[ponokareefer]

I am wondering to all those that are jumping into the LED craze that is happening, if it is really going to be worth it? There are a few points that have been briefly brought up or not at all, but have me concerned.

1. Successful fixtures haven't been out very long, so haven't been tested by actual reefers over the long haul. Will they stand up?

2. Do bulbs actually last 50,000 hours and remain effective? Or will they be very ineffective after 25,000 hours? My MH's, PC's and T5's don't burn out after a year, but I change them for good reason anyway.

3. The cost for fixtures compared to MH's and T5's is way higher right now. I can buy a decent MH or T5 fixture for less than a DIY LED kit. Are you really going to save that much on energy bills and bulb replacements to make that up?

4. While you save on not changing bulbs every year, at $5/LED, when you actually replace bulbs, are you going to be even saving money on bulbs? I need about 80 to 100 LED's over my tank, and that is $400 to $500 for the LED bulbs. That is way more than what I spend right now on replacing my current MH's and PC's.

5. I don't own a unit, but are there instructions on how to remove and replace bulbs for a pre-made unit? Aren't they soldered in and together? Personally, I'm not messing with soldering a pre-made unit or I would have just gone with a DIY unit.