30” Odyssea Metal Halide System 380W Review

Oh boy, this is a hot topic. Well, heres my 2 cents. I bought a Odyssea fixture 3 yrs ago before I heard the "bad rep" it had. My fixture has (2) 250w MH, (2) 96w PC Actinics, 6 lunar lights, 5 power cords and came with a hanging kit( and like all the same deals out there, free bulbs). I will say that its not made with the best materials out there, but as mentioned already, you get what you pay for. I paid $329 shipped. I have to replace the side cooling fans once in a while but only b/c I took out the two stock cooling fans and installed 4 cooling fans. I didnt need to replace the ballasts b/c they where working fine, but I got tired of buying bulbs that the stock ballasts couldnt power up. All in all, I've spent 329+10+260=$590 Thats less than half that I would have spent on a name brand fixture. I love the lights and I would buy them again. I will say one thing thou, if your not a handy person, I dont recommend the lights. It helps to be handy. Luna

 

I would like to get more efficient ballast but Im chicken to do wiring.

 

I bought an Odyssea 4x65W PC for about $100. What a POS. My JEBO 4x65W fixture puts out much more light with just two 10000K bulbs. Never again. I am going quality next time.

 

Jebo is the same company as Odyssea, just a different name.

 

I have the 36" 630 watt unit with 2 x 250 watt MH + 2 x 65W PC actinics. I am very happy with it. I replaced the MH ballasts as they were seriously under-driving the bulbs. What a difference it made! Even with the cost of the replacement MH ballasts - the price was 1/3 to 1/2 of the cost of a similar name-brand fixture. I agree that the name brand fixtures are ridiculously expensive... it's just a light afterall when you get right down to it.

I wonder... has anyone tried upgrading the PC lights/ballasts in one of the Odyssea MH/PC combo units? I'm contemplating swapping out the 65 watt ballasts & bulbs for 96 watt ballasts & bulbs. I know there is sufficient space for this upgrade. I also wonder if it might be possible to swap out the PC bulbs/ballasts for T5 bulbs/ballasts... Has anyone done this?

Z

 

On the you get what you pay for trip (I have had 2 Oddysea fixtures) a 4 bulb T5 fixture, and a 4 bulb T6 fixture. The T6's were pretty nice, the T5's would make a better anchor than light. The endcaps melted, the fans died, the light output was terrible. But I was wondering if anyone has heard of this place? fish need it;lights; food;Sponge . I was thinking about buying some of these, but I'd like to know more...

 

I was going to replace the PC ballast on my unit, but havent yet. I found this place that has all kinds of ballasts. Heres the link....
Welcome to BallastWise.com
They recommended a ballast, but for the life of me, I cant find the model #. Luna

 

Yeah, I've hear the legs are bad. That's ok, I plan on hanging it. Much stronger, more control over the lighting height, & a lot easier to maintain the tank.