For the second straight year, we compiled a pool of some of the LED lights that were released the previous year and asked you to tell us which one you felt was the most compelling and we are proud to announce the Kessil A350 as the winner of the 2012 Reef Builders LED showdown. We decided to make the contest a bit more dramatic by pitting the field of 32 against each other in a tournament-style bracket and after the smoke cleared it was an extremely tight contest with the Kessil A350 winning with 52% of the vote and a slim 26-vote margin over the AI Vega.
We wanted to say thank you to everyone that voted and chimed in on the contest — whether you loved it or hated it. We’ve seen the LED side of the hobby take off over the last few years and have come across so many worthy, innovative and intriguing lights (and plenty of duds as well). The contest was not to determine the best LED light on the market, the best PAR output, the most efficient light, the most used LED light, the best value, or the most features — this was just to determine which LED you found the most compelling.
We had a lot of fun putting this together and it did exactly what we hoped the contest would do, bring more exposure and more conversation around the quality lights that were in the market last year. We hope you had the chance to take a closer look at other vendors and have some new appreciation for the innovation in the market right now. With the first month of 2013 complete, we have 11 more months of great products and innovative LED lights to look forward too. So stay tuned!