Led Light Competition Wars

[PAUL327]

I have read all about the Solaris and the other model that has stated that their light has better Par and uses less energy. I have also read many reefers statements regarding how they would love to have these lights but the price is just too far out of reach. Well I'am here to tell you fellow reefers to just be patient and wait a little while longer before you drop 4,000 on a fixture. There are many companies out there that are currently doing research on their line of leds before they hit the market. This will definetly create an led price war. These companies will compete to out do each other and out sell each other. This will in hand drop many of the high prices on these fixtures which will doing more than benefit the consumer. You'll get a better product with better technology. So my best advice is wait let the companies try and out do each other and you will save in the long run.

 

[DarG]

I'm very leary about the LED lighting movement. Many of the LED's lose signifigant output with time, all the cheapies do. The LED's have to be of the highest quality to maintain consistent brightness over their lifetime. With competition in this lighting and prices dropping, I would be leary of the quality of the LED's used as competition drops prices. Somebody, in the near future, is going to drop down 1500 bucks on a bargain of an LED fixture only to find that the intensity isnt worth a snot a month after using it.
It's easy to build an all LED fixture, but it's still relatively expensive to do it with the highest quality LED's that will retain their necessary output over the long haul. Competition will bring prices down but along with that you can bet that LED quality will go down as well.

 

[PAUL327]

You may be right. But what does that say about the company who produces the leds that crap out in one month. I believe the research going on right now is to produce the highest quality led which will last the longest. The price may fall a little to able to produce mass production of the Leds. I believe that you will see better products in the future. The Solaris claims that the Leds will produce at least 70% of the original Par over 50,000 hours of life that is not bad but I'm sure companies are striving for a better Led for a better bargin. I'm sure that Led companies would not want to spend thousands designing a reef led just for their product to flop. But you never you know in this market. I'm confident consumers will be impressed with what is going to hit the market.

 

[pjf]

Upgradeability

Upgradeability

Competition is coming from www.aquaillumination.com. They have been marketing three things:
• Modular (upgradeable?) design
• Greater efficiency (higher PAR, lower energy)
• Computer interfaces (Bluetooth & RS232)

If they deliver modularity, they may succeed. If LED banks are as interchangeable as T5 lamps, then they can be upgraded to even higher efficiencies in the future. A computer interface to accept new illumination programs is attractive. My comment is to stick with the wireless Bluetooth and consider anything else a salt creep magnet.

 

[DarG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10056872#post10056872 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by PAUL327
You may be right. But what does that say about the company who produces the leds that crap out in one month. I believe the research going on right now is to produce the highest quality led which will last the longest. The price may fall a little to able to produce mass production of the Leds. I believe that you will see better products in the future. The Solaris claims that the Leds will produce at least 70% of the original Par over 50,000 hours of life that is not bad but I'm sure companies are striving for a better Led for a better bargin. I'm sure that Led companies would not want to spend thousands designing a reef led just for their product to flop. But you never you know in this market. I'm confident consumers will be impressed with what is going to hit the market.

You see it with everything else so there is no reason to expect that it will be any different with LEDs. I'm not saying that the competition will not bring to market lower cost LED fixtures that are high quality. That will happen as well. Competition will cause price drops all across the board. But once there is sufficient competition for that to happen, and LED's become more popular the cheap stuff will begin hitting the market with the pretty advertising, the claims of equal or better quality and the price tag of 25%, 30% less for LED systems with LED's that lose output like my wifes booklight and are basically worthless in a short period of time. I can see it coming in the not too distant future. A Chinese made LED lighting system loaded with the same LED's that are in my wifes booklight.

And the booklight reference is not totally a joke. I replaced the two LED's in that thing after less than 2 months because the output was probably 1/2 of what it was when brand new. The LED's I replace them with are supposed to be high quality ... atleast they make it for 4 or 5 months before I have to change them out again.

 

[Drix]

Well, lots of us already replace lights every 6 months, in the first place. How much power are we saving? Is this something that even with more maintenence on the LED's we're still going to be running cheaper?

 

[pjf]

You are right. If we keep upgrading the LED modules, we may never recover our initial investment. Modular upgrades simply delay the moment when our system needs to be replaced.

I believe that most devotees of LED lighting are attracted its combination of aesthetics and programmable illumination. Its shimmer or "glitter lines" are not obtainable from tubes. Its computer directed lighting provides a measure of control not easily coaxed from halides.

 

[PAUL327]

I sure would like to hear from a Solaris owner on here after 12 months of use just to see pics and read what they say about the leds after one year of use.

 

[GSMguy]

aquatinics has been working with LED as well.