Quote:
Originally Posted by BigKahuna
If PAR is your overarching concern I would recommend against any multi-color LED fixture to be honest. Radions use multiple colored LED's to create different colored looks simulating the look of different spectrum of light, i.e. 12k, 20k etc. The downside to this approach is that at only one particular color will the fixture output its maximum level, and PAR as well. If you want the maximum PAR you either have to know at what the color the fixture is running all its LED's at their highest level, in the case of the Radion that is 12k. The new AI vega looks pretty nice, and a true competitor to the Radion, but with all the color channels comes a price to be paid just like the Radion and even worse because it has more colors. That said if the color the Vega outputs with all LED's 100% is what you want then it might be a good fit. Flexibility with color output = less than maximum PAR & brightness in all but one color output. Just something to think about. That said I like my Radions and love the color flexibility and seem to be able to grow stuff on the bottom so it works for me and I'm sure many people will love the new AI's. Competition is good, it makes all these things better.
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+1. I have Radions and run them for most of the day at the 12k setting to get the most light output. However, I think it's too blue for my taste. This is going to be the same with the Vegas -- you may like the like the output but not necessarily the color.
Something else to keep in mind -- the Radions and Vegas each use a different design. The Radions seem better for shallower tanks, while the Sols (and Vegas, assuming the optics are similar) are better for deeper tanks based on the narrower optics giving the ability to penetrate deeper. The Radions may have better color mixing based on the design too, and they can be mounted lower to the tank. Conversely, the Sols can be mounted higher off the tank for better dispersion of light but also better penetration -- but the cost is inferior color mixing (which causes the mirror ball effect which some find annoying).
Although I have Radions, I still like the look of halide the best, since it gives the most even dispersion since it's a single point light source. Kessils come close by design, but need to be at least 12" off the tank to avoid spotlighting. I'm hoping that a company will figure out how to get the look of halide/Kessil dense matrix in a panel type LED fixture, allowing us to mount the fixture lower on the tank.