EcoTech Marine Introduces the Radion XR30w LED Light

[BrklynArch]

Originally Posted by jameshongth

Ecotech is going to come out new TIR Lens for Radion LED provides up to 30% more light in the aquarium with the same coverage of 24x24"...

supposed to penetrate deeper in taller tanks, also they say there are spots for new leds, so they speculate a new led cluster is on the way that will utilize the other open color channels. heres the link to the article

http://r**fbuilders.com/2012/05/16/t...adion-ecotech/

[bbart12]

r^^fbuilders says it has more leds per cluster but if you look at the pictures the mounting points have moved and kept the same number of diodes and also slightly rearranged the diodes. I think this is more exciting because it points to a different cluster design that could point to new colors.

Edit: I'm dumb and forgot to account for the 4 cluster to heatsink hex screws.

[mikejrice]

http://marine-engineers.org/2012/05/...e-full-review/

The screws that held in the old reflector are no more. The lens drops in from the back of the front plate in the Radion.

[wesleyforbes2]

Very exciting indeed!

Sent from Wesley's Moto Atrix 4G using Tapatalk 2

[BigKahuna]

So for how much and when will the new TIR lens be available?

[wesleyforbes2]

From what I read EcoTech is at some big reef convention in Germany and we should hear something after they return. If I am mistaken, please let me know.

Sent from Wesley's Moto Atrix 4G using Tapatalk 2

[rcharliesam]

As much as it stinks that an upgrade is coming out already (having recently purchased my light) I am very glad that ecotech went the route they did with the Radion by keeping upgradability in mind. They could have just screwed everyone and put out a whole new assembly altogether.

[newyorksteelo]

Originally Posted by jameshongth

Ecotech is going to come out new TIR Lens for Radion LED provides up to 30% more light in the aquarium with the same coverage of 24x24"...

Interesting. Looking forward to what LED's they decide to add to the 4 new available positions. Some powerful 420nm UV's that can bring out even more fluoresce on the corals would be awesome.

[Breakbeats2334]

This is pretty exciting im also curious on the pricing of these clusters. Will having these new clusters allow for people with deeper tanks to get less radions to achieve the same results i wonder.

[BigKahuna]

While I look forward to the new TIR lenses I am a little less than excited about newly announced software. According to R-Builders...

EcoSmart Live is an exciting new platform from EcoTech Marine which allows users to control their Radion LED lights from any web enabled device. Previously the Radion Configuration Utility was only accessible to Windows PC machines, but now any device with a web connection can get in on the full control of Radion LED lights. Closely*following*the announcement of the Radion TIR Lens cluster, the Ecosmart Live service adds extra*functionality*to Radion LEDs, and non-PC owners who were on the fence will greatly appreciate being able to control their Radion from an iPad on the couch.

With any computer plugged into to a Radion, you can get full control of Ecotech Marine LED lights and Mac users will finally feel the love. As an added benefit you can use your computer to control the Radion through any mobile device with an internet connection.

Don't get me wrong I'm thrilled that they're apparently going platform agnostic And giving the Mac some love but having to leave the USB cable plugged into a computer that's running 24/7 is bit of a disappointment and a far less than elegant solution than I would expect from Ecotech. I hope the article is wrong and this isn't the whole solution, many people don't have computers near their tanks or don't really want to drag their laptop over to the tank, pull out the rubber stopper on the fixture and then plug in the USB cable.

[Breakbeats2334]

I dont understand the mobile feature so does a computer have to stay plugged in for your phone to program the lights?

[BrklynArch]

Originally Posted by Breakbeats2334

I dont understand the mobile feature so does a computer have to stay plugged in for your phone to program the lights?

i re read the article like 3x's.....the way its written seems to suggest that we will have to keep the radion plugged in to the computer in order access it on other devices like your iphone or ipad. hopefully the article was just written poorly and we get true wireless connectivity, but something tells me its going to have to be a tethered connection which sucks.

[jleichtman]

I don't hope they expect to pay for a "Cloud" solution to be able to change the programming via wireless. This is not a "Solution" for OS X if they expect us to pay for core functionality like programming.

[rehab]

To be honest this is marketing scam at its best. They apply the same concept that apple used. Why released a complete product when you could released a flawed one knowing people would still buy it. 3months down the road do a little fix and call it an upgrade and make even more money. Cycle the method and profit.

Before you go bashing i do own a couple of mp40 and mp60. I refused to believe they didn't take depth penetration and spread and cluster design into consideration during rnd phase. But like i said why released a complete product when there are many people that would buy the flawed one and the jump for joy when the 'upgrade' come.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk

[jleichtman]

Originally Posted by rehab

To be honest this is marketing scam at its best. They apply the same concept that apple used. Why released a complete product when you could released a flawed one knowing people would still buy it.

Which products do you speak of? OS X releases patches for free and OS upgrade once a year for $29.00. iOS updates are free, AppStore updates are free.

I guess haters are going to hate.

[rcharliesam]

I don't think it's a scam. I think it's good practice to have an upgradable product especially with a newer technology (LED for reef applications) that is going to have some major changes in the coming years. I actually feel bad for the AI users that are going to be dumping their sols in the next couple of months because of AI's new release.

[jleichtman]

Originally Posted by rcharliesam

I don't think it's a scam.

I agree 100%, I don't see how upgradability and customization could be a scam.

I love my Radion and programming through a paid service (Assuming they will charge for it) is my only beef with the new announcement about the live.ecotechmarine.com "cloud" solution. If i'm sitting in my living room why would I need to go external to program a light, it isn't an elegant solution from Ecotech if this is the case. Update the Software for Windows to include WiFi programming if they aren't going to release a proper Mac client.

[BigKahuna]

Originally Posted by rehab

To be honest this is marketing scam at its best. They apply the same concept that apple used. Why released a complete product when you could released a flawed one knowing people would still buy it. 3months down the road do a little fix and call it an upgrade and make even more money. Cycle the method and profit.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk

Scam? I never realized every other company but Apple and Ecotech releases perfect products. The Radion has been out for 6 months not 3 as you infer it isn't exactly crazy they are tweaking it mid-year. You have companies like AI, nothing against them they make fine products, who have been releasing the Vega for what 6 months now keeping people waiting for a product that doesn't even exist yet for sale. I've been using my Radions for 6 months while AI keeps dangling their carrots to their future customers. I'd rather have a company not pretend they have shipping product and only show me what they've got right now for sale. As to Apple at least I can run the latest free iOS updates on all my iOS devices from the last few years w/o jumping through hoops.

Just because Ecotech releases hardware updates doesn't make the older devices suddenly not work. If you want to upgrade fine if not you have exactly what you paid for. For me I'd rather have the choice as to upgrade or not than no choice at all. The software side is nice to see them doing work to expand their base, I only expressed a bit of disappointment that their solution always seems to require beng tethered to a computer via USB to work which is a bit ironic since the devices communicate wirelessly with each other, albeit a proprietary wireless standard. I'm still trying to see how you analogize Apple doing a little fix every few months and making money off it? They release ONE phone and ONE tablet a year and software updates that are free. On the desktop they release on a somewhat yearly schedule and free updates in between. Terrible misunderstanding of two industries your have going on there.

[david00061]

If i was running a company I would always be trying to better my product. I don't think I would be in business very long if i didn't

[Billabong]

I find it very unsettling that people feel the need to defend ecotech. I always wonder if it’s a holier than thou type complex, “I own it and this is the way I justify it!” One may say loyalty but what is loyalty? Making someone do something they don’t want to do because of the person that is asking? But then again I never could understand why someone would defend the make of car they drive (Ford vs Chevy).

It’s manipulation at its finest. You buy a product, make the company rich, and as a bonus you defend their honor.

These are companies taking our money and giving us a product for profit. Why do you feel the need to take their side? The transaction was made, both sides are happy, leave it at that. Let ecotech defend their position if they feel the need to, it’s not our place to do so.

Take a step back and look at it from another perspective, would it have been better for them to completely explore all avenues of these lights and put out the best product they could? They were lacking depth and instead of postponing production they decided to roll out the substandard product. Knowing full well that they had to come up with a solution to the depth problem, which didn’t take much to do, just incorporate reflectors on a lens that will work with the radion pucks. If you ask me, (maybe you’re not) but not only should they have waited on r&d to catch up not only for the depth issue but the program that you download from their website has a lot more work that needs to be done to make it reliable.

To my knowledge this company is shrouded in secrecy, protecting their upcoming gadgets, there’s no reason why they couldn’t hold off. I think it has a lot to do with greed and stature.

[newyorksteelo]

I believe Ecotech has no other choice but to upgrade their fixtures and do it quickly if they want to be in the lead and be the best. The competition is getting fierce out there and prices are dropping fast too (in example AI's). I also believe that if in the near future, Ecotech would bring down the price to $500 bucks a pop, they would rule the industry hands down no questions asked, and the added expense of the hanging kit and mounting options wont hurt as much. Just my opinion as a consumer

[BigKahuna]

Originally Posted by Billabong

I find it very unsettling that people feel the need to defend ecotech. I always wonder if it’s a holier than thou type complex, “I own it and this is the way I justify it!” One may say loyalty but what is loyalty? Making someone do something they don’t want to do because of the person that is asking? But then again I never could understand why someone would defend the make of car they drive (Ford vs Chevy).

It’s manipulation at its finest. You buy a product, make the company rich, and as a bonus you defend their honor.

These are companies taking our money and giving us a product for profit. Why do you feel the need to take their side? The transaction was made, both sides are happy, leave it at that. Let ecotech defend their position if they feel the need to, it’s not our place to do so.

Take a step back and look at it from another perspective, would it have been better for them to completely explore all avenues of these lights and put out the best product they could? They were lacking depth and instead of postponing production they decided to roll out the substandard product. Knowing full well that they had to come up with a solution to the depth problem, which didn’t take much to do, just incorporate reflectors on a lens that will work with the radion pucks. If you ask me, (maybe you’re not) but not only should they have waited on r&d to catch up not only for the depth issue but the program that you download from their website has a lot more work that needs to be done to make it reliable.

To my knowledge this company is shrouded in secrecy, protecting their upcoming gadgets, there’s no reason why they couldn’t hold off. I think it has a lot to do with greed and stature.

Your whole post is nonsensical. Is AI releasing leak after leak of their Vega a better approach? It's called FUD,they muddy the waters with rumors and hope they can prevent sales going to competitors. There is nothing altruistic about that approach either. This is a business they are secret so as to maintain competitive advantage and they release secrets if they feel that is advantageous as well. The Radion is a compromise as well as every other product out there. Products without compromises are as rare as unicorns. There is no such thing as you say "put out the best product they could?" only put out the best product you can on the schedule and budget allowed. I suppose AI should be taken for task for selling their "substandard" Sol Blues because they have a new better model they know they are going to release? It's called product cycle where there are updates and new product, it's not defending anyone it's the way it works. The Radion wasn't released yesterday, it was released in October IIRC which makes it 7 months ago, more than half a year in electronics is a long time

All I know is I've be fine growing SPS on the sand with my Radions in my 75 with only 50% output so they can't be that bad. That said I'm moving to a deeper tank and welcome the new Lens to work better in the new situation. I'm glad they released them when they did as I was sorely in need of new lights and would have probably bought something I wasn't happy with and lost money with an eventual upgrade. Not everyone has a super deep tank which would require the more penetrating lens and most aquarist probably have smaller than 75g to begin with and if they do it might come as somewhat of a shock to you that every fixture doesn't work equally well on every tank.

It's all good for competition. You don't think Ecotech dropping the Radion hasn't had a fantastic effect on the rest of the industry? Was AI greedy and a stature hound because they were selling their lights for way more than what they were worth as evidenced by the steep price cuts after the Radion was merely announced? Of course not, they did exactly what was right for their business and charged what the market would bear and made profit so they could afford to develop new and better lights as evidenced in the forthcoming Vega. You can thank the "greed" of Ecotech as you put it for cheaper and better lights in the industry. I don't see how this isn't better for everyone in the end.

[Billabong]

All I’m saying is they could’ve waited another month or two to finalize production on the reflectors, software and the hanging kits. I still think it was a bit premature to roll out when they did. I understand that fear was the primary motivator to roll out when they did. They wanted to be the first. Instead of allowing their product to be the judge they moved too soon in fear that AI was going to steal their thunder.

[BigKahuna]

Originally Posted by Billabong

All I’m saying is they could’ve waited another month or two to finalize production on the reflectors, software and the hanging kits. I still think it was a bit premature to roll out when they did. I understand that fear was the primary motivator to roll out when they did. They wanted to be the first. Instead of allowing their product to be the judge they moved too soon in fear that AI was going to steal their thunder.

Hey I respect your opinion more when you put it that way. I think when people throw around the word "greed' it's way too often an oversimplification and inaccurate when it comes to business decisions. I'm not sure a couple of months might have been all they lost though. We are now sitting 7 months out from the initial launch and they are just surfacing. The lights are well made and a nice design IMHO and the modular design was mentioned from the get go so this is all part of the plan to roll in changes as they go along. We don't know how much money they poured into the fixtures and software and how much they needed to recoup etc. We don't know when and why decisions were made but we do know the lights were designed from the outset to have modular upgrades and we are seeing the fruits of that decision play out so it's tough to be too critical of Ecotech in this regard.

[david00061]

Its about time to unsubscribe from thread.