I picked up 2x g2 pro 204s a few days ago for an upcoming build. For context I've been through Red Sea ReefLEDs, Kessil A360Xs and currently run GHL Mitras 7204s.
Initial impressions-
The quality of the fixtures is second to none. Very solid feeling, flawless paint job and clear sheath cables are nice to see. Packaging was clearly sufficient as they arrived in one piece. Instructions were supplied in German only but whatever. Packages included the light fixture, hanging kit, control unit, C13 power cable with correct plug, Meanwell power supply (nice to see, don't reinvent the wheel) and Gebrauchsanweisung.
You have to wire the fixture to the control unit. Instructions are clear enough and wires have crimped terminals but the markings on the wires aren't particularly clear. I setup to test then removed cables again for storage, which was harder than it should have been due to tight tolerances on the connectors. An SP21 connector or similar would have been a better shout here IMO, but no biggie.
I've seen shimmer compared to T5s so was concerned the tank would look flat but it's actually pretty decent. Certainly not Kessil levels of shimmer but it's adequate.
I run lights on the whiter side but wowzers, the pre-canned presets are very white. Even the LPS+ profile is a whitewash. I'll probably start with LPS+ but take whites back to 10, and that's still whiter than I normally run.
They are immensely, insanely, overwhelmingly powerful. At 15% overall intensity and whites knocked back to 10 I was still seeing 100 PAR at 60cm depth with the light (very approximately) 25cm above the water surface. Coverage is, obviously, bananas. If properly sized I can't imagine any scenario where supplemental lights would be required.
And now, unfortunately, the not so good bits. I've seen people mention how bad the software is but a) I work in IT infrastructure. I'm used to clunky, enterprise software and b) I use GHL and for all of it's flaws, really don't find it to be that bad, despite having seen claims that it's unusable; so figured it would be fine. Good gravy, I was in for a shock... The annoying thing is that all of these niggles could be solved in firmware.
It took multiple attempts to flip wifi to client mode. I could see them connected to the (UniFi, FWIW) network but the web portal just wouldn't respond. It took multiple retries (at doing exactly the same thing) to get past that. Once connected they're reliable.
The ethernet port does nothing, apparently. I'm running DHCP and see the MAC but it just never picks up an IP.
The lights came with a firmware dated 2024 but the latest version on ATI's site is from 2023.
As far as I can tell, you have to choose between connecting to a common wifi network and controlling each light individually or controlling both through a single light (master/slave mode) but through the master's wifi network. If I set them up master/slave then move the master to my normal SSID, the slave doesn't follow. If I do janky things and force the slave onto the normal SSID they don't group up again. Logging into each shows them in a group but with one member offline and no way to manually intervene. Come on....
No NTP. So if the power goes out, despite them having wifi, you have to log in to (potentially multiple) lights and set the time again. What a glaringly obvious omission...
No moon cycles. Many lights at a fraction of the cost can account for moon phase.
No acclimatisation mode. I must just be missing this, surely...
The UI is generally, well, Germanic. It works, but it's unintuitive and harder than it should be.
Most of these things are annoyances more than dealbreakers but the sheer quantity of annoyances has me questioning whether they'll be staying. It's easily the most underwhelming experience I've had after dropping over £3k.
If I'm wrong on any of the above, please, please correct me. I want to love these.
