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Unread 04/18/2016, 09:47 AM   #63
Ron Reefman
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Cape Coral, FL
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Well, I'm not an expert at the Chinese market either. But I know a bit about how some of it works. Even some of the big builders like EverGrow don't 'make' a lot of the components that go into their fixtures. For example, they go to a different supplier to have the cases stamped out. If you have a unique case and don't allow the company making them sell the same case to other companies building fixtures, it means they do smaller runs and the costs go up. If you allow the case to be used by others, like the original case (commonly called Chinese bricks or black boxes) that almost every inexpensive to cheap builder used when led fixtures first started showing up in the US, the cost of the case goes way down. The same can be said about heat sinks, drivers, controllers, dimmers, timers, remote controls, hanging kits and even fixture legs.

Because of that, some components that make fixtures look the same, i.e. MarsAqua, the original EverGrow basic fixture, ToaTronics and many others may all look the same. But if you want a quality product you use quality heat sinks, quality fans, quality stainless steel, etc. If you want a cheap fixture you get the lower quality parts for less and your fixture costs less. Low cost very often drives volume sales and lowers costs and end user prices even more.

But the market is maturing and some builders can make inexpensive fixtures with unique cases and other unique supplies and do a big enough volume to demand lower costs (like WalMart does). Therefore they sell better fixtures at what are still reasonable prices. Especially if you can design something that is more upscale like the new EverGrow and ReefBreeders fixtures with Cree and Osram leds and 6 channel controllers. Or even the more basic fixtures like OceanRevive who added a simple timer and have a unique case design. They had them made with aluminum and powder coated them while everybody else was using steel (rust) and still painting them (less durable). EverGrow still did the assembly, but others like EG and RB couldn't copy them because the parts were made just for OR products and EG was willing to work with them.

But some companies are still in the 'build it cheap and sell them at rock bottom prices' to attract the low end of the market and grow their business. It's the least expensive way to gain a name and a bigger share of the market for a start up company. And after all, a lot of us like to save buck when we can.


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