Ok, I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here; but, can we address the prices of most aquarium equipment?
It’s insane. $500 for a controller (just the controller, no probes or modules), $300 for a wave maker. $700 for a light. I’ll be blunt, here - nothing on that list costs that much money to make and market. To the economics majors out there, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. A product is worth as much as the market can absorb; but I think that is a moot point here. This is pretty much a closed market. A few manufacturers offering specialty products, which means they can charge what they want.
Stop and think for a minute, though. Is aquarium equipment really specialty equipment? Is it? Really?
Let’s get to the brass tacks. The majority of aquarium equipment is literally existing technology and gadgetry that is thrown in a box and marked with “aquarium.” Sure, most things have small modifications to make the product suitable for use in or near water, but not much more.
A wave maker for example: what is it? Seriously, what does it really consist of? A fan, some wire, and a power modulator. Hell, some even have remote control ability via apps or the internet; but does that make it specialty? Does the ability to control the underwater fan via remote control, a specialty? What does it take to make something remote controllable? If that’s the case, then we’ve all been duped. Bluetooth and internet connectivity are not expensive endeavors, nor are the UI’s and coding to make everything seamless. And seriously, most of those UI’s and coding look like a fifth grader did it. Most of the apps are clunky and the web pages look like something designed in Windows ME.
How about controllers and “modules”?
(looking at you, Neptune)
Controllers, when you get down to the brass tacks, are not complicated devices. The technology is not advanced and is not new; but throw the word “aquarium” on it and all of a sudden they are ground breaking devices. Hell, for a while Neptune was relying on crowd sourcing for getting customers technical support. How is that right? It isn’t, but we still paid 500 to 800 dollars for the experience (yes, I was one of them).
I get it. We pay for convenience and reefing is an expensive hobby, but it doesn’t need to be. We, the hobbyists, need to start pushing back a little.
It’s insane. $500 for a controller (just the controller, no probes or modules), $300 for a wave maker. $700 for a light. I’ll be blunt, here - nothing on that list costs that much money to make and market. To the economics majors out there, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. A product is worth as much as the market can absorb; but I think that is a moot point here. This is pretty much a closed market. A few manufacturers offering specialty products, which means they can charge what they want.
Stop and think for a minute, though. Is aquarium equipment really specialty equipment? Is it? Really?
Let’s get to the brass tacks. The majority of aquarium equipment is literally existing technology and gadgetry that is thrown in a box and marked with “aquarium.” Sure, most things have small modifications to make the product suitable for use in or near water, but not much more.
A wave maker for example: what is it? Seriously, what does it really consist of? A fan, some wire, and a power modulator. Hell, some even have remote control ability via apps or the internet; but does that make it specialty? Does the ability to control the underwater fan via remote control, a specialty? What does it take to make something remote controllable? If that’s the case, then we’ve all been duped. Bluetooth and internet connectivity are not expensive endeavors, nor are the UI’s and coding to make everything seamless. And seriously, most of those UI’s and coding look like a fifth grader did it. Most of the apps are clunky and the web pages look like something designed in Windows ME.
How about controllers and “modules”?
(looking at you, Neptune)
Controllers, when you get down to the brass tacks, are not complicated devices. The technology is not advanced and is not new; but throw the word “aquarium” on it and all of a sudden they are ground breaking devices. Hell, for a while Neptune was relying on crowd sourcing for getting customers technical support. How is that right? It isn’t, but we still paid 500 to 800 dollars for the experience (yes, I was one of them).
I get it. We pay for convenience and reefing is an expensive hobby, but it doesn’t need to be. We, the hobbyists, need to start pushing back a little.
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