Quote:
Originally Posted by Canadian
I think that's fair. I have gotten the same impression from Grim as well. But as you can see in this thread other hobbyists seem to ignorantly (and I mean that in the very literal sense without any offense intended) prop him up as such an authority as to suggest that his "tests" need to be done in order to provide a stamp of approval on anything related to T5 fluorescents. If you look back at his "tests" you'll see they have been wrought with errors (to which Grim has admitted quite admirably). Unfortunately too many hobbyists seem to latch on to the pseudo-scientific "tests" because they appear to be well done without understanding enough about critically appraising research and study design. As someone whose profession is dependent upon critical analysis of research, and as someone who both publishes and critically appraises randomized controlled trials for a living, I can't help but be critical of those "tests". And I simply feel it is necessary for hobbyists to understand that these "tests" and their results are certainly not definitive and should be interpreted with caution.
|
A few years ago I did a series of tests evaluating the UV output of different florescent bulbs over their useful lifespan. One thing that we found was a higher than expected variance in initial output which tended to narrow over time but was still significant. You can't get definitive results that account for these things without a very large sample size and some good statistical work. I don't think this will happen any time soon and even if it did it's tough to decide what actual impact some of the measures would really have.
One thing that will help people make better choices is an open discussion with manufacturers that goes beyond the marketing bullet points and really talks about their products. I think Aqua Digital and Fauna Marine deserve some brownie points for doing this the way they have with this and some of their other products.