Has anyone bought lights from ebay?

If you do get an Odyssea make sure its the updated one the older ones don't last

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Lights are ok.. But Buyer Beware

Just do your research As with everything on e-bay make sure and read the feedback score as well as some positive and NEGATIVE feedback. I am always really weary of people who have had an account for less then a year and have like 5 digits or more of feedback score. Also since I have been screwed a couple times from sellers with even one or two negative feedback I choose to only buy from 100% Positive.. But that is just me.

As for the light fixture itself, it looks fine. FOr sure change the bulbs and even if you only have it for a while its a good deal.

I currently run LEDs which I would NEVER buy from ebay but thats a another topic
Good luck! As always spending more in this hobby doesn't always equal success, but.. buying the "best" most of the time helps..

Heidi

 

I forgot, I actually have three odyssea lights. I forgot about the refuge PC light. I buy from a company on ebay called "Topdogsellers"

 

+1 there. I couldnt rememebr the seller name when I first posted, but that is where I bought mine from as well.

 

you should look into the better made fixtures. dont forget, in this hobby, you get what you pay for. consider the tek5, you wont regret it.

 

Topdog is the best. Fast shipping. Bought from them couple times

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I say yes and partially no to this. Yes there are definitely better lights out there that can preform laps around the light listed. The reason I say partially no is while I do agree you get what you pay for alot of people get into this hobby not fully knowing what they need, are buying, and getting in to.

A person drops $300-$1000 bucks for a high end light then finds out they got in deeper than they were prepared for, now they get out of the hobby and take a HUGE loss. That is why I recommend a cheaper end fixture. Then a little while down the road if a person likes the hobby and explands then they have the knowledge to step up to bigger and better fixtures. Do they take a loss on the ebay fixture, sure maybe, but in todays economy its better to take a $100 loss than a $500 loss.

Plus alot of people that stay in the hobby almost always upgrade to a bigger tank, save your money and buy that big impressive light fixture for the big tank.

While the ebay fixture is not the best or brightest I havent lost a coral or browned one out yet.

I know some people take the other path and recommend buy big the first time, and there is nothing wrong with that either. It's just my personal experience in the hobby that I have to make my spending dolar count & for me a cheaper fixture was the route I went.

 

What makes one fixture brighter then the other. Is it the ballast, and if so what is the major difference? I've always wondered why one light fixture is priced differently then others that offer the same thing. Maybe this is just a newbie question, but I think it is a good one.

 

Ballasts do play a part, as the better fixtures have better ballasts. But one thing that is majorly different are reflectors. With a higher end fixture, you get a lot better reflector or individual reflectors for each bulb, so you get more light reflected down to the tank. But idk that its worth the extra money for a newbie. My odyssea T5 works great, and u and upgrade the bulbs after u run it for a few months. Unless you are going with tons of SPS, I don't feel that you need a high end T5 fixture. The odyssea T5 is cheap enough that if u do upgrade later, u can keep the odyssea for a backup.

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Ok, that is pretty much what I thought. I appreciate your response.