Odyssea Metal Halide: price too good to be true?

[owenz]

I've been searching around for a relatively inexpensive 36" metal halide/compact flourescent combo lighting system and until now, I thought Coralife's $400 model was as inexpensive as it got. Another poster provided a link to a combo system made by Odyssea, however, that blows Coralife away in terms of price:

http://aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAc ... &ProdID=12

Does anyone have experience with Odyssea or its products? I love a good deal as much as the next guy, but I've also learned it sometimes pays to be skeptical when a product's price is way out of line with the competition. I want to believe I can get a metal halide system up and running for less than $200, I really do!

I just want to hear from someone else whose done it first...


UPDATE - there is some discussion of Odyssea in this thread, but I'm interested to hear if anyone else has had experience with them.

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... ht=odyssea

UPDATE 2: Odyssea lights are also sometimes referred to as Jebo, which apparently does not have the best name in the business.

 

[Len]

I've had Jebo, and they look the same so it's probably a different marketing brand. You get what you pay for. Jebos work, but they aren't terribly well built. But they work fine.

FYI: I think that fixture is 150W, not 175W as advertised.

 

[Anonymous]

I bought the t5 bulbs from them and a fixture (since the fixture was ready to go with a ballast). They're cheap chinese knock offs, but at $15 for a 54w T5 bulb that's something I had to atleast try. That and they're local for me so I just went down and pick it up

 

[Unarce]

I friend of mine bought one of their MH fixtures and is very happy with it. The quality seems great for the price, especially for those who were hesitant to buy in the first place.

If you're in the Bay Area, I would just visit the store and negotiate a deal without the bulbs. They are the absolute worst bulbs, probably a grade below Hamiltons. You can get two of the same spectrum label, and they look totally different when lit.

I've also heard that the packaging for shipping is just pieces of cardboard taped together, which probably explains why so many people receive broken bulbs.

 

[Anonymous]

Yah I wouldn't mind buying one of those if they didn't have power compacts and moonlights all in there, just a single MH w/ballast fixture would be nice. But it is a VERY good deal for those who are hesitant to get get MH lighting having seen some kits that are like $500-$1000.

 

[Raskal311]

you get what you pay for, i'd be very surprise if the light last longer then a year. And Aquatraders.com isn't a great place to buy stuff. If something goes wrong your not getting your money back. But all and all I'd buy it for that price just not from aquatraders.com If the ballast blow after a year you can always replace it with a better one. And many people have switch out the bulb for something better. The bulb the lights comes with is very cheap.

 

[Raskal311]

btw Jebo and Odyssea is two diff co. I believe they were bothers that ran Jebo but because family should do business they split up in to two diff co.

 

[Anonymous]

Whatever of the company, both are synonyms for Cheaply made chinese knockoffs

If they did screw me over though I'd stalk out their store and get retribution (since they are now 3 houses away from my parents house ) but in all seriousness compared to a MH retro its not THAT much cheaper, considering the quality of the bulb you get, but it is SIGNIFCANTLY cheaper than those premade hood setups.. I mean look at a Tek Light t5 setup (2x54w) will cost you close to $200, and probably does have some cheap parts in it too, but buy their 2x54w t5 setup and its $50. I think it'd be good for those just starting and not knowing what they need, and wanting to test things out, I mean how many of us tried VHO setups or PC setups before just biting the bullet and getting MH bulbs? I Know I sure as hell would be a bit cheesed off if I had paid a few hundred on a lighting setup I found out wasn't really all that good.

 

[JamisonRD]

I too came across this lighting not too long ago, and I have the same questions/worries. With a price like that, there HAS to be a catch. It sure is a lot better than the $350 for the Current USA Outer Orbit fixture I've been eyeing up(150w HQI MH, 2x65 watt PCs, and moon lights - all seperate plugs, seperate switches, one fixture as well), but I just don't know if I'd make this cheaper purchase. At the very least, it's good to note that while there are seperate switches for each form of lighting, there are not seperate plugs. So, you'll have a much harding time running any kind of timers or the sort (which is a factor in my decision). At least, this was true for the model I was able to see in action (about 6 months ago).

My best advice is to buy smart the first time, that way if you don't like this fixture at somepoint down the road from now, you don't end up dropping a few more bills on top of what you already spent... but again, it's all in what you're looking for.

 

[Raskal311]

They dont have separate plugs but dont they have built in timers or some type of controllers? The modle I was looking at did have some type of controler/timmer in it but I didnt get a chance to play with it too long. BTW If any one is in socal and wants these lights I know a place that sells them so you can pick it up.

 

[Anonymous]

Well if I remember, I can swing by their store and see if they have one of these on display and can check it out if anyone wants.

I would think there would need to be separate switches just for the simple fact that MH ballast is different from PC ballast is different than no ballast for moonlights.

 

[JamisonRD]

To quote the description on the Aqua Traders site,

"Odyssea metal halide system comes with non corrosive powder coated housing, built-in cooling fans, three separate on/off switches on external remote ballast controlling HQI, compact fluorescent, bluemoon LED separately, tempered glass splash guard, hanging kit and mounting brackets included."

I also found this same fixture for sale on eBay (at a significantly HIGHER price - yikes), as I figured that would be the best place to find a picture of everything, not just the fixture. There is a picture of the whole unit, including the remote ballast; however, I can't really see what the pictured cord(s?) are for... maybe someone else here can. :?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46314&item=4383224849&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V

I also believe that in the eBay pic, this fixture is sitting on top of it's original box... and as stated somewhere above, this packaging looks less than ideal.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh yah, they come in non-discript brown cardboard boxes, that may say the on them that its a MH system but other than that you're out of luck if you're expecting some nice pretty packaged box

 

[Anonymous]

a grade below Hamiltons

is that possible :lol:
FWIW e-bay isnt always the best way to go..in most cases and IME it is far more expensive..sellers realize people will buy anything on e-bay because they'e (buyers) are expecting a deal... sometimes it aint worth it...

 

[JamisonRD]

FWIW e-bay isnt always the best way to go..in most cases and IME it is far more expensive..sellers realize people will buy anything on e-bay because they'e (buyers) are expecting a deal... sometimes it aint worth it...

Completely agreed with you there(!) and that is coming from someone who also sells on eBay (but that's just random junk I don't need anymore, not really looking for profit, it's just better to make a buck instead of throwing things away). From my limited experience w/ aquaria, eBay seems to be almost always more expensive than other online outlets!

 

[princer7]

8O

I just received the light kit from aquatraders.com - I was the original poster owenz was referring to. They shipped pretty fast and I was satisfied with their shipping. The only thing - which has been brought up in this topic - is that there is three connections for the light but only one connection for power. Here are some pictures of the light.

I am not too familiar with lighting but would like to adapt it if possible to work with timers and dimmer control for the moon lights. Does anyone have suggestions as to how to modify the connectors or what kind of power I am dealing with?

Thanks,

Jennifer

 

[Anonymous]

Well you could use timers for the light, not dimmers though. The "only" issue is that you'd need to fabricate a connector that goes between the 3 plugs and the power then these connectors are what hook up directly to the timers, and the timers hook up (via fabricated cable) to the power cord.

Definately MacGyver job

 

[Anonymous]

If you have to Mickey Mouse it, it aint worth it IMO...

 

[Anonymous]

Well it'd be the same as a DIY retro kit basically.. but may not be worth it. But hey I'm the type of guy to tinker with everything

Looking at it again it seems all the wires from the hood go to the ballasts (external) and that whole thing is plugs into the wall, it might just be as easy to open the ballast box up find where the main power hooks to the ballasts, I'm sure it'd be a simple matter of hooking up another power cord to the other ballast. But if you don't have the skills to do this, I really would advise against it

 

[Raskal311]

btw I know they have a problem with the wires over heating so be careful with that. They did say they fixed the problem but who khows.