Since the Seneye monitor hit the market it has created a huge amount of buzz with reef keepers of all types, and I’ve noticed a major trend with the feedback floating around. Every time I Google “Seneye” I find countless people wondering why it’s so cheap, and even some saying that the low price is a sure sign of less quality. Considering what it does, some speculation on why it’s so inexpensive is certainly natural, and I’ve been wondering the same since the release. Instead of speculating, I decided to return to the source and simply asked Seneye, “Why so cheap?”

In yet another very quickly returned email from Seneye’s Tom Crosswell, I had my questions answered in detail.  The developers at Seneye are, like most of us, self confessed fish geeks, and with goals like our, they simply created something that fish keepers of all types would like. This means that they were shooting at designing a device that owners of every type of tank including small fresh water tanks, koi ponds, nano tanks and everything all the way up to massive reefs. A product goal with this much flexibility means that it must fit into small budget systems, but still be revolutionary enough for huge projects. In short Seneye set out to save fish and keep people passion for the hobby alive.

To do this they had to keep the price low, so instead of importing exotic parts designed specifically for their device, they designed the monitor in house within the UK and manufacture it within the UK. All the electronic components used are from major brands such as Philips and ARM, which yields a product that’s easy to produce, reproduce and due to the commonality of its parts, much less expensive than one might think. Seneye truly thought outside the box in the design room and with the use of the very latest micro-electronics, they arrived at something incredibly functional and perfect for the masses.

As we should know from looking at other products, Seneye could easily charge $800 to $1000 for a product that does so much while still being sleek and user friendly.

I think when looking at a product that has so much to offer and is within reach of us all, we need to take a step back from our instinctual reactions and wait for some results. I certainly don’t want to be the public voice of opposition when this one is back ordered into next year within the first month of sales!

Visit Seneye at: www.seneye.com