REAL OR A KNOCK OFF?

[Chew_Magna]

knock off or not its going to do the same exact thing as if its not a knock off. give off tons of light and grow coral. So whats the big deal. I think its pretty retarded people get all panties in a bunch over things like this. It will work just fine either way.

 

still lights tanks and grows corals.

 

LOL now your just trying to act like a snippy little ass. no one is comparing something like that but go ahead and keep standing on your little LED soap box about only thing you suggest will work

You might want to do some more research before you come off with these type of statements. Led's are most definitely not created equal, and a lot of the knockoffs will certainly not grow corals, or even keep them alive. Some big brand "reef capable" led's will not supply proper light for corals, even though they're labelled as being able to do so (*cough* Marineland). A no name knockoff like this could very well be 0.5w diodes and you wouldn't know until you paid for it, received it, tested it, and then were ignored by the seller upon trying to contact them on the matter.

 

I am sorry to detract from the thread by going off topic, but I just want to take a moment to say how disappointed it makes me to see members treating each other so poorly on this forum.

 

We are always bound to have some difference in opinion; regardless, we should treat each other with respect.

 

In my experience, those who jump to rude behavior and insults are those who have no leg to stand on in an argument. Show your intelligence, people! Not your egos...

 

 

Welcome to the internet lol. There are always a few in every community who will go above and beyond to express their ignorance. And they will try their damnedest because they know there is no real reprisal.

[MOJOEJOEJOE]

In defense of OX5 lots of people on a tight budget run non Cree LEDs at a fraction of the cost and have great coral growth and color. I have been running 10 watt LEDs and had great results. I recently switched to Cree out of curiosity and I will admit I like them. That does not meN that I'm now turned off to the China LEDs because they still have value. Back to my original question , I guess no one really knows what these are

[Chew_Magna]

In defense of OX5 lots of people on a tight budget run non Cree LEDs at a fraction of the cost and have great coral growth and color. I have been running 10 watt LEDs and had great results. I recently switched to Cree out of curiosity and I will admit I like them. That does not meN that I'm now turned off to the China LEDs because they still have value. Back to my original question , I guess no one really knows what these are

You're right, there are some Chinese products out there that are decent items. The problem is that you don't know if you're getting a quality item or a pile of junk because there are so many knockoffs, unbranded, and products labelled as something that they aren't (the fact that it's coming from Ebay compounds this even further). If you're ok taking the risk then by all means, do so. I'm not a fan of gambling so I steer clear of things like that.

[Gilligan]

Used in a proper fashion, the Marineland Reef Capable LED does grow coral just fine.

[Steensj2004]

Used in a proper fashion, the Marineland Reef Capable LED does grow coral just fine.

For as long as they last....things have horrible reviews on longevity(or at least las time I checked).For the price of the small one, better to just buy a Reefbreeder's Value fixture and get a light that is proven, all for 30.00 dollars more.

 

I don't think the argument is if corals will grow under a light, but what they will look like and how WELL they will grow. Maybe I misunderstood though....

[Gilligan]

For as long as they last....things have horrible reviews on longevity(or at least las time I checked).For the price of the small one, better to just buy a Reefbreeder's Value fixture and get a light that is proven, all for 30.00 dollars more.

 

I don't think the argument is if corals will grow under a light, but what they will look like and how WELL they will grow. Maybe I misunderstood though....

 

Did you see how much PAR the Marineland has on a shallow tank? It's fine for nano.

 

They fit great on the Spec V.

 

Do they sell reefbreeders at the LFS? no.

The reefbreeders light is $80 more and I did not even know about it at the time I bought it so....

 

Would I buy it again knowing what I know now? Probably not, but I don't regret it.

 

It has a built in dual channel timers which is nice.

 

Since you brought the reefbreeders light up, It says to have 55 3 watt LEDs. That should be a total consumption of at least 165 watts.

The manufacturer claims it uses 115watts, 65 at half power.

So what are they lying about, are they misrepresenting the LEDs and not all of them are 3 watt? Maybe they are not being utilized at full power even when on full power. Regardless it's shady and misleading.

 

Why even compare a light with 55 leds to one that has less then half of that?

[05XRunner]

we are not talking Current fixture or coralife fixture with .5w LED these knock offs are much higher power LED and will do the job needed. Dont understand why the need to bring in irrelevant items to try and make a case saying not all are same when thats comparing apples to oranges. We are comparing the cree LED's if they are legit or if they say they are cree and just use a different brand.

Still high power LED and is no way something you compare a fixture using a total power of like 5-10w but then everyone wants to say they have the newest and I have this and that guess to make them self feel important when person running the Chinese version will be growing things in their tank just as well. as its been proved time and time again with plenty of users with the higher power Chinese fixtures working great.

all and your reefbreeders, reef radiance and Ocean wave lights are basically all just chinese fixtures just american company imports them and slaps their name on them. So everyone raves about them but if it was straight from china it would be junk..odd isnt it

[Steensj2004]

Did you see how much PAR the Marineland has on a shallow tank? It's fine for nano.

 

They fit great on the Spec V.

 

Do they sell reefbreeders at the LFS? no.

The reefbreeders light is $80 more and I did not even know about it at the time I bought it so....

 

Would I buy it again knowing what I know now? Probably not, but I don't regret it.

 

It has a built in dual channel timers which is nice.

 

Since you brought the reefbreeders light up, It says to have 55 3 watt LEDs. That should be a total consumption of at least 165 watts.

The manufacturer claims it uses 115watts, 65 at half power.

So what are they lying about, are they misrepresenting the LEDs and not all of them are 3 watt? Maybe they are not being utilized at full power even when on full power. Regardless it's shady and misleading.

 

Why even compare a light with 55 leds to one that has less then half of that?

Look, Reefbreeders light are excellent lights. Much better than a Marineland, without a doubt. The Marineland has dual timers, you are correct, which makes up for the majority of the cheap price....you aren't paying for quality LEDs in the marineland fixture.....

 

Reefbreefers are proven excellent lights, the idea of comparing them to a Marineland is silly IMHO. the cheapest Marineland reef compatable light is 149.00, Reefbreeders Value Fixture is 180.00.....thats a 30.00 difference?

 

I can compare the two lights because of the very SLIGHT difference in price.. If you are going to buy cheap, you should buy cheap the right way?

 

 

 

 

 

 

we are not talking Current fixture or coralife fixture with .5w LED these knock offs are much higher power LED and will do the job needed. Dont understand why the need to bring in irrelevant items to try and make a case saying not all are same when thats comparing apples to oranges. We are comparing the cree LED's if they are legit or if they say they are cree and just use a different brand.

Still high power LED and is no way something you compare a fixture using a total power of like 5-10w but then everyone wants to say they have the newest and I have this and that guess to make them self feel important when person running the Chinese version will be growing things in their tank just as well. as its been proved time and time again with plenty of users with the higher power Chinese fixtures working great.

all and your reefbreeders, reef radiance and Ocean wave lights are basically all just chinese fixtures just american company imports them and slaps their name on them. So everyone raves about them but if it was straight from china it would be junk..odd isnt it

 

 

Everyone knows Reefbreeder fixtures are chinese lights.......differnce is the ability to call an talk to someone in English(not to mention actually get ahold of someone) when the thing breaks.....

[TJ_Burton]

we are not talking Current fixture or coralife fixture with .5w LED these knock offs are much higher power LED and will do the job needed. Dont understand why the need to bring in irrelevant items to try and make a case saying not all are same when thats comparing apples to oranges. We are comparing the cree LED's if they are legit or if they say they are cree and just use a different brand.

Still high power LED and is no way something you compare a fixture using a total power of like 5-10w but then everyone wants to say they have the newest and I have this and that guess to make them self feel important when person running the Chinese version will be growing things in their tank just as well. as its been proved time and time again with plenty of users with the higher power Chinese fixtures working great.

all and your reefbreeders, reef radiance and Ocean wave lights are basically all just chinese fixtures just american company imports them and slaps their name on them. So everyone raves about them but if it was straight from china it would be junk..odd isnt it

 

Believe it or not, I actually do agree with you to an extent. I will say though, an American, German, or Canadian made product tends to be far more reliable and better built (assembled) than alike products made in China. Saying they are the same in quality/construction would be incorrect in most cases. How do these China fixtures hold up long term (do they last their entire listed life expectancy etc.)? Are the colors of LED used truly what they are stated to be? How noisy does the fixture operate compared to others? Are these fixtures as user friendly or feature-rich as others?

 

When paying for a light fixture, I am considering more than just the light fixture's ability to grow corals. I am looking at the features, overall control, specs of the LEDs, warranty and customer support, etc. Companies like Ecotech are constantly improving their product and their customer support is not too bad at all. It feels great to own a light or a pump that becomes more and more feature rich as time goes on; it is almost like getting a new product every time Ecotech releases a software update for their products.

 

When I purchase Ecotech or other high end products, I am paying for more than just a piece of equipment, and I am happy to do that. Trying to compare a Chinese LED fixture to an American LED fixture (omitting rebrands) is possible, but trying to prove one is "better" than the other is really silly. The question isn't so much "which light is better" as it is "which light is better for YOU".

 

At the end of the day it comes down to opinion, and people are trying to compare economy sedans to supercars... sure they both drive from A to B, but if you can't afford a fully loaded 2014 BMW SUV, you can still get there in a 1999 Civic. Some people can afford the luxury but still choose economy. It comes down to what is important to you, or what you want to work with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MOJOEJOEJOE]

• I think the problem for some guys is that its easy to get caught up in a specific brand like Nike or Adidas, Ford or Chevy etc. At the end of the day there are plenty of people who support and see value in both products. After looking more into this light it really does not matter who makes it. I wont be buying it because it is a single ch led. That sort of limits things IMO.

[Paleoreef103]

Since you brought the reefbreeders light up, It says to have 55 3 watt LEDs. That should be a total consumption of at least 165 watts.

The manufacturer claims it uses 115watts, 65 at half power.

So what are they lying about, are they misrepresenting the LEDs and not all of them are 3 watt? Maybe they are not being utilized at full power even when on full power. Regardless it's shady and misleading.

 

Why even compare a light with 55 leds to one that has less then half of that?

The LEDs are being underdriven for longevity and to account for the small amount of mass used in the 120W chinese light heat sinks. A 3W LED is more of a way to talk about a size and intensity of LED rather than it using 3W. They're generally called 3W LEDs because a similarly sized Cree or Luxeon LED run at 1000mA uses up around 3W (Vf for a Cree XT-E @ 1A is about 3.1. Run at 1A it uses up 3.1W of power). For example, we still call something like LEDgroupbuy's hyper violets a 3W LED even though with a Vf of 3.4 run at max suggested current of 700 mA only uses up 2.38 Watts.

 

Cheap light vs cheap light. It's like comparing Walmart brand vs Costco Brand.

[Horerczy]

Well the store brand generics trend to be name brands with a different label. Especially food.

[Gilligan]

I can see both sides. Most of our good products are made in China, however it's the unsolicited products that can be bad.

 

Electronic devices are commonly repackaged and relabeled to represent a more expensive device. While they may function, they are not up to the specification of the real good ones.

 

They have very little to fear, nobody does anything about it. They specifically change the font or spelling of something, this is acceptable in Chinese law.

 

It's not a big problem with LEDs now as it will be. Before all we had was small LEDs, why would you fake them as such a simple device was hard to actually be fake.

However now with high powered LEDs becoming more commonplace, we will surly see 3w LEDs sold as 10w etc.

Think I am a bad person? Breakfast anyone?

[farkwar]

Just look at the LEDs they have listed.

The power they are running at.

Do the math.

[MOJOEJOEJOE]

I(A) = P(W) / V(V)

 

Item:60W led

 

DC Forward Voltage (VF): 28~30V

 

DC Forward Current (IF): 350mA-1.8A

 

It looks like there in the ballpark.