Great service from Boatlamps

[KAL]

Ordered some LED lights and adaptors yesterday with economy delivery, and they arrived today, sent 1st class, beautifully packaged.

Brilliant service.

No connection, just a very happy customer who thinks that this sort of thing needs to be publicly acknowledged and celebrated.

 

[jac]

+1 for boat lamps

 

[TeamSpirit]

+2

 

[dansar]

+3

 

[capetown]

+4
Very good service.

 

[Slow_boat]

+5

 

[Richard10002]

Ordered some LED lights and adaptors yesterday with economy delivery, and they arrived today, sent 1st class, beautifully packaged.

Brilliant service.

No connection, just a very happy customer who thinks that this sort of thing needs to be publicly acknowledged and celebrated.

Based on your post, and the replies, I had a look at the site, and bought a couple of these:

http://www.boatlamps.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d122.html

Delivery was fast... I think I ordered Thursday, arrived Saturday, so that part was good.

The light is bright, the colour is good, (warm white), they are extremely lightweight, and easy to fit.

For me... The jury is out on how they look - definitely not decorative, more functional and, as they do not have a cover/lens over the tube, a bit blinding if you look at/near them, (something that we don't do deliberately, but occasionally, just because we do). At 400mA, I'm not sure they are much of a saving over a normal fluorescent tube - ill have a closer look at the current when I've got a bit more time.

For similar money, the Midland Chandlers model looks a lot more attractive. I'll see how I feel after a week or two of living with them.

 

[thalassa]

+6

 

[tim_ber]

But the prices?

75g contralube 770 £19.5 or more from boatlamps
75g contralube 770 £7.49 from Maplins
Other items don't make financial sense to me at least either.
Am I missing something?

 

[Adrian Jones]

But the prices?

75g contralube 770 £19.5 or more from boatlamps
75g contralube 770 £7.49 from Maplins
Other items don't make financial sense to me at least either.
Am I missing something?

Indeed, my friend, you are missing something and its fairly basic to your post. Maplins don't actually stock Contralube anymore, they haven't for months. That's because Contralube's raw material prices went through the roof about nine months ago and the manufacturers quadrupled the price for this excellent product, hence our current price reflects this. You may find some old stock tubes in odd branches of Maplins and maybe other suppliers too, if so buy it, when it's sold it won't be repeated at that price. It's a real bargain at £7.49 for 75g.

I presume the rest of your comment was suggesting that Boatlamps charge excessive prices. It's a free market and if you find the same product at the same quality and at lower cost then buy it, I would. You can actually get very much cheaper LED lamps from many Chinese vendors directly selling on eBay, some even offer 10 lamps for only a few quid. Ideal if your not concerned about quality and the safety of your boat.

Regards

 

[chrisbitz]

With respect, I thought it was a perfectly reasonable question. You can't be suggesting that "you get what you pay for" is a valid maxim in this day and age? Is it the case that as soon as someone puts the word "Marine" in front of an otherwise identical product it suddenly becomes better quality? Because it certainly becomes more expensive!

Your shop gives me the impression that you are absolutely the most knowledgeable seller of LED products, and maybe your stuff is 100% better quality, so you charge 200% more. That's perfectly normal and acceptable business practice.

So there's no need at all for you to alienate people by waving the "Safety of your boat" flag like a daily mail journalist. You'll never get 100% market share, so no need to fight dirty for it. Just continue to be the nicest, friendliest and most knowledgeable LED man there is.

Rant over. It irks me when people claim that cos it's expensive, it's ALWAYS better quality. Sometimes it is, but most times it isn't. Like designer T-Shirts that cost £60, but are made in the same child-labour sweatshops as Primark £3 ones!

That said, You're on my list to buy some bulbs from, at the next round of eyewatering boat expenses
NOT because I'm afraid my boat will catch fire and sink if I buy cheap Chinese ones!

 

[Adrian Jones]

With respect, I thought it was a perfectly reasonable question. You can't be suggesting that "you get what you pay for" is a valid maxim in this day and age? Is it the case that as soon as someone puts the word "Marine" in front of an otherwise identical product it suddenly becomes better quality? Because it certainly becomes more expensive!

Your shop gives me the impression that you are absolutely the most knowledgeable seller of LED products, and maybe your stuff is 100% better quality, so you charge 200% more. That's perfectly normal and acceptable business practice.

So there's no need at all for you to alienate people by waving the "Safety of your boat" flag like a daily mail journalist. You'll never get 100% market share, so no need to fight dirty for it. Just continue to be the nicest, friendliest and most knowledgeable LED man there is.

Rant over. It irks me when people claim that cos it's expensive, it's ALWAYS better quality. Sometimes it is, but most times it isn't. Like designer T-Shirts that cost £60, but are made in the same child-labour sweatshops as Primark £3 ones!

That said, You're on my list to buy some bulbs from, at the next round of eyewatering boat expenses
NOT because I'm afraid my boat will catch fire and sink if I buy cheap Chinese ones!

Thank you for your kind words, less the added barb, suggesting that I charge 200% more for my products!

It would of course have been a perfectly reasonable question on the forum, if the statement proceeding it was accurate i.e. my Contralube prices are far more expensive than the same product in Maplins, that actually was a grossly unfair and misleading statement. As I said, in my reply and its worth repeating, our price is not more expensive, Maplins no longer sell the stuff. If they did I can assure the forum that their price would be similar to ours. That misleading statement rather wound me up and my apologies if I offended!

I really don't wish to alienate any customers but as an electrical engineer I simply don't subscribe to selling lamps that are not suitable for the purpose they are to be used for, some people won't believe that statement is made in good faith, hey ho, it is!

Boat owners do need to understand exactly what they are buying, armed with knowledge they can make informed decisions. A little knowledge is full of potential pitfalls for the unwary.

Well designed products, comprising of quality components, which when assembled are suitable for the working environment in which they are used in is absolutely fundamental. Unfortunately high quality products that tick all the boxes are often significantly more sophisticated and simply cost more to produce than cheaper alternatives. The fact is many of the inexpensive lamps sold use unbranded LEDs often rejects from the production quality binning process. Quality LED lamps are rejected in the millions by manufacturers, if for instance, the colour and or electronic parameters are outside of specification limits, the lamp will work but may contain latent defects. These bi products find their way into many low price LED lamps. Without a specification you simply have no way of knowing what you are buying or how a lamp will perform.

To me its the same as buying unbranded motor oil from a market stall and putting it in your car. That's my rant over....ha.

On 1 September an EU regulation came in force which requires manufacturers to publish specifications of a large range of important LED lamp parameters so that consumers can compare products. I am very much up for that, it is well overdue and hopefully should clear much of the rubbish from the market. Not sure it will reduce prices, I suspect it will actually push them up a tad!

Regards

 

[tim_ber]

Hey guys,
Adrian is spot on and I apologise.

Very few Maplins stock contralube as he has pointed out. I have just reserved for pick up all the tubes in a 50 mile radius for my own uses.

I am all for British goods and will indeed look more closely at Adrian's website before opening my gob again.

 

[Bodach na mara]

Hey guys,
Adrian is spot on and I apologise.

Very few Maplins stock contralube as he has pointed out. I have just reserved for pick up all the tubes in a 50 mile radius for my own uses.

I am all for British goods and will indeed look more closely at Adrian's website before opening my gob again.

You managed to find ANY??? I tried their search and all it produced was two totally unrelated products, CCTV power cables..

 

[Flossdog]

Coming in a bit late to this thread but I must say that I have replaced all, well nearly all - the masthead anchor light is still a filament bulb, my boats lamps with LEDs from Boatlamps and am highly chuffed! The cabin lamps are warm and bright, the nav lights excellent and the engine "room" strip LEDs are brilliant!! Service is fantastic. I've had no problems but if I did I am sure that Adrian would sort it.

 

[Richard10002]

Based on your post, and the replies, I had a look at the site, and bought a couple of these:

http://www.boatlamps.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d122.html

Delivery was fast... I think I ordered Thursday, arrived Saturday, so that part was good.

The light is bright, the colour is good, (warm white), they are extremely lightweight, and easy to fit.

For me... The jury is out on how they look - definitely not decorative, more functional and, as they do not have a cover/lens over the tube, a bit blinding if you look at/near them, (something that we don't do deliberately, but occasionally, just because we do). At 400mA, I'm not sure they are much of a saving over a normal fluorescent tube - ill have a closer look at the current when I've got a bit more time.

For similar money, the Midland Chandlers model looks a lot more attractive. I'll see how I feel after a week or two of living with them.

Seems it uses the same 0.4A as the fluorescent tubes on the boat, so not really any improvement on anything for my 30 quid.

Not that I have been misled - the description clearly states that it uses 400mA. I guess it uses more power than some other tube replacements because it has 60SMDs packed onto the tube. Definitely bright, and definitely a nice warm white.

 

[Adrian Jones]

Seems it uses the same 0.4A as the fluorescent tubes on the boat, so not really any improvement on anything for my 30 quid.

Not that I have been misled - the description clearly states that it uses 400mA. I guess it uses more power than some other tube replacements because it has 60SMDs packed onto the tube. Definitely bright, and definitely a nice warm white.

This post actually reflects the confusion that often exits when consumers try to compare LED lamps with other forms of lighting. Simply comparing power input in the form of watts, unfortunately, doesn't actually give a useful comparison. I think I should explain why.

An important point in respect of an LED tube lamp is how the light output differs from that of a fluorescent tube lamp. LED tube lamps direct pretty much all of the light output on to the working plane. When installed in a conventional fixture light output is generally downward, say, over an angle of around 120 degrees. In contrast, a fluorescent tube will emit its light over 360 degrees which means much of its light immediately goes in the wrong direction i.e. backwards away from the working plane. To get the same light level on an object from a fluorescent tube it would require a tube with an overall higher lumen output than that of an LED tube. This results in the fluorescent tube consuming more power to produce the same 'effective' light level.

An important unit that has been developed in the lighting industry is 'efficacy' (not to be confused with efficiency!) which simply means lumen (light) output per watt of power used to generate light (lumens/watt). An LED tube lamp is more efficacious than is a fluorescent tube lamp (LEDs give out more light per watt than do fluorescent tubes) and are consequently significantly more energy efficient. In time LED tube lamps will replace all conventional fluorescent tubes. Summarising, you basically get more light per watt from an LED tube light and the light you have paid for is directed in the right direction. So Richard did get something for his 30 quid. He actually gets more light for each Watt of power used but may not have realised it!

Another point is how do you compare LED tube lamps with each other? Its actually quite straight forward, you simply look for the lumen output of the lamp, which should be clearly stated by a vendor. Better quality lamps use better quality LEDs (ones with higher efficacy) and pack them closer together. When you pack LEDs closer together you have more heat to remove to ensure a longer LED working life. To keep closely packed LEDs cool you need a more substantial and more thermally efficient heat sink. The better the heat sink generally the more expensive it is to produce. As a rule of thumb less expensive LED tube lamps will have a lower lumen output as they are constructed using low efficacy LEDs spaced more widely over a given length of tube. The same tube needs a less complex heat sink which further reduces the cost of production.

Armed with the above brief guide its worth boat owners checking the market for themselves. See what information is provided by vendors and what is missing. See if there is a clear picture of the lamp, is the lumen output given? Most importantly where 'caveat emptor' kicks in, does the vendors claim seem to stack up. For instance if a vendor is claiming a massive lumen output for their LED tube look to see if the LEDs are spaced out, if so beware, the claim maybe bogus.

As Richard has observed from his previous post the light output from an LED tube is very bright and certainly uncomfortable to directly look at. A fixture without a diffuser should be located, for instance, in a recess particularly in living areas of a boat, it's pretty much common sense. However an exposed tube is often just right for utility areas or engine bays where maximum light is needed.

Finally, LED tubes are ideal for replacing fluorescent tubes in existing fittings, perfect for fixture that have diffusers fitted. Its a simple conversion all that is required is to disconnect the internal ballast and for our products simply connect any two pins to the 12V supply. The difference in light output is quite extraordinary!

Regards

 

[BERT T]

Thank you for your kind words, less the added barb, suggesting that I charge 200% more for my products!

It would of course have been a perfectly reasonable question on the forum, if the statement proceeding it was accurate i.e. my Contralube prices are far more expensive than the same product in Maplins, that actually was a grossly unfair and misleading statement. As I said, in my reply and its worth repeating, our price is not more expensive, Maplins no longer sell the stuff. If they did I can assure the forum that their price would be similar to ours. That misleading statement rather wound me up and my apologies if I offended!

I really don't wish to alienate any customers but as an electrical engineer I simply don't subscribe to selling lamps that are not suitable for the purpose they are to be used for, some people won't believe that statement is made in good faith, hey ho, it is!

Boat owners do need to understand exactly what they are buying, armed with knowledge they can make informed decisions. A little knowledge is full of potential pitfalls for the unwary.

Well designed products, comprising of quality components, which when assembled are suitable for the working environment in which they are used in is absolutely fundamental. Unfortunately high quality products that tick all the boxes are often significantly more sophisticated and simply cost more to produce than cheaper alternatives. The fact is many of the inexpensive lamps sold use unbranded LEDs often rejects from the production quality binning process. Quality LED lamps are rejected in the millions by manufacturers, if for instance, the colour and or electronic parameters are outside of specification limits, the lamp will work but may contain latent defects. These bi products find their way into many low price LED lamps. Without a specification you simply have no way of knowing what you are buying or how a lamp will perform.

To me its the same as buying unbranded motor oil from a market stall and putting it in your car. That's my rant over....ha.

On 1 September an EU regulation came in force which requires manufacturers to publish specifications of a large range of important LED lamp parameters so that consumers can compare products. I am very much up for that, it is well overdue and hopefully should clear much of the rubbish from the market. Not sure it will reduce prices, I suspect it will actually push them up a tad!

Regards

I needed some Contralube 770 in a hurry but my usual supplier was out of stock (not Maplins). I found a 75gm tube for £6.11 + p&p here: http://www.europaspares.com/contralube-770-75gms-tube.html. So there is something amiss somewhere.

 

[Adrian Jones]

I needed some Contralube 770 in a hurry but my usual supplier was out of stock (not Maplins). I found a 75gm tube for £6.11 + p&p here: http://www.europaspares.com/contralube-770-75gms-tube.html. So there is something amiss somewhere.

What do you suggest is amiss? Please enlighten me.

If you actually read what I said in post '10' you will see that I made it absolutely clear that old stock of Contralube is still available from some outlets including Maplins and others. If you do find it cheaper that's fine, its simple, buy it!

 

[clyst]

You managed to find ANY??? I tried their search and all it produced was two totally unrelated products, CCTV power cables..

Indeed, my friend, you are missing something and its fairly basic to your post. Maplins don't actually stock Contralube anymore, they haven't for months. That's because Contralube's raw material prices went through the roof about nine months ago and the manufacturers quadrupled the price for this excellent product, hence our current price reflects this. You may find some old stock tubes in odd branches of Maplins and maybe other suppliers too, if so buy it, when it's sold it won't be repeated at that price. It's a real bargain at £7.49 for 75g.

I presume the rest of your comment was suggesting that Boatlamps charge excessive prices. It's a free market and if you find the same product at the same quality and at lower cost then buy it, I would. You can actually get very much cheaper LED lamps from many Chinese vendors directly selling on eBay, some even offer 10 lamps for only a few quid. Ideal if your not concerned about quality and the safety of your boat.

Regards

You state that boat safety maybe jepardised if cheap LEDS are used . presume you mean by fire ....... link please .