Approved GB for Evolution LED fixtures

[richardhmc]

Well I paid for my 3G 200w 14k fixture on January 1st and my fixture was supposed to come in this past Tuesday and I was supposed to have the fixture in my posession early this coming week. I didn't hear from Chris on Tuesday which I was expecting to because he said he was most likely going to ship them as soon as he got them. So I decided to ask what was going on with the fixture on Wednesday and he said they were going out. So Thursday morning I got a Fedex electronic shipment email saying that the lable was created and fixture was going to be here this coming Tuesday, I WAS excited. Then in the afternoon I get an email saying that they supposedly sent him the wrong fixture, the 2G instead of the 3G so I could either take that plus the difference, wait again for the 3G or get a full refund. So I Was really disappointed because I had clearly told Chris that I was going to order 2 more so you know you would think a seller would try their best to make a first impression knowing that but guess that's not necessarily the case. But anyways, he apologized for everything which is cool I guess but I personally think if you're going to import these fixtures why order the exact amount you need and not just order a few extra just in case anything does go wrong and just to have some in stock so people don't have to wait 3 weeks once they order. But I really wanted the light so I asked him when the next shipment would come in and he said that he would find out from them on Thursday night or Friday morning and that they were going on vacation for 11 days so basically if he didn't get in touch with them that's it for 11 days. To just shorten the story, I emailed him yesterday afternoon after not hearing from him after our convo Thursday afternoon, no answer. Emailed him again asking for a refund early Friday morning, no answer as of right now. Kind of annoyed that he left me in the dark and that he has had my money since the 1st...

Ouch man. I emailed him since the group buy started asking questions and he got back to me really quickly. somethin goin on here...

 

[richardhmc]

Just out of curiosity, which color are you guys goin for? the 14k or 20k?

I need to get a 200W 2g. the 20k looks nice in color but the whites and blues are turned on and off at the same time. Only the 14k can be separately controlled. opinions?

 

[Reef Junkie]

I have been trolling this thread because I am interested in possibly going in on the group buy.
The only thing that worries me is being caught up waiting for an oversea manufacturer to respond to an RMA.
The price is great, but what kind of assurance would I get that the turn around for a defective product wont take 3 months?

Otherwise this looks like a good deal.

 

[James]

i know chris is in nashville for a show and that is more than likely the reason he has not replied to you. in my dealings with him he has been very punctual with communication. as for the complaint that he did not order extra units... this is pushing it as some vendors don't have that kind of $ laying around to order "a few extra" units of an expensive light. the fact that he has had your $ since the 1st is moot because he told you you could get a full refund and you decided to wait. i am pretty sure once he returns from Tn or reads your email he will gladly refund you full amount and wish you good luck getting a light like this at this price. just my 2cents.

 

[dmr2000]

I am running two of the evolution 120 watt on a 60 gallon they are great love them what a blue 85 blue 34 white leds :splitspin

 

[reefs4life]

I'm really not trying to give anyone the wrong impression about Chris, I mean he was really good at responding to all my other emails but I feel like he could have done better with letting me know what is going on with my money at this point. They seem like good lights but from my experience now I just don't feel comfortable spending that much money. I am deleting my previous post because I really don't want people to change their mind because of what I wrote.

 

[Wes]

Wes,

That is the fixture I am interested in - are there separate cord for the blue and white or only one cord and two switches? Thx.

Separate cords. No switches.

 

[flipit13]

Separate cords. No switches.

actually 2 switches came with my unit that you could wire into the unit also if need be. otherwise the unit is like stated separate cords for blue & white.

 

[spacenyc]

what would i need for a 29 inch deep ACRYLIC TANK?

LOOKING AT LEDS FOR MY ACRYLIC TANK, 29 inch deep, but they have to lay on the tank and cant be suspended, what would be a reccomendation?

 

[flipit13]

Spacenyc

What are the dimensions of the tank.

 

[Wes]

actually 2 switches came with my unit that you could wire into the unit also if need be. otherwise the unit is like stated separate cords for blue & white.

The switches are non-functional. They are just included to fill in the holes for looks according to Chris.

I left my " fake" switches in the box.

Wiring up would require you to open it up and solder stuff, etc. It voids the warrantee when you take the sticker off covering the screw to open it up.

 

[spacenyc]

its a flatback bullet shaped acrylic

29 deep, 48 wide (at its widest), 36 long

 

[JonnyJ]

These fixtures are getting a lot attention on here. They are definitely lacking options and technology that was available well over a year ago. I'm not talking about sunrise sunset etc

I'm talking about cord options,case color options on/off, ***led placement***etc. They avoid producing bluer spectrum fixtures with multiple cords because of the placement of LEDs. They are placed in blocks.
therefore on a 20k system if you were just to run the blues or just whites they would get odd coverage and not look right.

You can get these same lights from a bunch of vendors located in china...just takes some research.

"Evolution" is just some name he tossed on them.

If you are worried about warrantees and what not I would stay away from any fixture that is being imported from china involving LEDs. Chris does seem like a good guy and does run a business. But just know if his supplier goes under or loses contact for any reason you will be pretty much stuck.

1st red flag for me was when he said he would try to get chords added, or different color cases, or other various options like on/off buttons. It shows me that he hasn't been working with them long because this should have been resolved a long time ago. That also let's me know the company thats making them is also new. It makes me worried about the warranty process because who knows if anything is yet to go wrong with these fixtures?

Over a year ago we ordered fixtures that had 2 cords, 2 switches, whatever combinations you want and options. Black Or white cases and I believe they were around 300 a piece. Those same original producers are offering dimming options now and replaceable LEDs for generally the same price chris is offering these lights at.

Not sure what chris is getting them for or trying to make him out to be a bad person but these exact LEDs with more options are being imported by other distributors for around 100-150 a piece and I know of 2 people doing it.

I am not trying to bash chris or the leds. Just trying to educate some people that may not know what i know.

If you simply want these lights to light your tank then they are a good buy. If you want more options I would just look elsewhere.

My similar bridgelux led light is still running. I feel like after a year that it has definitely lost some of it's brightness. Although it is very washed out comparable to other led systems which are priced much higher it is currently growing and sustaining life on the same tank a year later.

Jonny

 

[reefkoi]

sorry guys I have been so overwhelmed with questions about these lights via email, text and phone calls, I try and answer everyone as quickly as I can, I am answering emails while eating and working out at the gym LOL its tough so if you have questions feel free to call too, I need to hire someone to take the calls but I'm doing my best.

As far as the 200w light that was supposed to ship out to you last week fortunato..I did order your light model, 3 of them actually and they send all 2G instead of some 2G and some 3G I cant do anything about that, its the first time an order has arrived with a wrong light or two and its out of my hands, I could not send you a light that isn't here there was nothing I could do but answer all of your emails with the info I had.

I made the label up that day anticipating the light coming as scheduled and planned to ship it to you that day so thats why you got tracking and were excited it was coming because I thought it was too.

The country of China is in a spring festival (chinese new year) right now since friday (I believe) and they shutdown the place for 11 days.......all the factories that i deal with shutdown.

I got the 3 lights added last minute to the shipment that they told me would leave china before the holiday so I expect that means the lights are on the way and will be here this week.

The last shipment spent 3 days tied up in customs because of paperwork, there isnt anything I can do to avoid that, i simply pay for the lights and then the factory arranges the delivery so I can't help if they delay it, all I can do is keep in touch with my chinese friends and keep the lights coming this direction

I have dropped the price of these lights quite a bit for this group buy, the margin of profit is very low on these and so now is a great time to get in on the buy and I expect to have the lights in roughly 3 weeks, remember the holiday started and so the next 10 days are shot.......nothing will happen until after that.

I have a few dozen emails to go through tonight (just got home from the airport a few minutes ago) but I'll stay up and go through them all and try and answer as many questions via email and in this forum for you guys, i just have to go back through all the pages in this thread and quote all the questions one by one so if I miss one please let me know ok!

Thanks again and I hope you all dont lose faith in me

Chris

 

[reefkoi]

I got the email requesting cancellation of your order fortunato, I refunded you 100% tonight as requested via paypal sorry again I was gone for 3 days and I didn't get the email until tonight

Chris

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Chris what is in stock now?

 

[reefkoi]

in stock today are 2 of the 100w 3G 20K
I have 15 120w 1G 20K and 14K arriving today and tomorrow and 12 of the 2G and 3G arriving wednesday, so a lot are sold some available, they sell daily so it changes all the time is there a particular fixture you are interested in? you can always email me at [email protected] and then place the order on my website to get one as fast as possible ok!

Thanks
Chris

 

[reefkoi]

These fixtures are getting a lot attention on here. They are definitely lacking options and technology that was available well over a year ago. I'm not talking about sunrise sunset etc

I'm talking about cord options,case color options on/off, ***led placement***etc. They avoid producing bluer spectrum fixtures with multiple cords because of the placement of LEDs. They are placed in blocks.
therefore on a 20k system if you were just to run the blues or just whites they would get odd coverage and not look right.

You can get these same lights from a bunch of vendors located in china...just takes some research.

"Evolution" is just some name he tossed on them.

If you are worried about warrantees and what not I would stay away from any fixture that is being imported from china involving LEDs. Chris does seem like a good guy and does run a business. But just know if his supplier goes under or loses contact for any reason you will be pretty much stuck.

1st red flag for me was when he said he would try to get chords added, or different color cases, or other various options like on/off buttons. It shows me that he hasn't been working with them long because this should have been resolved a long time ago. That also let's me know the company thats making them is also new. It makes me worried about the warranty process because who knows if anything is yet to go wrong with these fixtures?

Over a year ago we ordered fixtures that had 2 cords, 2 switches, whatever combinations you want and options. Black Or white cases and I believe they were around 300 a piece. Those same original producers are offering dimming options now and replaceable LEDs for generally the same price chris is offering these lights at.

Not sure what chris is getting them for or trying to make him out to be a bad person but these exact LEDs with more options are being imported by other distributors for around 100-150 a piece and I know of 2 people doing it.

I am not trying to bash chris or the leds. Just trying to educate some people that may not know what i know.

If you simply want these lights to light your tank then they are a good buy. If you want more options I would just look elsewhere.

My similar bridgelux led light is still running. I feel like after a year that it has definitely lost some of it's brightness. Although it is very washed out comparable to other led systems which are priced much higher it is currently growing and sustaining life on the same tank a year later.

Jonny

All I can say is, yes I am kind of new to this, 6-7 months I'be been designing and selling these lights. Am I a rich man owning factories in China, no i am not I deal with factories and sales reps in china to develope a light line that i think is the best, we change it sometimes to make it better based on customer feedback.

I make between $20 and $60 profit maximum on these lights, I am not getting rich and I think your numbers of $100-$150 a unit direct from china is BS, I have ordered some $120 lights, they were garbage, and shipping was $50-$70 each with UPS or DHL so factor that in too ok!

Anyway, I'll honor group buy pricing here if you guys want to put a big order together, I will warranty them in house in colorado and thats all I can promise, I don't know what else i can do, please feel free to call me on the phone too at any time .

Chris
719-491-1600

 

[Wes]

and what happens 6 months from now when your lights go bad.are we going to have to wait for months to get a new or fixed fixture.well no offense im going to look around for a fixture i know will be handled like im important.they are very expensive so i guess it will either be acan or pacific sun.thanks reefer thats all i needed to hear.maybe a acan group buy should ne in the works LOL

Those will cost at least double

 

[evoIX_Reefer]

I receive my fixture tomorrow as per fedex tracking so i'll give my reviews a.s.a.p. I had a very enjoyable experience. Obviously it was the weekend and he was working other things in life. so you can't hold him down for the weekend like that. very understandable.