I personally am totally satisfied with the output of the Rebel LED's but Vertex just announced that the Illumina is to begin shipping with CREE LED's November 1st.
"Dear Aquarium enthusiast, business partner
We are happy to bring to you exciting news regarding our elegant, superior line of LED luminaries “Illumina SR series”.
As you are already aware, the LED technology is advancing forward rapidly.
This presents us with the opportunity to develop better and stronger
light sources that answer the needs of deeper aquariums and or aquarist
with extremely high demanding species.
Our original Illumina 200
fixtures have been equipped with “Luxeon Rebel” LEDs. While a great
product and proved to be more than sufficient for any type of light
demanding corals, new LEDs from Cree brand have been introduced that are
much higher in output while maintaining similar CRI index and core
temperature management curves.
On the other hand customer
feedback has us convinced that our current LEDs pack enough punch to
answer the needs of all, even the light hungriest Stony corals and or
other marine or fresh water flora and fauna. In most cases, users report
that the operational intensity of LEDs (especially for white channel)
had to be reduced to 40 – 60%.
Considering the above field data,
we have decided to keep the Illumina 200 luminaries in our program as
the cornerstone of our LED lighting that will be sufficient for any
aquaria.
However, to answer the needs of extremely deep aquariums
and or excessively light demanding species, we have decided to release
the Illumina 260 luminaries, equipped with Cree XPG 139lm/W LEDs.
Further to that Illumina 260 will be offered with much stronger Royal blue LEDs
the XPE-425mV and the stronger Blue LEDs the XPE-30.6lm/W.
This will make the Illumina 260 approximately upwards of 30% brighter and more
PAR capable of Illumina 200 which was already renowned for its light
output intensity.
Another exciting news; we are delighted to report that the Illumina 200 models have been updated to Cree LEDs as well.
This means all the new Illumina 200s shipped from the house of Vertex coming
this November 1st 2010 will be equipped with Cree White 100lm/W XPE,
Cree Royal Blue 350mV XPE and Cree Blue 23.6lm/W XPE.
Illumina 200’s new LED configuration will maintain the same intensity of
light-output both for White and blue channels, while intensifying the
Royal blue output by approximately 20% compared to the original Illumina
200. This in return enables the aquarist to further tweak their
Illumina 200s to their desired blue shade of light both for visual
effect and increased fluorescent pigment agitating illumination.
Table below will represent different versions of Illumina available up-to-date:
Other exciting news about Illumina SR series is the release of our beta test
MAC V-LINK software as well as introduction of auxiliary pads in other
colors such as Red and UV chips in different combinations.
All these new color modules will be controlled on separate channels. The
increased aptitude of color composition will further enhance both visual
effects, and the ability to better mimic a natural environment for
captive animals exactly as nature intended.
We look forward to hearing your feedback and review on our products and are looking forward to serving you in the near future.
Best Regards,
Vertex Aquaristik GmbH"
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