Reefs.org Forums

[JeremyR]

Yeah, and I know a bunch of manufacturers that said they were going to enforce MAP at DFS.

[budhaboy]

Maybe for a while. But, if they come out with a good product that is not too expensive people will buy it IMO. Ideals are great - someone wants something.

have you perused their site? aint nothing inexpensive about anything they produce.

[Raskal311]

Yeah, and I know a bunch of manufacturers that said they were going to enforce MAP at DFS.

The same old song and dance ha

[Snailman]

I bet the mags do take ads.. they were never scrupulous about who's ad they ran before.. money speaks and times are tough.

If they advertised the Aqua Equalizer they will take anyones money.

[miwoodar]

Yeah, and I know a bunch of manufacturers that said they were going to enforce MAP at DFS.

MAP?

[kgross]

Minimum
Advertised
Pricing.

The lowest price you can advertise the product at.

Kim

[swsaltwater]

MAP is a joke in most cases, most companies set it too low anyway, stores that pay freight can meet it, got to buy enough to get free freight or you get the shaft.....

[Thales]

Maybe for a while. But, if they come out with a good product that is not too expensive people will buy it IMO. Ideals are great - someone wants something.

have you perused their site? aint nothing inexpensive about anything they produce.

Hence the but.

Either way, I don't think they won't get business because of what they did to PFO. People just don't rally like that very often in business.

[miwoodar]

I agree. People will have very short memories, especially if Orbitec's product line ends up becoming a fad. We've seen skimmer companies go through fads recently. When skimmer brand XYZ is all the rage their skimmers are AWESOME!!! Then a year later popular consensus considers the very same skimmer line to be worthless junk.

Is it too early to start ripping on BK? I've spoken to a couple people who hated theirs (no fooling). They are coming out with a lot of high quality stuff and seem to have good R&D (again, no fooling)...but that's easy to do when you are a company flush with cash. What would happen if the tide ebbed and flowed a little bit?

[swsaltwater]

I never got to the Bk fad, 1000 dollar Red Draggon Chinese Pump!!!!!! Reeflo Orca kicks the snot out of a BK any day. Course that happens when you run a skimmer on a stinking V-8 pump lol.......

[miwoodar]

The red dragon pumps are just motor blocks from Laguna Max Flo pond pumps. Made in Italy by Askoll IIRC. They are actually very nice well-made pumps and an excellent choice for such an application. The volute and needle wheels are custom by RE. The volutes are easy to make. Needle wheels aren't but mesh wheels are. If you DIY, you're all-in for ~$200 at ~4 hours of effort for a reliable pump that produces tons of awesome foam and only uses ~60 watts (in this type of application). The beef that I've heard regarding BK is tuning. It is harder to dial in than people claim.

[Raskal311]

People couldn’t careless what these guys are doing to PFO no matter what they are saying now. If Obitech put out a half decent product at a slightly lower price then everyone else; retail stores and consumers would be all over it. Everyone is out for their own pocket; it’s that simple…. If they weren’t I wouldn’t be selling more Vertex skimmers now then I am Euro Reef.

As for the BK…. I’ve never had a single customer not tell me it wasn’t worth every penny I changed them for one. Would I buy one for myself? Nope, I’d rather spend that money on a ticket to somewhere I haven’t been… different folks different strokes.

[kgross]

The big thing, is people don't have any idea what is going on, and they will purchase what is available. The few people that actually pay attention to what goes on, might hold of on purchasing but they are the minority.

John Q. Public does not care, and wants what he wants.

[miwoodar]

Cheaper stuff sells. That's why skimmer selection (all selection for that matter) is so crappy at the big box fish stores.

Not to continue splitting topics in this thread, but ER skimmers were all the rage a few years back. Nobody had anything but glowing reviews for them at the time. They were in a similar boat as BK is now. Are ER skimmers junk? IMHO, no, not even close. They could use better pumps and improved customer service (they used to be known for good service)but they are still good skimmers.

[Thales]

But ER isn't trendy!

Lots of people tell me to try the new bitchin skimmers, but I can't see a compelling reason why. If they worked 50% percent better maybe, but, if you trust the metrics, 5-20% just isn't worth the money. Trends are amazing things and its neat to see people justify their purchase by insisting it it better and everyone needs to do it too.

[SlipperMan]

Octopus skimmers seem to be pretty trendy, and the price is great too!

Can't wait to get a couple in. I want to try the NW and Extreme series.

[kgross]

I don't know if I would say Octopus skimmers are trendy, but they are the best bang for the buck, so lots of people purchase them.

I sell quite a few octopus skimmers. For the money you can't bet them.

[Sea Turtle]

I don't know if I would say Octopus skimmers are trendy, but they are the best bang for the buck, so lots of people purchase them.

I sell quite a few octopus skimmers. For the money you can't bet them.

I've heard the same thing. +1

[swsaltwater]

Sell a ton of Coral Vue Skimmers, Octopus is great and the price is right. ER is good just more expensive then Octopus with essentially the same design.

[JeremyR]

Supposedly the ER's come out of the same plant now in china vs. being US made.. IE they are actually octopus.