I bought one K7 v3 at my LFS last month for a new 40gal cube in my home office. The employees at the LFS had so many good things to say about them (comparing them favorably with the Radeons). They use them in some of their store tanks and personal tanks. I had to buy one to see what all this was about.
The LFS had no controllers or mounts in stock, so I ordered those directly from NP. They arrived last week. I'll do a full review at some point when I have more hours on them -- I'm just cycling the tank now so the lights are barely on, just a few channels at 5% for now.
I'm a fan so far. A few first impressions here:
Pros:
- On the lights, overall, the build quality and components are very good:
- Nice beefy heat sink, quality molded plastics, clear quality lenses (not sure of the exact material).
- I'm an electronics geek so I also took the light apart and happy with what I saw -- well-designed, well assembled boards, clean soldering, solid connections and bonding, no shortcuts on the constructions to save a few dollars. The components are common well-proven parts (or popular clones)--nothing exciting and sexy, but I don't want sexy parts on what's essentially a set of switching power supplies and a fairly simple driver board. Simple is good.
- The brightness of this thing is WAY more than enough for my 40g cube. If I had a bigger tank I'd hang it higher and still have plenty of light. Right now I have it about 11" above the water line. 6 channels of control feels like plenty. (But I'm coming from 2 channels on my other tank
)
- The overall look with the mounting arm is sleek and streamlined. The one cable goes cleanly through a hole in the mount and down to the back. No clutter.
- I always worry about plastic screws and brackets cracking or feeling wobbly. These are solid and I'm confident that the bracket is mounted well to the glass.
Cons:
- The fan is a little too loud, probably too small, so when I tested the lights at normal LPS settings (which may be brighter than what I'll eventually use) the fan noise is annoying if I'm going to be working next to this tank all day. I may retrofit a larger fan that can spin slower or see if I can add more passive cooling. On a bigger tank with big return pumps and a skimmer (like my main tank), it probably wouldn't be noticeable.
- The bracket that connects the light to the mounting arm connects with a single screw. I have nightmares about that wiggling loose slowly over months unnoticed then without warning the light takes a swim. I'd feel better if it was connected by two screws: then if one failed, I'd notice it before it came loose. I may add a loop of safety wire or zip tie to ease my anxiety.
- The controller is functional and does the job once you learn how to use it. If you don't play around with your lights much, then after a little stumbling around and cursing at the manual, you can get it set up and you won't have to worry about it. If you like pretty sliders, dials, charts, phone controls and clear instructions .. this isn't it.
I'm happy I bought these for my 40g and when it's time for an upgrade or swap on my big tank (or my wife lets me get another one ), I'd say I'd buy more of these. The positive aspects are great, the price is right, and the cons are all things I can live with.
For now, leave the lights dim while cycling this tank (about 10 weeks now). While that happens, I'll noodle on integrating them with an Apex or build a little web app to get my pretty slider fix.
The LFS had no controllers or mounts in stock, so I ordered those directly from NP. They arrived last week. I'll do a full review at some point when I have more hours on them -- I'm just cycling the tank now so the lights are barely on, just a few channels at 5% for now.
I'm a fan so far. A few first impressions here:
Pros:
- On the lights, overall, the build quality and components are very good:
- Nice beefy heat sink, quality molded plastics, clear quality lenses (not sure of the exact material).
- I'm an electronics geek so I also took the light apart and happy with what I saw -- well-designed, well assembled boards, clean soldering, solid connections and bonding, no shortcuts on the constructions to save a few dollars. The components are common well-proven parts (or popular clones)--nothing exciting and sexy, but I don't want sexy parts on what's essentially a set of switching power supplies and a fairly simple driver board. Simple is good.
- The brightness of this thing is WAY more than enough for my 40g cube. If I had a bigger tank I'd hang it higher and still have plenty of light. Right now I have it about 11" above the water line. 6 channels of control feels like plenty. (But I'm coming from 2 channels on my other tank
)- The overall look with the mounting arm is sleek and streamlined. The one cable goes cleanly through a hole in the mount and down to the back. No clutter.
- I always worry about plastic screws and brackets cracking or feeling wobbly. These are solid and I'm confident that the bracket is mounted well to the glass.
Cons:
- The fan is a little too loud, probably too small, so when I tested the lights at normal LPS settings (which may be brighter than what I'll eventually use) the fan noise is annoying if I'm going to be working next to this tank all day. I may retrofit a larger fan that can spin slower or see if I can add more passive cooling. On a bigger tank with big return pumps and a skimmer (like my main tank), it probably wouldn't be noticeable.
- The bracket that connects the light to the mounting arm connects with a single screw. I have nightmares about that wiggling loose slowly over months unnoticed then without warning the light takes a swim. I'd feel better if it was connected by two screws: then if one failed, I'd notice it before it came loose. I may add a loop of safety wire or zip tie to ease my anxiety.
- The controller is functional and does the job once you learn how to use it. If you don't play around with your lights much, then after a little stumbling around and cursing at the manual, you can get it set up and you won't have to worry about it. If you like pretty sliders, dials, charts, phone controls and clear instructions .. this isn't it.
I'm happy I bought these for my 40g and when it's time for an upgrade or swap on my big tank (or my wife lets me get another one
), I'd say I'd buy more of these. The positive aspects are great, the price is right, and the cons are all things I can live with.For now, leave the lights dim while cycling this tank (about 10 weeks now). While that happens, I'll noodle on integrating them with an Apex or build a little web app to get my pretty slider fix.
