Too good to be true..TaoTronics LED

LED Aquarium Lights, Lighting; emitters, PAR, DIY, How they work | Aquarium Article Digest
This article basically covers every thing about LED's.

TaoTronics, SkyLED LED Light Reviews | My Aquarium Opinions
Found this interesting article, I know many fixtures like this that browned out their corals after 6-8 months of using mass produced chinese led lights, now that they upgraded the leds to start using bridgelux, but kepts same cheap drivers and connections, Are these Tao tronics fixtures going to work after 2+ years? Still to early to tell.

It scares me to invest in technology like this, because we let the cheap prices overpower our common sense. If you research half of these ads of this exact same light that is sold by a few different vendors, half of them say cree leds, half say bridgelux, and some just say high powered 3w leds. Also I usually notice spelling mistakes and other errors in the info. If someone can't have a proper write up and description to sell the product, how can you have faith in the same quality out of said product.

 

For $180, if I can get 2 years of guaranteed use out of a light, I will be more than pleased. Technology changes so fast in this hobby (LED wasn't mentioned at all when I joined this site 3 years ago) that you may want to invest in something else a year or two from now. For $180, you can justify doing that.

I contacted the seller of my unit (here in US), and he specifically told me that the units were Bridgelux. The reviews on this very site have been positive towards growth and PAR ratings.

 

and that he himself warranties the lights.

 

I always take articles such as these with a grain of salt. First the writer of this article does not even have nor has ever had the fixture in question. Seems they are relying on what someone else has told them.Also advertising on this site for other led company's leads me to believe there may be alot of bias. I do agree that these fixtures are certainly not top of the line but for me the price was worth a shot. It is only natural for other companies to spread articles like these around to protect themselves from the loss of buisness a low priced fixture could cause.(Not saying thats what this is though) Since there are a few of us here who have purchased these lights I am sure we will know soon enough if they work or not. For myself I was in need of replacing my t5 bulbs at around 120.00 and for an extra 80.00 I was able to purchase this fixture. While I am sure it is not as efficient as some other brands it is much more efficient then the t5 fixture I replaced. Also their customer service so far seems adequate as we have had a couple people who have had problems and the fixtures were promptly replaced. My LFS just installed these lights over thousands of dollars of livestock so I guess we will take the plunge together. At least this way everyone here can be sure of a true unbiased review of the fixture.Looking forward to once again being the 3reef guinea pig.

 

PAR Numbers

First for the PAR measurements in the water I kept this pretty plain and simple. All pendants were 12" from the surface of the water for this first measurement. I took a PAR reading directly under the center of the module. I then took a measurement that was 6" to the left of center of the module, then 12" to the front of the module. The reason I went with 6" is because the AI drops off to far going further than that, and for comparison sake it just didn't make sense for this test. You could also argue that the way I have the Illumina and Radion hanging is actually front to back, instead of left to right. Take it for what you want, but the numbers give you an idea.

AquaIllumination
Center: 510
6" Left: 180
12" Forward: 120

Vertex Illumina
Center: 118
6" Left: 113
12" Forward: 109

Ecotech Radion
Center: 215
6" Left: 148
12" Forward: 130

Taotronics
55% whites and 100% blues

Water surface (10" from fixture) = 400
6" below water surface = 330
12" below water surface = 210
18" below water surface = 177
24" below water surface = 147


NOT MY PAR READINGS! Took these off other threads from other places.
HMMM

 

Vinny you are completely right, The article is obviously trying to push other led brands, but it raised good points about the Tao Tronics units. So far they seem to be doing everything they are advertising, but I just wondered about long term issues, but for the price you could argue they are cheap enough to replace every few years. With the reefbreeders version now including violet, red and green the units are seeming amazing, which just begs the question is it too good to be true, has anyone taken theirs apart to see what kind of drivers are being used? and such.

I've built a diy kit twice and seen some high end lights like the orphek, ecotech, vertex and mine did not compare to what these lights showed. I could see the expensive price point and workmanship in these units and factoring in how much i acutally spent building the diy, the quality components cost alot. Notice those leds are soldered to mcpb boards and have individual wiring to configure cloud control and more. Not to mention how nice those lights are to look at. This whole fixture complete with dimming costs less than what I and many others paid building a kit.

Compare a 24 kit from rapid versus this light.
It raises the cost of componets used in this. I cant argure the par readings they have now, but in 6 months, will it be the same? Will the unit have lost any spectrum?

 

True true. But the way i am looking at it now. i could buy a t5 for around the same price as this, then have to replace the bulbs twice over 2 years for around 100$. So if i have to replace it in 2 years, well i got some good growth for less then a t5 system would have cost just to replace bulbs! so its worth a shot in my book.

 

@NC, i have taken mine completely apart. they is no branding on the drivers at all. The wiring inside is solid and the LED array soldering is pretty good if you ask me.

The fans could use replacing because they are noisy.

Now, if you are looking for a basic LED light that you run on light timers, this is your light.

If you want something that's going to replicate weather patterns and light cycles, you should probably buy a more expensive light.

 

The other way to look at this is if the LEDs do wear out, you can always solder in some CREEs from rapidled or any other supplier really. I am sure it would be only a slight modification.

 

My thinking when purchasing this fixture was it would cost me over 480.00 just in bulb costs for the two years not including electricity savings. Will they last that long? I have no idea and I am not usually one to cut corners especially when it comes to my corals and fish. I guess as long as the company selling them is willing to stand behind their product for 2 years (remains to be seen) which is alot longer then most companies including some of the ones selling these high priced fixtures; then I was willing to take that chance. I actually purchased two of these fixtures but so far I have only needed one and I have not gotten rid of my t5 fixture so for me I am covered if I do have any problems and I gotta tell you that makes me sleep alot better. I am by no means an electrician and still an led noob so I guess as long as my corals are happy I am happy. We will see for how long.