Are there reliably good MVBs, or must I seek out the least of several evils?

[jkingler]

Another bulb thread! Shining sullenly with over 160 watts of pessimism.

Zoo Med PowerSun 100


Zoo Med PowerSun 160


Exo-Terra Solar-Glo 125/160


The average reviews, and especially the newest reviews, do not inspire confidence...

Should I be searching somewhere other than Amazon for quality bulbs?

Am I overlooking an amazing product?

Or are there no reliably good products out there?

The PowerSun is the model I hear the most praise for based on my searches on TFO (aside from the formerly amazing and currently deplorable MegaRay), but as you can read above, there seem to be lots of premature bulb failures...

Note: I realize that the PowerSun has a 1-year warranty, but if the first bulb fails quickly, and its replacement does the same, I don't like where that leaves me...

Is buying MVBs inherently a gamble, with decent odds of wasted money? Or am I unduly worried, due to the fact that people are more likely to review when they are unhappy with a product than when they are pleased with one?

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

My experience with reptile light bulbs of any kind is: SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS! I have used virtually every brand, wattage, type, etc., including MVBs, CHEs, tube florescents and compacts. It can be the EXACT same bulb; invariably one will last over a year, and the next may last a day. Sometimes there are faulty batches of any product, and sometimes it is user-error; i.e. not mounting the fixture correctly can compromise the integrity of the MVB and ultimately shorten its lifespan.

When they first came out, I was exclusively using the Exo-Terra Solar-Glo MVBs for my lizards, mainly because they were cheaper and more readily available. Even if one busted, no biggee, I just brought my receipt and the bub back to the petstore and exchanged it. PETsMART will usually exchange it even after the 30-day return policy as long as you have the packaging and receipt...at least in my experience.

But I was still wondering why the Solar-Glo MVBs always seemed to not last very long, sometimes only a few months. Then I discovered I was not fixating them securely; I simply hung the fixture from the ceiling for a while. I also discovered that a MVB MUST be angled directly downwards and not an angle; otherwise, this will compromise the structural integrity of the bulb (something about weight distribution), as well the UV output is uneven. So I fixed these errors, and my last Solar-Glo lasted well over a year.

I started a poll almost identical to this one very shortly after joining the forum because it seemed a lot of keepers were unhappy with the Solar-Glos. Those with UV meters claimed that while the Solar-Glo MVBs seemed to decreased in UV output within a few months of use, the ZooMed PowerSuns were relatively consistent in their UV output many months after use. That is why I decided to switch to PowerSuns, even though the price was a little more.

 

[jaizei]

I have used quite a few Solar-Glo 125 and haven't experienced any premature bulb failure; many have lasted well over a year as well. However, I don't have to keep my tortoises indoors for long periods of time, so I don't worry about the UVB. I don't think I would rely on a bulb as my sole means of providing UVB unless I had a meter and could regularly check the output.

 

[Tony the tank]

I use megaray zoological bulbs... I'm currently running 6 megaray zoological bulbs 13hrs a day (for close to 6 month)..no failures and numbers are still incredible...

 

[Ickisrulz]

I use megaray zoological bulbs... I'm currently running 6 megaray zoological bulbs 13hrs a day (for close to 6 month)..no failures and numbers are still incredible...

Well, you are in the minority with your current happiness over a MegaRay product. Many people are not getting what they paid for. The replacement bulb that I finally received after months of trying to contact the company blew in less than 2 months. I would not recommend MegaRay to anyone in good conscience.

 

[Tony the tank]

I use megaray zoological bulbs... I'm currently running 6 megaray zoological bulbs 13hrs a day (for close to 6 month)..no failures and numbers are still incredible...

Well, you are in the minority with your current happiness over a MegaRay product. Many people are not getting what they paid for. The replacement bulb that I finally received after months of trying to contact the company blew in less than 2 months. I would not recommend MegaRay to anyone in good conscience.

I wouldn't say I'm in the minority... I know of a lot of people that still use megaray bulbs and are very happy with them.....I don't know of a company that comes close to producing UVB bulbs that put out the micro watts that Megaray bulbs do... That's said.. I will add..There customer service is poor.... ( they have no customer service)

 

[jkingler]

I cannot vouch for it, as I haven't yet socketed and installed it into a stand, but Deedle now has a PowerSun 100. Fingers crossed!

 

[dan bristow]

Arcadia mvb are brilliant. I think they are just becoming available in the USA but have been the leading reptile light company in the uk for some time now. They come with a years warrantee but they seem to have great reliability anyway.
Arcadia have just brought out a new tube too- the t5 high powered tube,it's gives at least the same but I think more uv than a mvb and have the reliability of a tube( obviously!) i use both the mvb and t5 for my animals, a rhino ig and sulcata, and would never use another brand again.