why are some led lights SOOO expensive?

I will agree with you here ,but this is not always the case. Bugatti looses money on their Veyrons because they cost more to make than they can sell them for. The only reason they have them for sale is because they are owned by Volkswagen that can handle the lose.

 

Dimmed with an Apex, 4 channels. The extra $50 in cost assumes you would dim with a Typhon Boostled or other typhon based controller, otherwise less than $300 in parts.

The pieces to fixture can be bought separately, including case. No need to purchase an entire fixture to gut it. The heatsink and case price are also included in the added up price. I gutted one because I already had it.

Cree does not have a Violet 420nm, which forces you to use another brand. Semileds Violets (the newest ones I added in) can only be run up to 700mah, where the XT-E's are being run at 1.3a. A separate 630mah driver is needed.

The Luxeon colors have the most output at 630mah and better peak wavelengths over Cree XP-E. They could be interchanged with Osram, but the Luxeon were cheaper.

My point is, if I can do this at retail prices at $350, a company like Ecotech certainly can, and for much less per fixture. They are bending you over with this $949 price, and plenty of people are willing to take it, not realizing the insane markup.

 

DId you get the Luxeons from Steves LED? I like the look of those royal blues and those Violets. They appear to both be pretty awesome from what I have researched.

 

And a typhon doesn't offer half of what the Radion does. If you're proud of you're DIY light, fine. Don't try to compare yours to theirs when it is nowhere near in features. If you don't want to spend the money on it then don't. Do you drive a BMW? If you do, why? A KIA is cheaper, has 4 wheels, seats and a steering wheel...so, it is the same as a BMW, just waaaaay overpriced, right?

 

But wou cant make it look as clean as the Radion and certainly can't fit all that crap in a Radion box.

I mean, you can get a $500 pinto and modify it to blow the doors off a Ferrari. It's funny to know you could build it, cool to know you did it, but not exactly the car you would feel good in on a date. I'm just sayin'!

 

A Kia cant match a BMW's performance in raw HP, acceleration, or handling, so the price difference is warranted. My light BEATS a new Radion in performance for 1/3rd of the price, which a KIA does not do over BMW. See the difference yet, or are you too blinded by company fanboyism? I would have no problems purchasing a Radion if it were priced reasonably, and would not have needed to go through the trouble of making my own.

If you want to compare, take in all accounts of performance and not just "thunderstorms", which is a huge gimmick in the first place. I'd rather have a light that grows coral quicker and with more color than a "red and green light demo" mode feature. I even have insane PAR measurements with my Apogee meter to back it up.

 

Did you even take a look at the light? It looks exactly the same as Reefbreeders 96 watt light on the outside. I would hardly call that a Pinto.

 

I don't see how multiple people on here can claim to outperform the major brands with their products with zero tests, or comparisons. You obviously have never owned a Radion, or another "overpriced" fixture. Enjoy your light.

 

I found a comparison I did on my local page.. Using hobbyist sites this is what it would cost to build an ugly Radion. (not even the pro)

Using two popular diy led sites
LED Group Buy | CREE LEDs for DIY Aquarium Lighting
Rapid LED

Radion

• 8x Cree XP-G Cool White LEDs run at 5W each 4.25 each so $34.00
• 8x Cree XP-E Blue LEDs run at 3W each - $3.60 each so $28.80
• 10x Cree XP-E Royal Blue LEDs run at 3W each - $3.40 each so $34
• 4x Cree XP-E Green LEDs run at 3W each - $5.50 each so $22
• 4x Osram Oslon SSL Hyper Red LEDs run at 3W each $5.50 each so $22

So a total of $140.8 in leds

Then, you will need the rest obviously.

34 Optics (NOT TIR) so not nearly as good
$34

4 Meanwell drivers that are appropriate to run the red, green, blue and royal - $34 each
1 To run the XPG (Or xmls, if you want to one up Ecotech) $115

And a heatsink to hold it all
Drilled and tapped 6"x9" - $45

And with a little work, you can build your own Ecotech Radion for $384.80 Manually dimmed, ugly and not nearly as powerful because of the loss of the TIR lense.

Now, add the 10-20 hours of work.. About $250-300 in labor (way more for a professional).. You built an ugly less working version of a radion for the same price!! Gratz!

 

Labor is a good point. All the work I've done to my car, instead of paying $100+/hour for installs adds up quickly.