why are some led lights SOOO expensive?

Well I DON'T KNOW! ;D lol. It was just a guess

 

And phones target millions. EcoTech targets a very small crowd. You price to maximize profits. Ferrari does this as well. It doesn't cost 200,000 to produce one, but they retail for 300,000+.

 

I would love to see you build a light with 42 top bin leds with TIR lenses, independent automatic dimming for 6 out of 8 spectrums, active cooling, a wireless web based control system, and warranty all it for under $1000. Here's a hint.. you can't. Not to mention keep it looking decent without a canopy to hide your fire hazard.

 

Create your own programming software as well.

 

Oh yeah, and thunderstorms!! And I'm not even going to get into how hard it would be for a hobbiest to build a Vega... Or how difficult it would be to arrange the leds so close together.. better be a Soldering EXPERT. Or have a freak ton of money in robots to do it for you.

 

I can't? Have a look.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/led-aquarium-lighting/diy-cree-xt-e-luxeon-180w-build-137507.html

Total price - $350 for all parts, including the case and heatsink. Subtract $30-50 if you want to mimic 42 leds, since you wouldn't need an extra driver being used here.

Its actually 48 top bin Cree XT-E and Luxeon leds, running at 180W (more powerful than the new Radion), "TIR" optic lenses (which are just 80-90 degree optics that didn't even come standard with the original), independently auto dimmed, wirelessly controlled, and each individual led can be upgraded at will for $1-4. It also comes with a "Told You So" lifetime warranty.

Most companies have to get by on 20-30% markup.. not 300%. The new Radion would absolutely be worth the price of $500-550.

The new Vega... don't even get me started on that one.

Another hobbyist engineer created a 12 channel driver with controller that can power 72 leds at up to 1A, and can do all the fancy cloud cover/thunderstorm gimmicks.. and is selling for ~$250-300 on another forum. I'm interested in that design myself.

 

How is it dimmed? How many channels (assuming 4)? Why Luxeon over Cree, Bridgelux, or Osram? How much did the chinese fixture you gutted retail for?

 

i have the radion, and it was expencive, but the costomer service is worth it to me. when your stuff breaks, (and all of it will eventually) it was no hassle what so ever to get a new light. i called them up, they answered and put a new light in the mail that same day, got it the next day and they paid for the shipping of the old light. no issues, very pleasent, and that means a lot to me.

 

First of all.. You don't have TIR lenses. TIR is a much improved design that puts significantly more light in the tank than the chinese optics you are using. There is no comparison.

You have 50% less control. 4 channels as opposed to 6. And you have to have a separate controller to operate it, more money (apex). Not to mention the drivers, and wiring all over the place nor do you have the web based wireless control of the light.

Also, what do you get paid per hour at your job multiplied by the time you spent. Most of us make between 20-$40 an hour or more in many of our cases. (I make significantly more than that on an hourly basis) It would take most at least 12 hours to put that together.. so there is $240-$480 bucks in labor alone...

No comparison. (it cost you more than $1k to build a light with less features) A great looking light that you should be happy with. But it's not a radion pro by any means. that may not matter to you. Fine, but it's not an equal light.

 

That light would only be possible at that price because of limited R&D. You can save a lot on R&D if you don’t have to re-invent it. There is more to the fixture than just the technical components. They may or may not have spent millions but they probably spent hundreds of thousands for sure.

I did not start the comparison. If you had read the entire conversation you would know that we were not comparing phones to fixtures. We were using them as an analogy that we could all relate to. Sorry you missed that point!

I used my version of the comparison because it compared unheard of companies producing phones with the same components as the $650 (unsubsidized price) brand name phones on the market like Samsung and HTC. (doesn’t that directly compare to that you said” Ecotech certainly didn't spend millions on it, and most of the hardware can be bought off the shelf and made into a similar light for 1/3rd of the price.”) I purposely did not include Apple in my discussion because there is no company in the industry that is an apple in the industry.

An Iphone is $650, not $199. I’m sure Apple’s tax returns will support that issue. Subsidized price does not matter as in the end, Apple get’s $650! They don’t really care who pays what portion.