Ecotech radion g5 knock off found!

[Chrisv.]

40 dollar shipping. A lot cheaper then the x30 but still 400 dollars seems like a lot. I guess once someone reliable tests it.. and takes it apart to identify components, test app and syncing, I would feel more confident.

I don’t think they have the x15 on that site I guess. Maybe it was too costly and the x30 makes more sense to produce.

Still, It’s like in that awkward price. If you have $400 to spend you probably have enough for a name brand light. If you are on a budget then $400 is probably too much and a noop or smatfarm looks more attractive.

Have to love that url.

 

[BZOFIQ]

The higher end stuff is slowly pricing themselves out.

This!

 

[Shooter6]

I found a super cool YouTube video about how they do the binning. I can TOTALLY see this as the corner that gets cut when someone makes a budget LED.

With no way to know what the bin is, I would not be willing to just trust that a random company with no name or reputation to uphold would consistently use the good ones. Especially for $600 or whatever.

That's a definite possibility, as much as the possibility they just keep mass producing the led boards, filling racks, and some racks go to the name brand line while others the Knock-Off line. The cost per led is minimal so the probability of them continuing to use all the same for speed is high.

I fully understand that for many the knockoff isn't something they will even consider, BUT there are others who will be happy this is an option.

Imagine being in the market with highend blackbox money to spend on lights but not radion money.

Instead of reefbreeders, or vipers, the person can now get a couple of these knockoffs. They will have options previously not even possible for them.

 

[Shooter6]

40 dollar shipping. A lot cheaper then the x30 but still 400 dollars seems like a lot. I guess once someone reliable tests it.. and takes it apart to identify components, test app and syncing, I would feel more confident.

I don’t think they have the x15 on that site I guess. Maybe it was too costly and the x30 makes more sense to produce.

Still, It’s like in that awkward price. If you have $400 to spend you probably have enough for a name brand light. If you are on a budget then $400 is probably too much and a noop or smatfarm looks more attractive.

Yeah they have the noops on there as well.

I'd say the price 400.00 would be great for the person with a 40g who wants 1 xr30 style or a 4ft tank and wants two, or someone like me who would need 8 xr30 to light just 1 tank.
400 for 1 sounds high until you consider the real deal is over 900.00
So a 40g 400 vs 900
A 4ft tank 800 vs 1800
Or my case 3200 vs 7800.00
That becomes substantial.

 

[Shooter6]

40 dollar shipping. A lot cheaper then the x30 but still 400 dollars seems like a lot. I guess once someone reliable tests it.. and takes it apart to identify components, test app and syncing, I would feel more confident.

I don’t think they have the x15 on that site I guess. Maybe it was too costly and the x30 makes more sense to produce.

Still, It’s like in that awkward price. If you have $400 to spend you probably have enough for a name brand light. If you are on a budget then $400 is probably too much and a noop or smatfarm looks more attractive.

Photon 16-V2 Pro - ReefBreeders.com

The Photon 16 V2 Pro uses our cloud based Reef Nexus app for seamless wireless programming through your smartphone.

reefbreeders.com

The cheapest of the v2 is still 150.00 more .

 

[Jon's Reef]

That's a definite possibility, as much as the possibility they just keep mass producing the led boards, filling racks, and some racks go to the name brand line while others the Knock-Off line. The cost per led is minimal so the probability of them continuing to use all the same for speed is high.

I fully understand that for many the knockoff isn't something they will even consider, BUT there are others who will be happy this is an option.

Imagine being in the market with highend blackbox money to spend on lights but not radion money.

Instead of reefbreeders, or vipers, the person can now get a couple of these knockoffs. They will have options previously not even possible for them.

The LED price is not trivial. For the ones used in Radions, SKY, CC, etc $2-$4 each at full reel discount price. The 400-450 nm are the most expensive. Lower bins are often sold as unbranded for $0.10-$0.25.

Typically 100 LEDs in those 200W fixtures, so $250-300 just for LED cost. Add into it the Mean Well brand power supply at $50-$70 bulk cost.

So yes... cheap lights use cheap LEDs.

 

[Tamberav]

Photon 16-V2 Pro - ReefBreeders.com

The Photon 16 V2 Pro uses our cloud based Reef Nexus app for seamless wireless programming through your smartphone.

reefbreeders.com

The cheapest of the v2 is still 150.00 more .

True but reef beeders has a really good reputation for standing behind their products. I would trust them over the long term... probably more than ecotech lol

 

[Tamberav]

Yeah they have the noops on there as well.

I'd say the price 400.00 would be great for the person with a 40g who wants 1 xr30 style or a 4ft tank and wants two, or someone like me who would need 8 xr30 to light just 1 tank.
400 for 1 sounds high until you consider the real deal is over 900.00
So a 40g 400 vs 900
A 4ft tank 800 vs 1800
Or my case 3200 vs 7800.00
That becomes substantial.

Substantial yes but still a large amount to spend on an unknown product. If I wanted to save a lot of money I would do the noops on sale unless someone can open one of these up as well as test it and really show it is really worth $400.

Again, I would buy used before dropping $400 on the unknown. But I like used equiptment Saves me a lot of dough.

Did you buy any? I have yet to see a post with someone who has one in hand. That would be helpful.

I do think the light has potential but we don't know anything yet. It does appear identical on the outside.

The bracket is $30 and might fit the radions.... I think the cost of the radion bracket is a bit silly. This knockoff isn't as clean but still...

 

[Manny’s Reef]

Has anyone actually purchased the radion immitation light?

I did not purchase the radion but I did buy a kessil immitation light (a7+). I assume that if someone bought the a8 (radion knockoff), their review would be the same. I am running 5 a360x over my red sea. I added the knock off to compare. I only ran it for a week before I decided to take it down instead.

First, the a7 is definitely a knock off. It is not the same light rebranded. Though almost identical, there were definite differences I was able to pick up on. Even looking through the grid on the LED housing, one could visually see the internal components were different. I had full intentions of opening them up and uploading a video but alas, I never got to it. We've got a newborn at home so the scheduling is a bit tight.

Second, the LED cluster was visually different. The cluster used by kessil is tightly grouped together. The a7 is not. Though they attempted to arranged the diodes in the same pattern, a close inspection reveals both the different pattern and the different supplies used.

Third, the performance was very visually similar. I think the a7 allows you to closer mimic the AB+ spectrum. They have 6 channels vs kessils 4. Nonetheless, I was able to tune the a7 to close match the kessils, according to my eyes. However, all I had to do was look closely at the rock, the walls, and the ceiling to see that the lights were different. The a7 does not combine the lights as good as the kessil. I could differentiate the blue, green, and red on the walls and the rock/sand. It does not blend the color no where near what the kessil does.

Fourth, the Chinese app sucks. Despite the app allegedly having an English version, the English version is still predominantly in Chinese. I tinkered around with it enough to set the spectrum I wanted but in the end, I could not figure out how to save the settings. The app kept defaulting to its own schedule. I spent hours inputting my own schedule. Because I do not read Chinese, I could not figure out what i was doing wrong.

My thoughts: I bet these things can grow coral. I think the hobby has established that even cheap lights will group coral as long as parameters are right and stable. The light lit up the aquarium beautifully. It might even have nicer colors for the coral. I didn't have it on my system long enough to definitely tell. I will say that the fish, especially the purple firefish, demonstrated far superior color under the knockoff, than they do under the kessil. It didn't, however, give me the usable controllability that I enjoy from my kessils. It didn't integrate with my kessils. The fans kick on, which they don't on my kessils. The wiring is different. The mount is different. I actually like the mount for the a7 more than the kessil mount. One just has to be careful with the mount because it does not have refined edges. I sliced my figures twice working with it.

O and one more thing about the a7, I also couldn't program it to turn off and on. The app showed me that the starting point was 8 am and turn off point 9 pm but it wouldn't turn off. I had to put the light on a timer to come on and off with my kessils. Again, probably user error because I don't read Chinese. But I do recognize numbers. And the numbers on the graph I was able to understand. O well.

If I was on a budget, I would absolutely consider these lights. I think they are easily worth the $125-150 price point. My wife will be setting up a predator tank in the neat future. We will probably run the a7 over her tank. I personally don't think the kessils are worth $450. Just my two cents. Anyhow, I am fortunate enough not to be reefing on a budget. For those who want the kessil light and cant pay the $450 per light, then by all means go the a7 route. Kessil does not offer an additional $300 in benefits over the a7. This is a very arbitrary statement though. There is nothing but praise to be spoken about kessils customer service. Keep that in mind.

I guess my next step is to buy the knockoff radion and compare it with a real radion. How can I can the wife's approval for that? Hmmmm.

 

[Shooter6]

Substantial yes but still a large amount to spend on an unknown product. If I wanted to save a lot of money I would do the noops on sale unless someone can open one of these up as well as test it and really show it is really worth $400.

Again, I would buy used before dropping $400 on the unknown. But I like used equiptment Saves me a lot of dough.

Did you buy any? I have yet to see a post with someone who has one in hand. That would be helpful.

I do think the light has potential but we don't know anything yet. It does appear identical on the outside.

The bracket is $30 and might fit the radions.... I think the cost of the radion bracket is a bit silly. This knockoff isn't as clean but still...

The bracket comes with from the aquarium low cost.
The noops on there are 200.00.

I have not bought any yet but plan to order 1 for my sump, to replace the blackbox I keep my colorado sunburst under.
I personally yourself the ledzeal.com mirage x200 over my display, a 8x3x2 400g.
Those are in the same pricerange as these but cover a larger area.
Running 4 of those at 35% peak per channel puts 300 par evenly distributed across the bottom of the display.

Like I said earlier I'd need 8 xr30 to light each of my displays, so I see merit in these as an option. Especially over frag tanks and coral qt tanks.

 

[Koh23]

Buying knock offs, copies, or simply any "unbranded" led lights for 70-80% price of branded lights is plain stupid.

I first dont have money and cannot afford high end lights and prices but still.....

If i can buy something similar to kessil, red sea, radions, prime, philips.... For 20%-30% of price, then it is worth to consider this product, it may be not great product, but it will work, i need to adapt my expectations and all good.

But, between 250-300$ unbranded, and 400$ branded, that is no brainer, 100$ may be serious amount of money, for me it is, but, i learned in hard way, its not worth. Rather buy slightly weaker light (50w instead of 90, 90 instead 120w), but, even weaker, branded light will be better, provide better coverage, better spectrum and overall better light.

I am for cheap alternatives, love black box, love my rs90,i'm totaly for diy, dont need fancy app, but, lets be real, it's all sub 100$ lights.

So, any light below 100$ is great light, i can survive all flaws, cutting corners here and there, poor quality, give it to me.... But, paying almost full price, really not worth....

Dont mean to be rude, but all of those lights, no need to list all of them, is simply 100$ max units. Not 200, not 250, not 300$... Below 100$.....

 

[Shooter6]

Has anyone actually purchased the radion immitation light?

I did not purchase the radion but I did buy a kessil immitation light (a7+). I assume that if someone bought the a8 (radion knockoff), their review would be the same. I am running 5 a360x over my red sea. I added the knock off to compare. I only ran it for a week before I decided to take it down instead.

First, the a7 is definitely a knock off. It is not the same light rebranded. Though almost identical, there were definite differences I was able to pick up on. Even looking through the grid on the LED housing, one could visually see the internal components were different. I had full intentions of opening them up and uploading a video but alas, I never got to it. We've got a newborn at home so the scheduling is a bit tight.

Second, the LED cluster was visually different. The cluster used by kessil is tightly grouped together. The a7 is not. Though they attempted to arranged the diodes in the same pattern, a close inspection reveals both the different pattern and the different supplies used.

Third, the performance was very visually similar. I think the a7 allows you to closer mimic the AB+ spectrum. They have 6 channels vs kessils 4. Nonetheless, I was able to tune the a7 to close match the kessils, according to my eyes. However, all I had to do was look closely at the rock, the walls, and the ceiling to see that the lights were different. The a7 does not combine the lights as good as the kessil. I could differentiate the blue, green, and red on the walls and the rock/sand. It does not blend the color no where near what the kessil does.

Fourth, the Chinese app sucks. Despite the app allegedly having an English version, the English version is still predominantly in Chinese. I tinkered around with it enough to set the spectrum I wanted but in the end, I could not figure out how to save the settings. The app kept defaulting to its own schedule. I spent hours inputting my own schedule. Because I do not read Chinese, I could not figure out what i was doing wrong.

My thoughts: I bet these things can grow coral. I think the hobby has established that even cheap lights will group coral as long as parameters are right and stable. The light lit up the aquarium beautifully. It might even have nicer colors for the coral. I didn't have it on my system long enough to definitely tell. I will say that the fish, especially the purple firefish, demonstrated far superior color under the knockoff, than they do under the kessil. It didn't, however, give me the usable controllability that I enjoy from my kessils. It didn't integrate with my kessils. The fans kick on, which they don't on my kessils. The wiring is different. The mount is different. I actually like the mount for the a7 more than the kessil mount. One just has to be careful with the mount because it does not have refined edges. I sliced my figures twice working with it.

O and one more thing about the a7, I also couldn't program it to turn off and on. The app showed me that the starting point was 8 am and turn off point 9 pm but it wouldn't turn off. I had to put the light on a timer to come on and off with my kessils. Again, probably user error because I don't read Chinese. But I do recognize numbers. And the numbers on the graph I was able to understand. O well.

If I was on a budget, I would absolutely consider these lights. I think they are easily worth the $125-150 price point. My wife will be setting up a predator tank in the neat future. We will probably run the a7 over her tank. I personally don't think the kessils are worth $450. Just my two cents. Anyhow, I am fortunate enough not to be reefing on a budget. For those who want the kessil light and cant pay the $450 per light, then by all means go the a7 route. Kessil does not offer an additional $300 in benefits over the a7. This is a very arbitrary statement though. There is nothing but praise to be spoken about kessils customer service. Keep that in mind.

I guess my next step is to buy the knockoff radion and compare it with a real radion. How can I can the wife's approval for that? Hmmmm.

I plan to order the radion knockoff soon myself to test so if you get yours first please let me know !

 

[Shooter6]

Buying knock offs, copies, or simply any "unbranded" led lights for 70-80% price of branded lights is plain stupid.

I first dont have money and cannot afford high end lights and prices but still.....

If i can buy something similar to kessil, red sea, radions, prime, philips.... For 20%-30% of price, then it is worth to consider this product, it may be not great product, but it will work, i need to adapt my expectations and all good.

But, between 250-300$ unbranded, and 400$ branded, that is no brainer, 100$ may be serious amount of money, for me it is, but, i learned in hard way, its not worth. Rather buy slightly weaker light (50w instead of 90, 90 instead 120w), but, even weaker, branded light will be better, provide better coverage, better spectrum and overall better light.

I am for cheap alternatives, love black box, love my rs90,i'm totaly for diy, dont need fancy app, but, lets be real, it's all sub 100$ lights.

So, any light below 100$ is great light, i can survive all flaws, cutting corners here and there, poor quality, give it to me.... But, paying almost full price, really not worth....

Dont mean to be rude, but all of those lights, no need to list all of them, is simply 100$ max units. Not 200, not 250, not 300$... Below 100$.....

I dont know where you failed to pick up the price difference but here it is
Xr30g5 pro 930.00
On sale now for 807.00 ( wonder why lol) + shipping.

Radion XR30 G5 PRO Aquarium LED Light Fixture - Ecotech Marine

Free Shipping on Everything, Rewards, Free Swag, Price Matching & Free Returns.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

Xr30g5 pro knockoff with bracket, 375.00 + 40.00 shipping
425.00

A+ A8 S Reef Aquarium LED Light Full Spectrum

Brand: A+ Model: A8 S Type: Reef aquarium LED light Full spectrum LED light Aluminum alloy Intelligent temperature control You can control multiple lights using the APP Manufacturer warranty: 12 months

www.aquariumlowcost.com

Now according to my calculations that is at least 50% cheaper even with sales...

 

[Koh23]

Didnt say exactly for this light, but, question isnt how much cheaper are they, question is are they worth 400$....

 

[Shooter6]

The LED price is not trivial. For the ones used in Radions, SKY, CC, etc $2-$4 each at full reel discount price. The 400-450 nm are the most expensive. Lower bins are often sold as unbranded for $0.10-$0.25.

Typically 100 LEDs in those 200W fixtures, so $250-300 just for LED cost. Add into it the Mean Well brand power supply at $50-$70 bulk cost.

So yes... cheap lights use cheap LEDs.

You are also pricing those leds at retail. Now , picture the Chinese factory that produces the led board for ecotech having a contract for 10,000 boards. They have to bid on and purchase the leds to produce those boards to ecotechs requirements.
Instead of bidding on the leds for 10k worth they make a deal for 20k worth. Bulk bids lower overall cost, and happens all the time! This was a hypothetical statement, as I nor you know the truth and are making assumptions with our statements.

The pictures on Albania website show a meanwell power supply that looks exactly the same as the xr30g5 by the way. Also I do believe they showed the xr15 copy on reefbuilders as well...

 

[Manny’s Reef]

I plan to order the radion knockoff soon myself to test so if you get yours first please let me know !

I will absolutely defer to you and allow you the honors of enlightening (get it) us.

 

[Shooter6]

I will absolutely defer to you and allow you the honors of enlightening (get it) us.

I'm no expert on the radions but I have friends with the g5 blues. When I get it I'll take it to them and do a side by side

 

[Tamberav]

How come it only has 6 channel control vs 10 of the radion if it is identical? Because of the app? They don't show the lunar lights in the video so not sure if those are installed or what.

I think it may be the same app the kessil knockoff uses because it shows a pic of both lights in the app.

 

[Shooter6]

How come it only has 6 channel control vs 10 of the radion if it is identical?

I think it may be the same app the kessil knockoff uses because it shows a pic of both lights in the app.

I'm sorry if my explanation was mis typed. I ment the hardware. Not software.

I assume the software / controller chip is installed by ecotech.
Where the knockoff uses a different controll chip/ app.

You could very well be correct on the 2 knockoffs using the same app. I've got screenshots of the vid from the Albania site.
Added the led layouts of the pro,blue, and knockoff for comparison. Too.

 

[Shooter6]

Honestly these are not for everyone, and if not you, great! But these may be a great benificial option for others, so until anyone can test them out, th hate is all just unfounded , and makes me question where that is coming from.