Maybe Vortech is not the right choice?
- Thread starter Poppy828
- Start date
Poppy828
Active member
WHOA....Back down now. Where did I give them a hard time? I asked questions due to concerns I had during my research. Nothing more.
It's a shame that an individual looking to better the choices in a hobby that is demanding, is being ridiculed in the manner in which he does it. I believed we were all adults and could discuss this in a manner that would benefit everyone invlolved. Apparently I was wrong.
It's a shame that an individual looking to better the choices in a hobby that is demanding, is being ridiculed in the manner in which he does it. I believed we were all adults and could discuss this in a manner that would benefit everyone invlolved. Apparently I was wrong.
john rochon
New member
I'm on the fence as well in purchasing, [I have to wait till theres a version for 1'' glass] but,
In the very begging am I not mistaken that ETC promised that ALL original owners could in fact prepay and be first in line for the new drivers?? I'm sure I read that! if so,
how could that change? is it a broken promise? ill informed promise? are they selling new pumps right now before all previous owners are upgraded??
not knocking anything here but even this thread is confusing?
these are not inexpensive powerheads and negative threads could do serious harm to a company.
can it be made clearer???
In the very begging am I not mistaken that ETC promised that ALL original owners could in fact prepay and be first in line for the new drivers?? I'm sure I read that! if so,
how could that change? is it a broken promise? ill informed promise? are they selling new pumps right now before all previous owners are upgraded??
not knocking anything here but even this thread is confusing?
these are not inexpensive powerheads and negative threads could do serious harm to a company.
can it be made clearer???
Poppy828
Active member
I don't see this as being negative. I see it as being an intelligent consumer and researching his investment. Nothing more. I did not bash ETM, bad mouth them or accuse them of anything. I asked questions.
1. Why were new customers taken care of prior to the existing customers?
2. What is the status with ETM and IC? This question was answered by IC.
If in fact, ETM stated in a release or post here that ALL original owners would be first in line, then by all means they failed the existing customer base as there are still those waiting for there items today. Some of those have been waiting a year.
This was the reason for my questions. Not to downgrade or bring negative attention to them. I have a right to know the reasoning as do all consumers, why ETM chose the route they took with this issue and if said problems were actually legitimate or not.
It's called educating yourself. I will think twice about typing my concerns here as it seems a few of you have been offended in some way by my inquiry.
1. Why were new customers taken care of prior to the existing customers?
2. What is the status with ETM and IC? This question was answered by IC.
If in fact, ETM stated in a release or post here that ALL original owners would be first in line, then by all means they failed the existing customer base as there are still those waiting for there items today. Some of those have been waiting a year.
This was the reason for my questions. Not to downgrade or bring negative attention to them. I have a right to know the reasoning as do all consumers, why ETM chose the route they took with this issue and if said problems were actually legitimate or not.
It's called educating yourself. I will think twice about typing my concerns here as it seems a few of you have been offended in some way by my inquiry.
EcoTech Marine
.Registered Member
I have already responded to this thread. Again, I apologize that we can't meet demand. We are building WWD's as fast as possible. I will have shipped all of my back orders (from my vendors) by early next week.
-Tim
Poppy828 you certainly are giving ETM a very hard time in this thread. You may not see it, but I do and I'm sure many others reading it do.
I'm sure ETM does not know exactly how many people WANT the WWD upgrade. They can estimate, yes. And vendors can take pre-orders out the whazoo, which certainly does not help ETM in this situation. If a vendor takes 1000 pre-orders but only orders 25 WWD's at at ime (btw ETM is definitely sending out more than this at a time as they stated in this thread), how is it ETM's fault? ETM does not sell directly to the consumer, so how the situation is handled is a direct result of the vendors and how they decided to handle it. Whatever promises they made to their customers should not reflect on ETM as they are doing their best to fill orders as fast as possible.
I'm sure everyone who bought a VorTech and was waiting for a WWD would've liked to have gotten them at the same time. But that's not how things like this happen in this world of reality. It is a roll-out that goes as fast as ETM can produce the WWD's. I'm sure they do not have a stockpile sitting in their offices while they laugh at all of us. And everyone is complaining about "pre-paying" and giving CC info to vendors... this money DOES NOT GO TO ETM! It is going to the vendors. ETM did not instruct them to take deposits, it was the decision of the individual vendors.
Maybe there could have been some more communication between ETM and the end users, but it would not have made the roll-out of the WWD's go any faster. They are still limited by how many they can produce at once. So whether it is 1 per day or 1000 per day, that is all that can be shipped out. The demand for the WWD's is so much higher than the MP40W that there could be 1 MP40W sitting on the shelf at all times and a "new" customer would still be able to walk in and buy one. Whereas ETM could be making thousands of WWD's and still not be able to meet the demand. So how can you blame them for pumps on the shelf? What matters is that they are producing, and as they said, it is almost entirely WWD's. If the vendors have orders in for MP40Ws you can't expect ETM to wait forever to fill those too.
As for all of your questions, it seems you have already made up your mind (and did long ago) about whether or not to purchase an ETM product so I do not quite understand why you continue to beat down on them like this. If you are so unsatisfied with the service you have not gotten without actually owning one of their products, then I am not sure what to tell you.
I'm sure ETM does not know exactly how many people WANT the WWD upgrade. They can estimate, yes. And vendors can take pre-orders out the whazoo, which certainly does not help ETM in this situation. If a vendor takes 1000 pre-orders but only orders 25 WWD's at at ime (btw ETM is definitely sending out more than this at a time as they stated in this thread), how is it ETM's fault? ETM does not sell directly to the consumer, so how the situation is handled is a direct result of the vendors and how they decided to handle it. Whatever promises they made to their customers should not reflect on ETM as they are doing their best to fill orders as fast as possible.
I'm sure everyone who bought a VorTech and was waiting for a WWD would've liked to have gotten them at the same time. But that's not how things like this happen in this world of reality. It is a roll-out that goes as fast as ETM can produce the WWD's. I'm sure they do not have a stockpile sitting in their offices while they laugh at all of us. And everyone is complaining about "pre-paying" and giving CC info to vendors... this money DOES NOT GO TO ETM! It is going to the vendors. ETM did not instruct them to take deposits, it was the decision of the individual vendors.
Maybe there could have been some more communication between ETM and the end users, but it would not have made the roll-out of the WWD's go any faster. They are still limited by how many they can produce at once. So whether it is 1 per day or 1000 per day, that is all that can be shipped out. The demand for the WWD's is so much higher than the MP40W that there could be 1 MP40W sitting on the shelf at all times and a "new" customer would still be able to walk in and buy one. Whereas ETM could be making thousands of WWD's and still not be able to meet the demand. So how can you blame them for pumps on the shelf? What matters is that they are producing, and as they said, it is almost entirely WWD's. If the vendors have orders in for MP40Ws you can't expect ETM to wait forever to fill those too.
As for all of your questions, it seems you have already made up your mind (and did long ago) about whether or not to purchase an ETM product so I do not quite understand why you continue to beat down on them like this. If you are so unsatisfied with the service you have not gotten without actually owning one of their products, then I am not sure what to tell you.
Poppy828
Active member
Tim, with all due respect, I appreciate the attempt to respond in this thread. I think you have a long road ahead of you with satisfying the needs of those that are still on the waiting list a year later.
If some additional planning was done on ETM part, I honestly feel, that you could have avoided much of this issue. As mentioned, it's easy for me to tell you how to run your business. However, being a business owner myself, I do have some experience with these types of things.
Best of luck to you in your quest to meet the demand.
If some additional planning was done on ETM part, I honestly feel, that you could have avoided much of this issue. As mentioned, it's easy for me to tell you how to run your business. However, being a business owner myself, I do have some experience with these types of things.
Best of luck to you in your quest to meet the demand.
Poppy828
Active member
Sadly you are mistaken my friend. I have not made my mind up yet. In fact, Fuppets has been generous enough to bring one of his pumps out to me next week for a trial run to see in person the benefit or non-benefit this will be for me.
I am still open to the possibility of investing in them. I have not written them off and fail to see where I said I did.
Again, my post was not to bash, beat up, bring down or any of the like to ETM. I had questions so I asked them. How is that hard to understand?
If the trial goes well next week with Fuppets, and I like the product and the benefit, then I will most certainly consider the investment.
EcoTech Marine
.Registered Member
Gentlemen- I believe that all parties have expressed their opinions on this matter. I do not feel that any further discussion on this thread will bring any new information to light or benefit either ETM or our customers in anyway.
Poppy- I'm looking forward to your demo of our pump with Fuppets. If you have any questions don't hesitate to shoot me an email at sales@ecotechmarine.com. If you'd like a return call just leave me a phone number.
This will be our last post on this thread.
I would like to ask that everyone stop posting to this thread, as I am worried it will only degenerate further.
-Tim
Poppy- I'm looking forward to your demo of our pump with Fuppets. If you have any questions don't hesitate to shoot me an email at sales@ecotechmarine.com. If you'd like a return call just leave me a phone number.
This will be our last post on this thread.
I would like to ask that everyone stop posting to this thread, as I am worried it will only degenerate further.
-Tim
FutureInterest
New member
I got my wireless drivers in today.
I'm not sure why this guy is so spazzy about the drivers when he doesn't even have the pump to begin with. This pump is not for you, heck this hobby is not for you if you lack even a modicum of patience.
It's just supply and demand coupled with limited production capability. I believe they did the best they could to supply the new drivers to current customers. I'm glad to have mine now, and I thank Ecotech and Aquarium Specialty for getting it to me post haste.
I'm not sure why this guy is so spazzy about the drivers when he doesn't even have the pump to begin with. This pump is not for you, heck this hobby is not for you if you lack even a modicum of patience.
It's just supply and demand coupled with limited production capability. I believe they did the best they could to supply the new drivers to current customers. I'm glad to have mine now, and I thank Ecotech and Aquarium Specialty for getting it to me post haste.
Personally i am not happy about the new drivers as we have to fork out another $75 for some minor advances, that is a lot of money if you have more than one vortech pump.
When the vortech came out they where suppose to have a wireless controller coming out and nothing was mentioned initially about getting a new driver box.
the whole marketing was based around the vortech was so much better than tunze as it was wireless etc, etc, nothing mentioned we had to get a new driver.
Then we where told we would get a updated driver box which would not cost much.
So far it has cost over $420 per pump and still no controller like the Tunze 7095 to control the pumps.
I got the new driver box and it is a cheap bit of plastic that does not seal right around when you clip the top pieces together,
The old drivers seem to be far better quality.
I suspect there could be a cashflow problem which is the norm when getting new developments off the ground.
In short the driver boxes should have been free or a very minor cost as they dont really add much value to the pump other than get it ready for the wireless controller which is being funded by the new driver boxes maybe.
here is a quote by icecap
here is the thread
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=966729&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
sorry i am not trying to degenerate the thread, just sick of spending more money on something that has no real value and we are not getting what was promised from day one of the pumps coming out.
Was some of the advertising misleading about these pumps?
On the positive side these are good pumps so i dont have any problems with them since all the bugs have be fixed.
When the vortech came out they where suppose to have a wireless controller coming out and nothing was mentioned initially about getting a new driver box.
the whole marketing was based around the vortech was so much better than tunze as it was wireless etc, etc, nothing mentioned we had to get a new driver.
Then we where told we would get a updated driver box which would not cost much.
So far it has cost over $420 per pump and still no controller like the Tunze 7095 to control the pumps.
I got the new driver box and it is a cheap bit of plastic that does not seal right around when you clip the top pieces together,
The old drivers seem to be far better quality.
I suspect there could be a cashflow problem which is the norm when getting new developments off the ground.
In short the driver boxes should have been free or a very minor cost as they dont really add much value to the pump other than get it ready for the wireless controller which is being funded by the new driver boxes maybe.
here is a quote by icecap
$75 is not a small fee??. Many dont really value the minor extras from the new driver box as these features should be handled by the wireless controller coming out, why double up.
here is the thread
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=966729&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
sorry i am not trying to degenerate the thread, just sick of spending more money on something that has no real value and we are not getting what was promised from day one of the pumps coming out.
Was some of the advertising misleading about these pumps?
On the positive side these are good pumps so i dont have any problems with them since all the bugs have be fixed.
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I'm confused, you think that the new driver adds "minor advances"? It is a controller that adds multiple different modes as well as user-customized modes to your pump. And not only that, it allows your pumps to communicate with one another to give you an infinite amount of controlling options. If anything, the "wireless controller" you are talking about would simply be a UI for the WWD's themselves which have all of the features in them already.
I am not sure if you have seen the videos and whatnot demonstrating what these new WWD's are capable of but they are truly impressive. I for one don't think that $75 is a terribly high price to pay for this upgrade, especially when the Tunze 7095 runs what, around $250?
I am not sure if you have seen the videos and whatnot demonstrating what these new WWD's are capable of but they are truly impressive. I for one don't think that $75 is a terribly high price to pay for this upgrade, especially when the Tunze 7095 runs what, around $250?
Like i said, this should be handled by the new wireless controller coming out, why would we want to change the settings on the driver box and the new wireless controller. the controller should do all that.
what value will the new driver box have once the new controller comes out, other than communicate with the controller.
Dont want to get into all the small detail, but read the old posts. the unit was suppose to be wireless from day one.
did not mention we had to pay more money to make it wireless and communicate etc.
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triggerfish1976
New member
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't the new drive box the controller? You are not only getting the wireless driver feature but you are also getting a controller as well with the $75. The Tunze single controller is $60.00 with less options and it has to be purchased seperately from the pump or you can spend $250 to control (4) so it seems to all be pretty much equal.
EcoTech Marine
.Registered Member
Yup, that's right.
-Tim
No not are far as i am aware? am i missing something.
My understanding was that A new wireless controller (not driver box) was coming out like the Tunze 7095 controller.
Am i wrong? or is the new driver the equivalent of the tunze 7095?
I dont want a single controller, i want what was promised a wireless controller with is due out some time in the future, read all the old posts.
quote for Eco tech re Controller.
Is there still going to be a Multicontroller coming out?
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triggerfish1976
New member
The way I understand it is the driver is the controller that will allow you to "control" the Vortech. Each pump must have its own driver/controller but they will communicate with each other wirelessly (sp) to create multiple pump flow patterns. Basically you are getting a single controller with multicontroller functionality in one unit.
The cost is comparable to the Tunze controllers but with more options.
So to answer your question the driver is the single and multi controller.
The cost is comparable to the Tunze controllers but with more options.
So to answer your question the driver is the single and multi controller.
trigger has it right... the driver is the controller / multicontroller and each MP40W can control I believe 10+ other MP40W's. It allows you to choose from a large variety of modes as well as making your own modes (using sync and anti-sync abilities). Basically they built everything into the one little box so that you would not need to purchase anything else. You just need the WWD on each pump.
