JBJ has given a sneak peak of the new JBJ PACIFICA LED light and we have to say, the light is not breaking any new ground and we fail to see how this lamp lives up to the proposed $499 pricetag. After teasing us at Reefapalooza this fall with the name of the light and once the veil came off today, all we have to say is this new light looks like a spot-on copy of the Innovative Marine LED tablets we first saw well over a year ago. We weren’t clamoring for that light then, and we’d be hard pressed to recommend the JBJ Pacifica LED now.
JBJ made a significant stance in the LED market with the release of the Unibody LED, an American-made LED that packed a lot of punch in a high-quality package and one of our favorite lights for corals in recent memory. With the release of the Pacifica we feel that JBJ is taking a big step backwards. The new light is going to be a 96 W package of “value” LEDs in a 50/50 spread of 12,000 K white and 20,000 K blue LEDs.
Like with the Innovative Marine fixture, the blue and white LEDs are arranged with the front two rows of white LEDs and the back two rows of blue. Not even doing the simple change of alternating blue and white LEDs shows a certain degree of apathy. Each LED has its own reflector but as we saw in the Innovative Marine fixture, doesn’t really perform as other lights with quality LEDs and individual reflectors.
The company has imported this mass-produced LED light to use with the company’s 30g rimless aquariums to offer a complete JBJ system for retailers and is planning on offering this in limited release before going to a larger release in late January. Plans call for optional “controllers” and canopy or ceiling mounting kits in the next few months.
With such a great light and form factor in the Unibody LED, we are scratching our heads as to why JBJ would release such an inferior light, which is basically identical to one released over a year ago by their main competitor, at a price point that makes absolutely no sense. It’s almost 2013 and for months now you’ve been able to get the AI Vega with wireless control, top shelf LEDS, custom lenses and 20 channels of control for $499. It’s besides us how JBJ expects to market the comparatively rudimentary JBJ Pacifica for half a thousand dollars.
