You get what you pay for?! A marketing hype or a reality?

[TimT]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

think back 10 years ago to the debates between extruded and cell cast skimmer bodies, retailers were charging twice as much just because the body was cell cast, did it make a difference on performance nope, but they would have you think it would.

If you don't consider durability and clarity aspects of performance then I would agree. There is a large difference in strength and thickness between cell cast and extruded tube. Extruded acrylic tube is thin and brittle and fractures easily. So if your willing to risk having the bottom of your skimmer blow out if it gets a big bump or break if it falls over then go for it. I however would rather have a skimmer that will last a long time, take abuse and not flood the place. It makes for less worry when sleeping or being away on holidays.

I bought one of those shiny new stainless barbeques at Costco for $109. It can't cook as many burgers or souvlaki as the $500 model and it has rusted out on the burner covers after 2 years. Shoulda spent the $500. I will agree with Brad on this one.

When it comes to fish the difference can be more subtle and devastating. Take for example Flame Angels. The cheap Christmas Islands ones used to be held in plastic cups in the lagoons. They had heat stress issues and were not that strong. Yes they were cheap and they looked like a Flame Angel so everyone buys them. They gleefully brag about how cheap their Flame Angel was until it dies shortly after or only lives 6 months. This gives the other Flame Angels from Hawaii, Marshall Islands and Vanuatu a bad reputation. These Flame angels are more money because there is far more care taken in collection and holding. You get what you pay for.

A friend of mine who used to be in the hobby once calculated the value of fish in his tank verses the amount of money he spent on fish. He purchased all the fish from the same store over a 1 year period. It was a 10 to 1 ratio but the fish were cheap at the store. He learned his lesson.

There is a reason why the German and Japanese LFS are some of the best in the world... you get what you pay for.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by TimT

If you don't consider durability and clarity aspects of performance then I would agree. There is a large difference in strength and thickness between cell cast and extruded tube. Extruded acrylic tube is thin and brittle and fractures easily. So if your willing to risk having the bottom of your skimmer blow out if it gets a big bump or break if it falls over then go for it. I however would rather have a skimmer that will last a long time, take abuse and not flood the place. It makes for less worry when sleeping or being away on holidays..

ahh here is the problem, most of the difference was hype from manufactures that were using cell cast, or LFS trying to charge even more, I know of several extruded going for over 20 years now, no yellowing, crazing, etc. there is truth to the slightly thicker and clearer, but skimmers reactors and such are very low if not zero pressure applications so no worry, as for bottom blowing out and such that is from pour gluing and prep not material, I have chunks of extruded I have abused pretty hard and I can tell you its not brittle.

Originally Posted by TimT

I bought one of those shiny new stainless barbeques at Costco for $109. It can't cook as many burgers or souvlaki as the $500 model and it has rusted out on the burner covers after 2 years. Shoulda spent the $500. I will agree with Brad on this one..

I agreed with him to so don't know what your point is in this one, once again there is a huge difference between bottom end and mid grade, but is there much difference between your 500 buck BBQ and my 2000.00 buck one aside from I can maybe cook a few more burgers and might be sear function that tell you the truth I never use... that was my point mid grade to high grade may not be worth the difference in money

Originally Posted by TimT

There is a reason why the German and Japanese LFS are some of the best in the world... you get what you pay for.

exactly and oh so often we don't get what we pay for in Canada.. we pay way to much for what were getting

Steve