make cheap products marketed as premium. They are like a poor facsimile of Apple. Closed ecosystem and all. Even the radions are poor value in my opinion.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Hold on bro I’ve been using the Jebao dcp 6500 return pump with 6 feet of head pressure not including four 90 degrees elbows on 1inch plumbing and it’s been running dead silent at 60 percent plus running a small manifold covering my algea scrubber and my gfo reactor and it’s been running without skipping a beat for 5 months now. On the other hand I did just buy a skimz sn143-quite pro and that little motor is twice as loud No joke. Sometimes you get what you pay for but Very rarely when the parts are made in China haha

After the hurricane wrecked my set up I bought Jaebo pumps to set up temporarily. My logic was keeping them for backup in the future. These pumps are garbage. Including the wave makers. They’re loud, get extremely hot and unreliable. This isn’t a huge market like cars. There’s not that many companies and although the market is growing there’s not a whole lot of mass production. There’s a very good reason the Jaebos only have a 30 day warranty. In this hobby you usually get what you pay for. In my experience I have used a lot of the Reef Octopus line. I have four Varios pumps, external skimmer and calcium reactor. I haven’t had these long but prior to this I had water and bubble blasters. I’m really happy with these products and I’m protecting my pets and investment in coral.

Ecotech is another great company. I use a lot of their products and the service has been great. I believe the warrenty is a year but they service products for a reasonable price for years.

o

 

[NowGlazeIT]

This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. The so-called "premium" brands aren't that premium. They all mostly use the same Chinese parts, yet claim they were made in the USA. As long as you stick the air line onto a venturi in the US, it's considered made in the USA.

Some people say that the premium price denotes better quality. In some cases it does, but most it does not. It's greed, propaganda and marketing.

What's that old movie with Chris Farley where he sells brake pads (Black Sheep?) and says "you can sell a point of sale in a box, and you can sell the same point of sale with a warranty, but at the end of the day you're still selling a point of sale."

That’s right man and believe that those Chris Farley companies still exist we just gotta find them before they turn mainstream on us haha

 

[MnFish1]

People do vote with their wallets. Lol. That why some equipment that s more expansive than others. This seems like the silliest post I’ve ever seen here. Either this is a joke or you don’t understand markets

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

People also buy overpriced junk cuz it has a name. Or they think or are told they need it. That's called advertising.

 

[Ranjib]

Really it’s greed tho because if these CFOs weren’t trying to get rich. Or get payed 200x more then some of they’re employees,they wouldn’t need to source this stuff in China. I don’t mind paying top dollar for quality but i do mind paying top dollar for China crap that’s being promoted as quality.

Matter of fact is most things are made in China, unless they are simple acrylic cuts etc. it has nothing to do with quality. 70% of apple electronics (iPhone and MacBooks) are sourced from China. Quality control has nothing to do with country , origin. Having things made in USA does allow us to have more control over quality, but it only matters if the manufacturer cares for it.

Electronics assembly and certification is a big toll on manufacturing, so unless the consumer market is huge it has disproportionate effect on the price , i.e. for smaller niche markets , they cost a fortune

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Haha yea of course we vote with our wallets its just some of us don’t get to vote in the same category. Let your hippie hair down Fish1 were preaching against corporate greed in this post

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Matter of fact is most things are made in China, unless they are simple acrylic cuts etc. it has nothing to do with quality. 70% of apple electronics (iPhone and MacBooks) are sourced from China. Quality control has nothing to do with country , origin. Having things made in USA does allow us to have more control over quality, but it only matters if the manufacturer cares for it.

Electronics assembly and certification is a big toll on manufacturing, so unless the consumer market is huge it has disproportionate effect on the price , i.e. for smaller niche markets , they cost a fortune

I think I need to step out of this one here. voicing my response could prolly lead to more then what’s worth arguing over. I just think it would be nice if we could get some new quality brand. made here in the US that is designed to last far longer then they’re next model release date. With a staff dedicated to the consumer first and their Maseratis second

 

[Roggio]

I think I need to step out of this one here. voicing my response could prolly lead to more then what’s worth arguing over. I just think it would be nice if we could get some new quality brand. made here in the US that is designed to last far longer then they’re next model release date. With a staff dedicated to the consumer first and their Maseratis second

This is Ecotech IMO

 

[NowGlazeIT]

And Apple in mine. Pretty much every company that Sells out

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Hey I say we cool this off with some pic of everyone’s tanks!
@saltyfilmfolks

 

[NowGlazeIT]

@MnFish1

 

[IonicBond]

I pay top dollar for the products that deserve it. That being said I rely heavily on local reefer organizations, LFS, Facebook groups, etc. to buy gently used. Along with DIY'ing anything I can.

Coral Reefing hobby has inherently a fairly high cost of entry, by itself, so there are a lot of people willing to spend whatever it takes, and it keeps prices high.

 

[Velcro]

We DO vote with our wallets. Ecotech has been in business for this long because they make amazing pumps. I didn’t spend $700 on powerheads because I wanted the street cred. I spent it because I was sick of jebao pumps stopping for no reason and needing to be cleaned every two weeks for decent flow.

 

[Ranjib]

I think I need to step out of this one here. voicing my response could prolly lead to more then what’s worth arguing over. I just think it would be nice if we could get some new quality brand. made here in the US that is designed to last far longer then they’re next model release date. With a staff dedicated to the consumer first and their Maseratis second

I don’t mean to discourage your expression. I agree with you that we need more , newer brands with a focus on what’s essential and reliable, instead of being just the new Shiny. I also concur that we need more open standards instead of vendor lock in. This has bothered me a lot. I myself was bummed at first by the sheer price of trivial to build controller ( from lighting to temperature to full blown controllers ). I am just trying to make a point that we as a consumer also have to put up a unified front, and ask for standards (like all equipment should be controllable by 10v signal) that makes thing interoperable. Once the lock ins are gone, that should help reducing some of the price