jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
So I got my 35w Gyre in on Tuesday. I filmed a video that night, took all the power measurements I could, and then was waiting on some clarification of a few things before posting up the review. Yesterday I had a tooth pulled that was infected, and shortly after having it removed and the numbing shots wearing off I was in some incredible pain, even with some prescription pain meds. Slept for around 17 hours, and here I am, much better (but still not great).
Out of the box
So when I received my beta model of the 50w Gyre, it came in just a plain cardboard box with some bubble wrap. I hadn't expected any different since it was a beta model, but when I received the 35w as a production model, I was surprised they had gone to the degree they did for packaging. It was made to be impressive, with a metal case holding the pump, controller, and accessories.
All in all you get the Gyre, a set of reverse paddles and cages, an extra set of rubber vibration dampeners, extra bearings, and a 24v 3A power supply (which amounts to 72 watts, not sure why they come with such a large supply).
35w on top, 50w on bottom.
The new mount holds the motor farther from the glass, which should help prevent any resonant noise.
The magnets for the two models. The 35w also has rubber (or maybe silicone) on the outside magnet.
And into the tank
So after I had taken a bunch of pics of everything, I put it in the tank and began taking video and power numbers.
[video=youtube;QeiyBlP4JIM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeiyBlP4JIM[/video]
Now, you'll notice that the power numbers don't exactly match up with the '35w' advertisement. For those that can't see the video or aren't going to watch it yet, here is a table with the power at each setting.
Forward
Speed 1/10 - 4.1w
Speed 2/10 - 5.1w
Speed 3/10 - 6.5w
Speed 4/10 - 8.3w
Speed 5/10 - 10.7w
Speed 6/10 - 13.2w
Speed 7/10 - 16.2w
Speed 8/10 - 19.4w
Speed 9/10 - 23.0w
Speed 10/10 - 26.1w
Reverse
Speed 1/10 - 3.3w
Speed 2/10 - 3.9w
Speed 3/10 - 4.8w
Speed 4/10 - 5.8w
Speed 5/10 - 7.2w
Speed 6/10 - 8.6w
Speed 7/10 - 10.2w
Speed 8/10 - 12.2w
Speed 9/10 - 14.2w
Speed 10/10 - 16.1w
I wasn't sure if these numbers were correct, but they were confirmed to me by Maxspect to be correct. What does this mean? Is this false advertisement? No, not really. They were just able to get the same performance numbers as they were shooting for while keeping power consumption lower than anticipated.
Flow
As anticipated, flow is very good from this pump on higher output levels. My tank is 80 gallons, so the lower output levels just don't do all that much, but the video does show what it can do. For smaller tanks, the lower output levels will do well.
Reverse flow
So one of the big points that I was stressing for before the beta testing of the Gyre was the ability to reverse the flow. Gyres work very well as the whole water column gets in motion, but being able to reverse it, as well, is good because any detritus that gets trapped somewhere from the flow in one direction could be removed by flow from the other. My beta XF150 did not have the ability to reverse directions, the controller was very, very basic, so when I was set to receive the XF130 I was excited to be able to reverse the flow direction.
Well, to put it very plainly, even at full bore, reverse mode is 100% useless. The paddles are angled, made to go in one direction, so spinning the opposite direction results in extremely gimped flow.
Now, Maxspect does include two extra paddles you can install that are angled opposite to stock. If you install only one of them, then you cut flow in half (since only one paddle will be going forward), but then reverse also is not only aimable but will have one paddle going forward so you'll also have half power going in reverse.
Is that the most elegant way of doing it? No, not really, but it does work. Hobbyists with nano aquariums will be able to use this 'Alternating Gyre' mode and it should work well.
Noise
The main complaint with the Gyre XF150 is noise. The motors on them are larger and are silent, but the noise comes from the motor being close to the glass and resonating off of it. It's not vibration, and can be verified by taking the pump off of the glass and holding it in your hand. As you get around an inch, inch and a half off the glass the noise immediately goes away and you're left with silence.
The same cannot be said of the XF130. The XF130 uses a smaller rotor that is more difficult to keep dynamic balance (per Maxspect). From speeds 5-10, the noise can be heard. It's not terrible noise, just a low whirring noise, but it needs to be mentioned. I don't have the proper microphone to be able to get good audio of the noise, unfortunately, but I'd imagine that others soon will have it recorded.
Conclusion
Overall, the pump definitely feels more solid than my XF150 beta model did. The new mount is a significant upgrade over the one the XF150 uses, but it was confirmed that Maxspect will offer this new mount as an upgrade, and it's my conjecture that going forward it will be the default mount included soon. The flow is excellent, especially for the power consumption, and should do well in a range of smaller tanks.
I will update this thread over the next couple of weeks and let you guys all know if it quiets down or any other thoughts I have on it.
Out of the box
So when I received my beta model of the 50w Gyre, it came in just a plain cardboard box with some bubble wrap. I hadn't expected any different since it was a beta model, but when I received the 35w as a production model, I was surprised they had gone to the degree they did for packaging. It was made to be impressive, with a metal case holding the pump, controller, and accessories.
All in all you get the Gyre, a set of reverse paddles and cages, an extra set of rubber vibration dampeners, extra bearings, and a 24v 3A power supply (which amounts to 72 watts, not sure why they come with such a large supply).
35w on top, 50w on bottom.
The new mount holds the motor farther from the glass, which should help prevent any resonant noise.
The magnets for the two models. The 35w also has rubber (or maybe silicone) on the outside magnet.
And into the tank
So after I had taken a bunch of pics of everything, I put it in the tank and began taking video and power numbers.
[video=youtube;QeiyBlP4JIM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeiyBlP4JIM[/video]
Now, you'll notice that the power numbers don't exactly match up with the '35w' advertisement. For those that can't see the video or aren't going to watch it yet, here is a table with the power at each setting.
Forward
Speed 1/10 - 4.1w
Speed 2/10 - 5.1w
Speed 3/10 - 6.5w
Speed 4/10 - 8.3w
Speed 5/10 - 10.7w
Speed 6/10 - 13.2w
Speed 7/10 - 16.2w
Speed 8/10 - 19.4w
Speed 9/10 - 23.0w
Speed 10/10 - 26.1w
Reverse
Speed 1/10 - 3.3w
Speed 2/10 - 3.9w
Speed 3/10 - 4.8w
Speed 4/10 - 5.8w
Speed 5/10 - 7.2w
Speed 6/10 - 8.6w
Speed 7/10 - 10.2w
Speed 8/10 - 12.2w
Speed 9/10 - 14.2w
Speed 10/10 - 16.1w
I wasn't sure if these numbers were correct, but they were confirmed to me by Maxspect to be correct. What does this mean? Is this false advertisement? No, not really. They were just able to get the same performance numbers as they were shooting for while keeping power consumption lower than anticipated.
Flow
As anticipated, flow is very good from this pump on higher output levels. My tank is 80 gallons, so the lower output levels just don't do all that much, but the video does show what it can do. For smaller tanks, the lower output levels will do well.
Reverse flow
So one of the big points that I was stressing for before the beta testing of the Gyre was the ability to reverse the flow. Gyres work very well as the whole water column gets in motion, but being able to reverse it, as well, is good because any detritus that gets trapped somewhere from the flow in one direction could be removed by flow from the other. My beta XF150 did not have the ability to reverse directions, the controller was very, very basic, so when I was set to receive the XF130 I was excited to be able to reverse the flow direction.
Well, to put it very plainly, even at full bore, reverse mode is 100% useless. The paddles are angled, made to go in one direction, so spinning the opposite direction results in extremely gimped flow.
Now, Maxspect does include two extra paddles you can install that are angled opposite to stock. If you install only one of them, then you cut flow in half (since only one paddle will be going forward), but then reverse also is not only aimable but will have one paddle going forward so you'll also have half power going in reverse.
Is that the most elegant way of doing it? No, not really, but it does work. Hobbyists with nano aquariums will be able to use this 'Alternating Gyre' mode and it should work well.
Noise
The main complaint with the Gyre XF150 is noise. The motors on them are larger and are silent, but the noise comes from the motor being close to the glass and resonating off of it. It's not vibration, and can be verified by taking the pump off of the glass and holding it in your hand. As you get around an inch, inch and a half off the glass the noise immediately goes away and you're left with silence.
The same cannot be said of the XF130. The XF130 uses a smaller rotor that is more difficult to keep dynamic balance (per Maxspect). From speeds 5-10, the noise can be heard. It's not terrible noise, just a low whirring noise, but it needs to be mentioned. I don't have the proper microphone to be able to get good audio of the noise, unfortunately, but I'd imagine that others soon will have it recorded.
Conclusion
Overall, the pump definitely feels more solid than my XF150 beta model did. The new mount is a significant upgrade over the one the XF150 uses, but it was confirmed that Maxspect will offer this new mount as an upgrade, and it's my conjecture that going forward it will be the default mount included soon. The flow is excellent, especially for the power consumption, and should do well in a range of smaller tanks.
I will update this thread over the next couple of weeks and let you guys all know if it quiets down or any other thoughts I have on it.
With the new paddles, I had to reduce the pump to 60% speed to get it to the same output as the old paddles had at 100%. Flow in reverse also sees a pretty significant increase, but IMHO it still isn't enough to really make it enough for me to use reverse. 
