Quit knocking the budget PAR meters

[VintageReefer]

I’d have happily bought one of these vs my Apogee knowing they work. This feels like a scenario where the Harbor Freight tool is the right choice: a simple tool for a specific job that you need to use once every couple years.

Totally agree.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

I only have experience with apogee and a couple of seneye units. The results from the seneye units have varied wildly. Some have shown as much as 200 more par than the more proven apogee and some have been fairly dead on compared to the reedings from the apogee.
Based on that I’ll continue to knock the seneye ;)

That being said I’m not overly worried about if my acros are getting 500 par or 530 par.

 

[VintageReefer]

I only have experience with apogee and a couple of seneye units. The results from the seneye units have varied wildly. Some have shown as much as 200 more par than the more proven apogee and some have been fairly dead on compared to the reedings from the apogee.
Based on that I’ll continue to knock the seneye ;)

I am not a fan of the seneye. I wanted to be, but it’s just not that good, and the company promised add ons that never happened. The danoplus and VbR are both good dedicated meters but I prefer the vbr

 

[Tamberav]

I didn’t even know budget PAR meters existed until just now. Who is knocking them?

No one that I have seen. Not sure why this post was made :P

 

[Daz_1978]

I've had reeftanks for over 20 years. I just dialed in my lights the old school way. I adjusted the spectrum to what looked good and then slowly ramped up intensity and duration and observed the corals. Haven't touched em since and everything is happy and growing.

This is the way!

I literally used an app on my iPhone called Photone. Is it accurate? It was accurate enough to give me a baseline to start with, then I adjusted according to the corals likes/dislikes as Rusty_L_Shackleford suggested.

If the app is 10% off... that 150 Par area could be 135 or 165 Par. Not overly concerning either way, to me.

 

[Doctorgori]

I’ve even used my meter to harden off seedlings for my garden by comparing the grow lights with the shade and sun outside.

Seedlings? In Michigan? Call me when they are in flower ;)

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Seedlings? In Michigan? Call me when they are in flower ;)

I wonder how many will get it :thinking-face:

 

[Reefer Matt]

Seedlings? In Michigan? Call me when they are in flower ;)

Just hot peppers. I work at a nuke plant, very stringent testing. Lol!

 

[Doctorgori]

I wonder how many will get it :thinking-face:

Just the adults hopefully LOL

 

[ElementReefer]

I wonder how many will get it :thinking-face:

Bro.

 

[AKReefing]

Good one, :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

but TBH Ive noticed the orange in my “Fuzzy Navel” tenius fades slightly if my PAR is less than 180.6507 and my temperature is less than 78.00067 F

Which is exactly why you need a PAR meter that accurately measures PAR in the 350-405nm range. It'll allow you to adjust your lights to 181.000 (that's three decimal places) on the nose.

 

[AquaLogic]

Just bought the Danoplus for 137$. It gives the exact same readings as the Photone app, which gives very close readings to Apogee, which is good enough.

The only reason Apogee is so expensive is because it's a niche tool with no competitors until recently. The Apogee I believe is made in Utah, so I could see it being perhaps 2-2.5x the cost, but 4 times the cost is pretty wild.

 

[EricR]

Seems like a fairly easy and useful "enhancement" to these budget PAR meters would be to add a "multiplication factor" setting.
*just basing that on multiple reviews where users have stated something like, "multiply by x matches Apogee MQ-510"

FWIW, my Danoplus PAR meter seems like it needs about 1.3x (multiplication factor) to match Apogee MQ-510 readings from 6-8 months ago (under same light settings).
*not sure when I'll rent/borrow MQ-510 again to test side-by-side but that would be more meaningful (obviously)

...old thread but oh well

 

[oreo54]

There is a slew of PAR meters availible , If you want to spend $500 or better that's cool, but I think budget PAR meters are worth a second look. Folks say "well, they are 3% to 5% off" . Most corals have a wide range of PAR requirements, 50-75, 75-100, 100-125 , etc. So, I don't think I will be buying a coral that needs 74.7 PAR . Keeping the coral within the industry standard PAR range PLUS keeping the water parameters optimum for it equals success. These budget meters easily fall within the recommended PAR range of corals. With that being said. tell me Mr. Opogee why yours is better.

 

[EricR]

Not knocking AliExpress 'cause I've never bought from there but I'd stick with Amazon for what's probably same thing with wand (and free shipping):

 

[oreo54]

Not knocking AliExpress 'cause I've never bought from there but I'd stick with Amazon for what's probably same thing with wand (and free shipping):

Yea ..I would too .. :)

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

Most of the really successful reefers don’t use PAR meters so I’ve decided not to even spend on a budget one. I might feel differently tho if my livelihood depended on it, though.

 

[BeanAnimal]

The only reason Apogee is so expensive is because it's a niche tool with no competitors until recently. The Apogee I believe is made in Utah, so I could see it being perhaps 2-2.5x the cost, but 4 times the cost is pretty wild.

There are more expensive competitors, but you are correct that it is a niche instrument.

Why 4x cost? Instead of 2x or whatever.
Ignoring quality and accuracy:
The company produces this niche tool in a few flavors and the revenue from said tools must maintain the company. So low volume requires high margin.

The “competitor” is a CCP government connected entity that produces copycat products in masse and does so for little or no profit, with the underlying big-picture-goal being to undercut markets and generally move toward owning them. Profit is less important than market disruption.

Either the 4x cost product can’t be sold for less and the company remain in business, or their core demographic buys based on their quality and/or other factors like location of manufacture and they have no reason to reduce price.

 

[oreo54]

Just bought the Danoplus for 137$. It gives the exact same readings as the Photone app, which gives very close readings to Apogee, which is good enough.

The only reason Apogee is so expensive is because it's a niche tool with no competitors until recently. The Apogee I believe is made in Utah, so I could see it being perhaps 2-2.5x the cost, but 4 times the cost is pretty wild.

Any of these cheap ones show you a sensor response curve?
;)
4 yr warranty?