POLL : Reeflo Orca 250/ BK Super Marine 250 / BK Super Marine 300

[Delphinus]

I don't doubt the quality of BK's at all, but .. and maybe I'm just the odd one out on this .. but ... everytime I hear about how well they are put together and how beautiful the seams are, I feel it's like saying "I'm going to buy a Porsche because the fenders are attached to the frame with really nice fasteners." Beyond that it shouldn't fall apart given reasonable use, it's a detail I really don't care about in a skimmer and it alone doesn't justify the cost to me. For me the considerations are performance, reliability, ease of use, size, and the balance between up-front cost versus total cost of ownership. Beyond that I don't really care if it's made of acrylic, glass, PVC or something else, or how pretty the welds are. But again maybe it's just me.

But having said that, I know that the BK is an overacheiver in those other categories. So for me it comes down to the energy usage: I'd consider it if my electrical footprint gets reduced. But then it comes down to what kind of timeframe the savings compensate for the initial up front cost. If we're talking about 5 years or beyond, you have to take into consideration that tanks with that kind of longevity are fairly rare things...