These LED's just aren't cutting it. Or - are they?

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by Ron99

Anyhow, I'm not here to make this into a PC vs. Apple debate :-) The cheap LED fixtures are slapped together by the companies in China without any R&D, design or long term testing.

Hey man, I'm with you there, not sure how a LED light discussion ends up being a computer hardware/software war.

It's just that when I see the much over used 'you get what you pay for' argument, I can't help but write a novel. There are so many variables with the products we're offered these days it's difficult to see the forest for the trees. Certainly there's a lot to be said for brand names & R&D, but there really are no guarantees in the end. We're all human & Asians, Europeans, North/South Americans, what have you can have a bad day at the assembly line. Of course the conditions with which these workers have to deal with will have an impact on how many bad days they have. I'm guessing here, but the company called 'solaris'? came out with some first generation LED fixtures that cost in the range of $2K and up? The company went bankrupt primarily due to a patent law suit IIRC, but the fixtures also had issues with their power supplies. Ask the folks that put out thousands for these quality fixtures how they feel about that.

I run VorTechs on my tank & am quite happy with them despite the price, but the first one I purchased was a Gen 1 MP40 on which the wet side magnets would rust after about 6 months of use. Of course the current models use improved magnets that don't rust, but I still paid top dollar for something that was made in the USA & probably rushed to market before all the R&D was done properly. I don't own a Radion LED, mainly due to the price, but it seems they rushed the first batch of those out as well, due to mounting pressure from the competition. Witness the newer models with improvements & tweaks. The originals were still pretty costly. Anyhow, sorry for the long winded novel again, but my experience is you don't always 'get what your pay for'.

[Ron99]

I hear you. Yes, any product can have defects or problems. A Porsche can have problems just like a Kia. But don't expect the Kia to have the same performance, build quality or materials as the Porsche. So while it's not a 100% accurate rule, in general I do find you get what you pay for. A better, more expensive brand will generally be better in most cases than a cheap generic product. I'm sure we can can make a list of examples that aren't the case but I think in general it is true.

My point was just that a $200 generic LED fixture is highly unlikely to have the performance, build quality and durability of a high end fixture.

[Madreefer]

Dammit!!!!!!
So are you guys saying I can't get by with my Commador 64?

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by Madreefer

Dammit!!!!!!
So are you guys saying I can't get by with my Commador 64?

Depends what you want to do with it. Seeing as people make controllers out of Arduino boards I'm sure you could program it to be a kick butt aquarium controller system that can still play Elite or Boulderdash