i wondered that too and i feel you man it just seems like if i bought the light and had issues i wouldnt honestly be able to review or share my experience on here if its bad or they would consider that "spreading bad words" and revoke the warranty :Sharing One:
Lighting led prices
- Thread starter fweedom
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i wondered that too and i feel you man it just seems like if i bought the light and had issues i wouldnt honestly be able to review or share my experience on here if its bad or they would consider that "spreading bad words" and revoke the warranty :Sharing One:
jackmc
Killing them softley
I think the strange warranty language is a cultural thing. Legally you can't only offer warranties to customers you like. But you've got to give her credit for being honest
I've had great interactions with Top LED. The woman that runs it has responded to two of my emails within a day. Admittedly neither time I contacted her was for a problem. The unit I have is sturdy. The lights are housed in a metal case with two fans. These LED lights are following Moore's Law. Their prices are falling quickly and when you need to "change the bulb" you'll be able to buy a new light with 10W or 15W LEDS for the half price you paid for the 5W today.
I've had great interactions with Top LED. The woman that runs it has responded to two of my emails within a day. Admittedly neither time I contacted her was for a problem. The unit I have is sturdy. The lights are housed in a metal case with two fans. These LED lights are following Moore's Law. Their prices are falling quickly and when you need to "change the bulb" you'll be able to buy a new light with 10W or 15W LEDS for the half price you paid for the 5W today.yodabuds;627849The only posticw feature on it that I notice made a huge difference in flowering was the [U said:
Those are just T8 flourescent tubes UVB 10.0. They can (and CFLs & T5s) are sold in pet stores under the brand name ReptiSun.
How long did you run your UVB lights, and at what distance?
I've been playing with a ReptiSun mini CFL UVB 10.0. I felt like I burned a plant running it for a couple hours about 12" away. Fan leaves higher up yellowed and died. I'm getting the feeling a mini CFL at that distance should run about 20 minutes a day. I will take a more cautious, methodical approach on the next plant.
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I think TopLED is a tremendous value. You get a lot for the money, they have a representative on a public forum who addresses concerns, lots of satisfied customers. I don't think anyone could go wrong with TopLED.
A couple of business practices make me hesitant to support them. (The "don't say anything bad" clause of the warranty. And the way they don't publish their spectrum ratio using the logic that competitors would kill for it -- even though a competitor could use a common spectrometer to discover the info.). I feel like they're a little too much into a manufactured image (stifling honest customer feedback via the warranty "poison pill", and the mystique of an undisclosed color balance *everyone* wants to replicate -- but can't).
But, I'm considering buying one. There's the principles involved which bother me. But, overall I think it's a good light (which doesn't need those questionable practices to promote it).
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But, it also signals "we have a lot of gaping a-holes going off on us."
If you have an a-hole going off on you, the last thing you want to do is invoke the a-hole clause of your warranty and tell them you won't do anything to correct their problem. Do you really want to convert a gaping a-hole into a flaming one? (ha!)
It seems so counter productive to put that poison pill in the warranty. Just take care of the customer and you'll have more genuine positive support rather than managing and suppressing negative reports. Just do what's necessary and let people form their opinions.
They have a 10% discount for grow journals too. But, it has "no troublemaker" clauses too, which makes it look like they're manufacturing an image. I agree that I'd prefer not having a hot-head reviewing my lights. But, trying to manage it looks worse (IMO) than just letting the chips fall where they may.
nice discussion guys its helped a loti was initially looking into the Top Led lights basically cause they are the least expensive but also seem to have pretty good reviews but looking at the warranty made me a little iffy about it. it says.....
(6) If product has problem, you spread bad words everywhere on internet, but not tell us in advance, we will not give warranty.
id never spread bad words or anything in the first place it just made me think theyre expecting it to have issues or something idk :dunno:
Thanks for for pointing this out bro I'm going to look at there full warranty now because this disclaimer is NOT cool...can you imagine if GN or DP said "if you speak negatively of are products you warranty is void" it's almost blackmail.
Exactly im certainly not trying to say anything bad i hope nobody took it that way but to me thats like getting something from walmart and u have an issue and write an honest review may it be bad then walmart says "oh you said something bad no warranty for you even though you got one" :dunno:idk the lights seem good but i had to read that a few times lol :smoke:
I didn't take it that way. It was very useful info about TopLED. That warranty clause looks like manufacturing a reputation.
It's unfortunate because they appear to have a good product for the money. A great value anyway. It may be that they carried over a concept from eBay. It's pretty standard on eBay for sellers to discourage honest feedback with threats of reciprocal feedback, or denying remedy.
Could be a cultural thing. In China I don't believe it's as common for unhappy customers to be as hot-headed as the west (think of the "ugly American" label which has existed for decades). They may have discovered the "tit for tat" form of feedback on eBay or Alibaba (assuming it may be standard fare there too) and felt it was normal.
So, I wouldn't form too negative of a judgement. But, I agree that it's unfortunate. With the forum they have (elsewhere), I doubt they have too many unsatisfied customers. I think they defend themself against a problem that doesn't exist, using a tactic that appears normal on eBay. Probably not a serious reflection of fake reputation.
I would urge TopLED to
1. Be more transparent about their spectrum/ratio (just because it's not a secret anyway, especially with $40 spectrometers available to the average home grower).
2. Drop the protectionist warranty clause (because it's probably not enforceable anyway, and it doesn't sound like they need it even if it were).
3. Tone down some of the more gushing participants of their forum. I don't think it looks natural to have "True Believers" singing the praises of your product on a daily basis, never suggesting anything could be improved, responding immediately to every post (every day for months on end). A couple of those people make me wonder if they're not astroturfing. (Either TopLED employees, or customers who have "tight" relationships with Sara and get some freebie treatment in return for being "star" customers.).
All these things are perception problems. Probably well intentioned. I'd still say it's a great value and they seem to be a great company (especially for a direct from China operation where there's more risk).
I read on another forum the topled 5w mars units loose brightness after about 1000 hours of usage, can this be confirmed?
link to thread http://forum.grasscity.com/lighting/1295222-does-anyone-have-mars-2-led-lights.html
Either way I have seen them grow good grows online but am waiting to learn more about the new grow northern units
link to thread http://forum.grasscity.com/lighting/1295222-does-anyone-have-mars-2-led-lights.html
Either way I have seen them grow good grows online but am waiting to learn more about the new grow northern units
jackmc
Killing them softley
From what I understand all bulbs dim or loose effectiveness with use. Topled claims to use Cree LEDs which from what I've read are, along with Epistar, the two names to rely on. For full disclosure I do own a Mars II.
Thre is an android app called "BeeCam" which lets the user measure LUX. That would be a way to record a fixture's output from grow to grow (use a common distance from glass to camera lens).
I've read the red diodes loose some of their redness over time. The spectrum of a light could be monitored using this $40 DIY spectrometer. (<<link) I can't wait to get one. PublicLabs has a software tool for comparing color spectrum, viewing it different ways. From what I can tell it would be possible to compare a measurement taken when a light is new to a 1-year-old light and see a color graph showing the difference. (I don't know for sure until I get one.).
