why are some led lights SOOO expensive?

I mean, do they grow your corals better then say a reefbreeders unit? I dont think anyone has proved this, but if they have thats what i want to know. What about the radions? they are wicked expensive 2. Is it just because of the name? or the "well i can do weather and you cant", again does this do anything for your corals?(i have heard it does not help)

so besides that they might looks nice and have more "controllability" why are they hundreds of dollars more for in some cases a smaller unit that covers less space?

 

From personal experience when you dive during a storm there is no difference under water. I think a weather mode is a gimmick to make more money and for those who want a cool toy.

 

that was my thought on it. like adding neon underglow to your car. lol

 

yeah pretty much. Also you cannot hear thunder or see lightning underwater anyways, so whats the point. It's something you show off and that's about it....waste of money and it would get old.

 

Control-ability is a major factor, major enough that I wouldn't buy any of the ones that he is currently mass producing because of the lack of independent control of the colored leds. And yes, those lights are much more powerful than the bridgelux edition reefbreeders. But past that, you are buying name.
Logan's lights are new to market and keep in mind that there was real competition without having external everything. Wires going all over, drivers separate.. makes it tough to have a clean install. The new AIs are much more inline cost wise but still not as good a value as the reefbreeders lights if you are willing to make the concessions.

On the lightning. It's not about the corals, it's totally for us. And it really is pretty cool and I can say after a year of it... it's still cool to me.

 

lol whatever makes you happy, I guess they are cool even if it's a bit of a gimmick. What do you think of the new Built in controller reefbreeders?

 

i believe you can use a controller with his fixtures? he installs meanwell drivers and you can use the controller, not sure how many channels this allows you to control tho. also pretty sure he just came out with a new built in controlled fixture.

Idk i saw the weather function at the LFS and i was not impressed. I guess to each their own. I could just never see spending $800 for 1 small light that has weather. And i guess it would be nice to adjust each led seperatly? but again i would never use this and it is not worth the extravagant cost.

And you say new sols are inline price wise? I have 1 of the 120w bridgelux fixtures over a 75 and it works great. Grows sps at top. How many of the NEW ais would you need to achieve that? yea not 1. so my $200 vs MAYBE just 2 of those at $500 each? no thank you!

 

It's a step in the right direction but it doesn't hold a candle to AI vega's ability to dim every single led separately. I'm a control junky as most SPS keepers are, because we have to be.

 

You aren't keeping corals that require what I do. And for you this all makes sense. But as you get into the $10,000+ of livestock.. that extra couple hundred bucks for full control is nothing. You are looking at it from your point of view.. and for you it sounds like you have found what is the best value.

No number of the reefbreeders lights that you have could work for my tank. So it's not even about money. Shallow tanks, they are great.. but still lack control that I would not live without.

 

I have 2 of the AI SOL's. I really like them because of controllability (12 independent timers) and moon phase along with some other things. For example i can change optics, leds, drivers, everything all on my own. just have to order the parts from AI directly. And they are manufactured in Ames IA, which is under 2 hours away.

I have no disrespect for Reefbreeders or any of the other cheaper units in fact im considering order supplemtation from them.