InWatter Stingray LED Review

InWatter Stingray LED Review

Well let me start off by saying first and foremost dealing with Bongy at InWatter has been a true pleasure, he answered every question I threw at him and was always courteous towards other fixtures that I was comparing to during my research on LED’s. Totally professional about everything every step of the way; and up front about everything as well.

I confirmed my purchase with him on May the 18th and sent him my payment via PayPal at the same time as he insisted that I not send payment until the light was ready to ship. This also included him taking the time to test everything out personally before shipping for several days.
The light arrive exactly 8 days later from Hong Kong which I considered to be very fast for shipping and the shipping was about $115 Canadian which was also very reasonable. Packaging was great as well.

First Impressions of the light
Build quality is top notch
Light is heavier than expected and very solid
Light is dead quite has fans for cooling but they have yet to come on
BOY IS THIS SUCKER BRIGHT!!!! (Running at about 50% power right now)
Great coverage over the tank dues to the way they space the LED’s out.
Controls are very easy to work
Power cords are setup in a very smart way allowing for a great distance from the tank
Adjusting the color is great can pretty much dial in exactly what I want

I tried to take a bunch of pictures of me setting up the light and such, but like an idiot I left the lens cap on so needless to say they were useless….
But I do have pictures, although they didn’t turn out the greatest so I will be taking more in the coming days….

All in all the light has more than meet my expectations, and so far I’m very impressed, time will tell if the corals and critters like it as much as I do, but I expect they will.
Stingray

TEK Light

Stingray

TEK

Stingray

TEK

Stingray


TEK

Stingray


If you have any questions or want to see something special let me know and I will do what I can.
Cheers
TJ

 

SHORT VIDEO OF LIGHT IN ACTION

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/INWATTERSTINGRAY.wmv

 

Here are some basic specs of the unit.
InWatter Stingray is designed to provide the right intensity and color combination for even the most demanding corals, whether they are soft corals, LPS or SPS. We use four different colored LED to enhance the color pop from corals. Our unique smart-PWM dimming provides excellent control and efficiency for our light-loving animals.

Features:
• 3watt CREE LED emitters
• 55 degree Optics
• Separate Light Dimming channel for White, Blue and Moon
• Configurable Sunrise/Sunset timer setting
• Adjustable legs and hanging mount (included with fixture)

2 ft 25.5"
Cool White x 16
Neutral White x 8
Royal Blue x 16
Cool Blue x 8
120 watt Total

3 ft 37"
Cool White x 24
Neutral White x 12
Royal Blue x 24
Cool Blue x 12
180 watt Total

4 ft 48.5"
Cool White x 32
Neutral White x 16
Royal Blue x 32
Cool Blue x 16
240 watt Total

Cheers
TJ

 

Excellent writeup!

And even more amazing tank!!!

Looking great - thanks for sharing!

 

Your welcome and there will be more to come and hopefuly some better photos, was a little over excited last night when doing things and screwed up most shots...

 

Looks good!

What about pricing? How does it compare to other units on the market such as the AI units at $529 per module and $79 for the controller?
What capabilities does the controller have like ramp up and ramp down times, number of seperate timers, storms etc? Is it easily programmed and can you update software via a computer and USB port?

 

Total cost on this ordering direct was about $1650 Canadian. Including , all shipping taxes ,duty, etc.

From what I was comparing to originally about $700-1000 less

 

Programming is somewhat limited but has everything that is really necessary.

You can control the intensity of the blue channel or the white channel from 0-100%
Once you set your intensity this is the max that they reach. (Can be changed any time obviously)

You have two choices for on/off (instant or sunrise)
Instant does just that instant on, sunrise/sunset ramps up the intensity from 0 - 100% over the course of 1 hour, in reverse for sunset. Then then moon effect is controlled on its own. and you have 5 levels of lighting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (not sure what the percent is there, but I tried the lowest level last night which is number one and was happy with that, the others are too bright for my liking. (I like it pretty dim for moons)

There are no thunderstorms, cloud effects, etc. but in talking with users with some of the fixtures that have this effect almost none seem to use it after the initially playing around, or when someone comes over to check out the lights. Then it’s one of those cool or neat things that is fun to show.

I admit it looks cool but I decided it wasn’t critical for me.

Having the ability to have varying levels of intensity through out the day is about the only thing I wish the light could do, but again not critical to me anyways.

I currently have the blues starting at 10:00 am the whites starting at 10:20 am and coming off 12 hours later, then the moons coming on for four hours.

Will probably change that as time goes on, but wanted to see how warm the fixture get’s today.

And no you can’t update the controller via the computer or anything but it’s built into the fixture, will be taking more pics of this later…

 

Hey TJSlayer,
I have to ask, do you work for InWatter?
the reason I ask is I've seen this exact duplicate thread and your previous one in at least 3 or 4 different forums. Secondly when i was trying to find information on Inwatter i could not find anything not even a few related google pages with info about the product. Just because in your initatial review you had said it was a top of the line brand, which to me would mean lots of companies know about it and more people would have mentioned it. In my searches the only pages i came across were spoken from you on a few different aquarium sites.

Not a problem, just curious cause i am interested in LEDs but have never heard of this company or couldnt find any info about them.

 

Nope no affiliation what so ever, other than being one of their first customers over here. I stumbled accross them a few months back when looking into led's, started the original thread here:

http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-lighting/switching-led-full-review-comming-107398.html

The reason I say they are top-notch is the build quality.

I had a Catilina T5 6 bulb setup on my tank originally, and it was decent, lite the tank, but the quality was just so-so...

Upgrade to the TEK 6 bulb fixture, and build quality went up, but still wasn't steller, but significantly ahead of the Catilina fixture...

When I recieved this yesterday I was just very very impressed with the quality of the fixture in terms of build quality. I have seen a few other fixture like the Sfigoli's and such and would compare the build quality to those, in my opinion anyway...

If the reliabilty of this light turns out half as good as the buikld quality is I'm sure I will have it for a long, long time....

I personally like to speak out when I find something good that has exceeded my expectations. And I know there are a lot of opeople looking into LED's right now, but unsure of where to put their hard earned cash. They are not cheap so not a decision you want to make lightly. Depending on the features someone is looking for these may fit the bill very well. I know I'm glad that I didn't convince myself to spend more, as the closest competitor was about another $700 when all was said and done...

If you have any other questions just ask will try to take some better photos this weekend.

Cheers
Todd