Ecotech Marine’s Radion XR30w wins the 2011 Reef Builders LED showdown

Posted on January 10th, 2012 by 36

The 2011 LED Showdown was a lot of work and a lot of fun but at the end of the day only one LED light could be left standing. The Ecotech Radion XR30 defeated the Maxspect Mazarra in the final round of the 2011 Reef Builders LED showdown giving you, our readers, the chance to weigh in and select your favorite LED aquarium fixture that launched in 2011 and was featured here. The final results had Ecotech winning with 61% of the votes with around 1,500 voted being tallied.

There were plenty of quality lights we featured in the head-to-head tournament bracket and this by no means diminishes the performance, value and breadth of application the other fixtures can be used in. We hopefully brought some attention the the vast amount of quality LED products that were introduced over the last 12 months and get your primed for more in 2012. Thanks so much for everyone who participated in the voting and congratulations to Ecotech Marine for winning the poll with the Radion XR30w.

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PNNXOIFOHZWSAMK7P3XKBQJJ5I Wiljuchi

    yawn…

  • Anonymous

    This was hilarious…reminded me kind of like the elections in high school. I was as surprised to see who won as I was to find out Jose Canseco and Mark McGuire used steroids. Not trying to take anything away from the Radion, I think it is a great light and one of the top choices out there, but this was good entertainment.

  • J Brinks

    I knew the Radion was going to win…

    I presume most people did what I did and voted for whichever LED light they’d prefer to have. 

    I don’t own a Radion or any of the other fixtures; I went DIY…

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=700870087 Oleg Favela

    Yawn… my thought exactly… my question is how many of those voters actually have the light and how many just bough into the hype and commercialization of a $750 light..

  • Tim Watson

    I’d love Radions but looks like they’d be closer to $900 a pop to get down under & as I’d need three that makes $2700 vs probably around $1050 for three Kessils.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jonathan-Hawkins/100002931287070 Jonathan Hawkins

    I own 2 Mazarras and a friend has the Radion.  Both are great, i think the Mazarra has greater upgradeability with it’s individul LED’s and being able to change the LED’s in about 1-2 mins is great.

    That said i got an email and a message on Facebook from Ecotec asking me to vote for the Radion, but nothing from Maxspect….. would have been interesting how this would have gone if there were no marketing about the poll from Ecotec.

    either way, they are both great fixtures… and given the opportunity i would buy the maxspect again!

  • Jim Wall

    Hi Tim,

    FWIW I just ordered 3 A150 Kessils from Marine Depot in the US to Brisbane and the total cost inc intl express postage was $909 AUD.  You should (or I should say – I’m counting on :) ) just needing a new kettle style plug for them when they get here, the PSU is apparently a universal 120/240 50/60 type.

  • Anonymous

    I got the same e-mail as well.

  • Anonymous

    I have two. And while I liked the AI’s I had before, the Radions were worth the upgrade.

  • Justin Farabaugh

    incase no one noticed maxspect was winning early on until shortly after the emails came out.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TLDCJZIPRVHBDDZEG524FPAASI Christine

    Kudos to Ecotech Marine ! 

    You have convinced thousands of loyal fans they need red LED’s in there aquarium, and the ability to make it as red as they want. Kinda like Apple convinced so many to trade in their iPhone 4 for the iPhone 4s. Great marketing Ecotech Marine, once you have a loyal following you can sell them anything. 

  • brett

    Don’t ever underestimate the significance of the LED Showdown badge folks. Buy this light NOW. I can’t wait for the Ecotech-funded study which shows us halide users we’ve only been getting a fraction of the light we thought we were!

  • Justin Farabaugh

    umm fiji purple t5s have a large 650-660nm spike

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Tibbits/8640355 Matthew Tibbits

    It’s true.  You don’t NEED red LEDs, but they do really make oranges, reds, and purples pop. Nanobox is using them as well.  Also, hats off to nanobox for going as far as a little guy could go (and nearly knocking off the Radion).  I hope this little exercise gives Dave some more business.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=700870087 Oleg Favela

    Knowing Ecotec and reading some of the comments and posts their owner, Tim, has made, Its no surprise honestly. Its also the main reason why I will never purchase anything from Ecotec.. They are all snobby know it all’s who will put you down and insult you in a heart beat. Its no surprise as well that they sent out mass junk mail begging people to vote for them.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=700870087 Oleg Favela

    From the start this whole thing was a joke. Regardless Ive had my eye on the nanobox for quite some time and Im sure Dave WILL be getting business soon. I plan to order two for my tank.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=700870087 Oleg Favela

    You mean the purchased badge? Just like Ecotec purchased out reef central? Anyone dare say anything against ecotec and they get the ban hammer faster then the black plague.. Its too bad everyone else in this showdown didn’t get a chance to mass span everyone begging for a vote..

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=700870087 Oleg Favela

    Ide still take a max over the eco any day.

  • Anonymous

    You say that as if Coralvue (Maxspect) didn’t send out a nearly identical e-mail…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_J7X5OCUQCERLI6EDUMYNFZZ4K4 bill

    Wow oleg, 5 posts out of 18 total on this thread, you must really hate EcoTech, or just can’t afford one

  • Anonymous

    I heard AI was doing something similar on facebook and was giving 3 fixtures away!

    BTW…..  I have Dave building me a DIY (or DIH LOL!) for me now.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=700870087 Oleg Favela

    What’s your point bill? Ive got a friend who put two over his tank to get rid of MH’s.. I haven’t exactly seen full satisfaction. Matter fact we have an $150 knock off from eBay that’s doing better.. It has nothing to do with being able to afford. It has everything to do with the fact that Eco has its head too far up in the clouds or up its arse.. Either way ive never been bitten by the hype bug and eco tried so hard to hype.. Im still and AI fan and I would pick a humble manufacturer over an over hyped and horribly overpriced company like ecot.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_T32W7KCTV2AST6C3STAFIASIIM Anonymous

    I can’t understand all the bitterness, unless people feel they can’t use their own minds to make purchasing decisions.  Sad, really.  I think anything that brings attention (and business) to LED lighting is a GOOD thing.  More business = more choices = better for consumers.

    PS sorry about the weird Yahoo! sig. They changed their social networking system AGAIN.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Frode-Numan/659084887 Frode Numan

    AA shows some PAR numbers today of various LED-fixtures we have also seen in this poll … if those where shown here before the poll, I dare to say the Radion wouldn’t have won…

  • Anonymous

    Really? I just looked at the numbers.. what is so bad about 200 PAR at 24″ deep? That is normal sand bed level in most tanks and 50-200 PAR at the sand bed is perfect.

    http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/1/aafeature

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=608040062 Ioannis Mylothridis

    i agree. The light from the Radion is also very well spread out. 

    The Orphek array does produce a lot of PAR but the spread and coverage is terrible to say the least. I would only consider this fixture for very deep tanks (although id rather go with AI)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XMBVIE5PJXMAMZJSENESFNWBKA Joe

    As Greg Carroll pointed out on AA, it is pretty obvious that Orphek is lying about the angle of the lenses they are using. They claim those are 90 degree lenses on the test, there is absolutely no way that spread pattern is caused by 90 degree lenses, those are 40 degree lenses used which is why it has such high PAR but also such small PAR zones radiating from the center out.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Frode-Numan/659084887 Frode Numan

    I agree the lightning of the Radion looks more evenly spread. But at 24″ it produces within a 18″ diameter circle 100 – 150 PAR, with a center spot 150 – 200. Where the Orphek is producing the same and in a 18″ by 30″ oval with most of the 18″ center beeing well over 300 PAR. 
    The Orphek is almost doubling the output of the Radion. And as most tanks are rectangular, the Orphek has a smarter spread I think.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Frode-Numan/659084887 Frode Numan

    You have seen them both (Radion an AI) I guess, as you sell them ;-) What would you reccomend over a 80 cm deep tank which has just 60 by 55 cm surface.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Frode-Numan/659084887 Frode Numan

    As for the lenses. I have 80 degree lenses on my DIY, but they do seem to have a center cone which looks more like 40 degree. So I don’t think Orphek is lying about that. It’s just the way those lensen work.

  • Anonymous

    I wonder why my 60 degree lenses on my Cree LEDs have a wider spread than the Orphek lenses. I have used and tested 40/60/80 degree lenses quite extensively over the past 2 years on Cree and “china” LEDs and can say with almost complete certainty the pattern created by the Orphek light is closer to 40 degree than anything else.

    Knowing how that company runs, they could be sold “90 degree lenses from china” and just taking their word that is what they really are without doing any independent testing at all, which I think is the more likely scenario if they insist on sticking to their guns and saying they really are 90 degree lenses.

    If you think of how 90 degrees looks, right angle, turn it 45 degrees and look at the spread of what 90 degrees does, then look at the light spread of their light and tell me again they are really using 90 degree lenses, it just isn’t possible in my opinion.

  • Anonymous

    Just curious, in your opinion what do you feel are proper LED PAR levels for a sand bed?

    On my DIY light I can get 500-600+ PAR anywhere at the sand bed if I turn it up all the way.. but I never do. That is 48 LEDs in a square over a 30″x24″x24″ 75G tank hung 14″ above the tank with 60 degree lenses on XR-E royal blue/blue, neutral and warm whites and XP-G cool whites (I built it before XP-E blue LEDs came out). I stay under 200 PAR at the sand bed to keep low light corals happy, but even 200 PAR is a lot of light for most low light corals.

    It is very easy to double, triple, and even quadruple PAR output simply by using optics. Without optics to 80 degree with double the PAR output, 60 degree triples it, and 40 degree quadruples it (yes, I know that isn’t 100% accurate, but close enough to use as a starting point). This is how I believe Orphek lights are obtaining that high PAR reading.

    I don’t agree the Orphek has a smarter spread because you have what appears to be a 1″ band of PAR ranges to stick corals in. Move the coral 1″ towards the front or middle and you could be changing PAR levels by 100+. That is way to drastic of changes within a small tank. You get one coral to grow out to any “colony” size and the 1 coral will be sitting within 4 different PAR zones.

  • Anonymous

    In defense of the Orphek units the spread in the 24″ and 30″ graphs increase at pretty much what one would expect from 90 degree optics. At 24″ the fixture has a rough footprint of 12″ x 24″. At 30″ the spread increases to 20″ x 28″. This relates to pretty much a 45degree angle of increase. The PAR plot matches this pretty much as the rings follow out along the same lines. Gcarroll spouts that same stuff off everywhere that the Orphek name comes up anyway. It makes one wonder why…..same claims, same MO…. Truth be told I was shocked at the poor performance of the Radion. I did not expect such a poor showing. Looking at the power usage it appears that something is missing in the radion camp. Regardless of the angle of Orpheks lights they build a better fixture. Wonder how the lights would do if lumens was compared or Spectral plots. Did anyone bother to even notice that the 150-200 par completely disappears in the 30″ Radion graph?? I’d rather raise my good looking array up to increase spread than float it on the surface of the water to increase par.

  • Vitaliy Pysmennyy

    OK… Radion Fixture officially sucks!  I have been banned from ReefCentral for doing an experiment and asking Ecotech to respond to their par #’s and efficiency.  I have 2 of these hung over the tank right now, to say the least, the 200-300 par my SPS are getting at the top are less than impressive.  Growth is slow.  I am building a thread on forums that will document progress with these fixtures.  I am stuck with them, might as well make the best of them.

  • http://www.facebook.com/robin.lutchman Robin Lutchman

    Yeah I got the same email also, I was fortunate enough to have the LFS owner to allow me to play with both units in the store , I`m going Mazara P.

    But I`m waiting for the controller to be upgrade to a PC driven programming because I really like the simple program Radion has.

  • http://www.facebook.com/robin.lutchman Robin Lutchman

    wow, I didn’t get an email telling me to vote ,and I follow them on Facebook…now Im hurt lol.