Metal Halides from Aquatraders.com

[dnyce]

I was wondering if anyone is familiar with the Odyssea brand of Metal halide fixtures? I've seen them being used in a fish store in Copaigue, LI. The price is a lot cheaper than other fixtures and I was wondering why? Are they not as good as others or are the others overcharging? Heres a link to the site, and I appreciate all feed back.
http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=275

 

[Tonyscoots84]

cheaper does not = better product... ive heard disaster stories with odyssea MH fixtures such as fires.... not good products at all..... get yourself a good fixture.... ull be happier in the end :biggrin:

 

[DonCisco]

Odyssea ballasts are known to overheat, and burst into flames. I agree with Tony, get something a bit more expensive, check the F/S threads, sometimes you can get real bargains with great equipment.

 

[DevIouS]

Odyssea =

 

[aaron]

there are about 40 pages of discussion of these lights on reef central with a number of people buying them and pulling them apart. In many instances the halides were incompatible with the ballasts that were installed in the units- often a cheaper Tar ballast was used instead of an electronic one.
In the end these really are too good to be true.
Its not too hard to buy a cheap ballast and wire these up yourself - of course you have to work out your own pendant or hood, but its not too hard if you handy.

 

[Deanos]

there are about 40 pages of discussion of these lights on reef central

And there's about 10 threads here I found using our SEARCH function.

 

[dnyce]

MH from aquatraders.com

I just got off the phone with a guy from Aquatraders and he told me that the old line is discontinued and the will have a new 48" 600+ mh fixture in about a week and it has a new electronic ballast. He stated that this should solve some of the heat issues in the past. Don't know if that is true or not. I searched reefcentral last night and most people agreed the fixture was of good quality and the ballast was the problem. Time will tell I'm still looking at some other retrofit kits like Coralvue, all feed back is appreciated.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

would not go with odyssea even if they changed there name to a different one.. aint worth the risk of having ur place burn down....

there are many better kits out there that will be reliable and safe to use... search for em and u will find em... ask us 1st like u did... good idea :biggrin:

 

[dacrystal]

Like most have said the Ballasts Suck. I have the Odyssea 48" with two 175 watt MH and two 96 watt PC. The PC ballast went in ten months and I decided to replace the MH ballast at the same time.

I however disagree with the overall thumbs down of the product. With the Ballast upgrades this product rocks and AquaTraders even sent me some custom parts to complete my conversion. AquaTraders has good Customer Service with prompt attention. But understand that yea it is too good to be true.

One note, I think the 175 watt MHs are really overclocked 150's because I've never seen a tank with the color MH that I have in my tank. you can check my gallery for examples. but my corals seem to like it.

Daniel

 

[Quang]

For an investment in a tank like lighting, I wouldnt even mess around. Sure the sales guy is going to pitch you some good news. Sorry to be closed-minded, dont do it. A few months from now, we don't want to be saying to you "I told you so."

I never bought any MH Odyssea products, but judging from their PC's stuff, which I've bought, it's really like playing with fire. (The ballast casing was cheap, screws loose, rattling noises on the inside which could not be good) Overall bad quality IMO.

 

[DEEPWATER]

even before i became a vendor i would never think of buying anything from aquatraders ..something about cheap lighting with high wattage just doesnt mix .

shoot me a pm ,maybe i can get you something better and save you some money .LMK what watts and size fixture you need ,ill se what i can do .there are some good fixture out there ,,sunpod ,,orbit,,and some others