Slief, in your experience, do you like the new SM250 with the RD3 better than the old model? If so, why? I have the old and am wondering whether I should take advantage of the sale on the new model.
Before my SM250, I had an Alpha 300 with the standard Red Dragons. As such, I can't really give you an objective answer based on first hand experience. Since I do have experience with both variations of the pumps, I can at least provide a bit of thought on it. The Red Dragon 1500's on my Alpha were the ones with the adjustable volutes. Those adjustable volutes were a bit of a pain to dial in. Especially given that the Alpha had 2 pumps so that left for a lot of adjusting to get the skimmer dialed in just right. I had my hands in the water twisting those volutes quite often for the first month or two. Despite that, I found them to be great pumps and never had a single issue with them in the 3+ years that I owned that skimmer.
Having said that, the SM250 is obviously a great skimmer with or without the RD3. The original Red Dragon on yours happens to be a great pump. On the other hand, I really like the RD3. I think it has some advantages over the standard Red Dragon. It's obviously much easier to adjust and dial in which is a huge benefit as far as fine tuning. Being able to adjust the pumps flow via the controller and it's direct impact on the SCFH and bubble size may have it's advantages over the standard pump beyond just the ease of tuning but that is only speculation. It obviously looks nice too!
If your skimmer is really dialed in to your liking, I'm not sure you will see much of a benefit migrating to the SM250 with the RD3. I did see a post a couple days back from another member who did just what you are considering. He might be better qualified to answer that since he is going from an older SM250 with the Red Dragon to the newer SM250 with the RD3. If nothing else, the used SM250's hold there value very well so you should be able to sell it easily for good money assuming you thoroughly clean it up. That would certainly offset your costs on the new one and the current discount on them is a great price that will be hard to come by down the road.. Food for thought.
I wish I could give you more feedback on that. I don't think you would regret the migration but you do happen to have a great skimmer as it is.
Here is the guy who just migrated from the older SM250 to the new one.. This is one page back. I sent him a PM to see if he would chime in. I'm sure he is still in the break in period but since it's been close to a week, perhaps he can provide some objective feedback.
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