Here are two on Ebay with good feedback from buyers and include free shipping. These are for the 600/400 watt units, I haven't seen any for less anywhere. Would like to find a source for nice reflectors (95% reflective) that were reasonbly priced, and free shipping would be great. 120/240V 600w Watt Lumatek Sun System Ballast LK600 - eBay (item 260730303401 end time Feb-04-11 17:14:08 PST) 120V 600W Lumatek Sun System Ballast 600 Watt 120 V - eBay (item 120679229641 end time Mar-02-11 23:59:26 PST)
BUY that lumatek ballast and you get NO WARRANTY....lumatek is a company in the UK....they have zero employees in the US....they only have a US distributor who only ships, the distributor does not honor the warranty....simply, lumatek does not honor their warranty...lumatek figures that because its hydro stuff, the customer won't make a stink, will just eat the loss, and go away....thus, they will not honor their warranty....lumatek does not answer the phone (you'll get a recording and no call back) and lumatek does not reply to emails either (i can show you the unreplied emails)....you buy a lumatek and you're buying from a ghost who you will never see again!!! do yourself a favor and buy products from companies that honor their warranty
Lumatek Ballast is a link to their website for the operation based in Novato California. They might be able to let someone know about warranty issues.
I think the store deals with the manufacturer for the first three years of the warranty. I still haven't decided between Lumatek, Phantom, or Nextgen. Warranty issues are def a minus.
Definitely go with Phantom over Lumatek. No Question. I have personal experience with both in large numbers. The store I worked at never had a single Phantom returned. We had some shipments of lumatek ballasts where we saw about half come back. We would just give them another, or offer to replace it with any of the brands you mentioned. Phantoms quickly became employee favorites.
I have used both phantom and Lumatek and both worked equally well, I have been running them both for about 1.5 years and can tell no real difference in heat and therefore would go with Lumatek in the future just because with the little fan in the nextgen and the phantom it is one more part that can break. That is a helluva deal from bestdamnhydro I can't find them anywhere else cheaper either ($275.95), I paid over $350 each for my 1000 watters.
correct me if i am wrong but i thought the phantom was no fan? and the Phantom is what i will be going with after reading up on many forums for months. I have not heard of 1 problem with Phantoms to date...also a 1,000 watt is $299- and 600 watts are $170- depending on where you buy it.
Correct, no fan in the phantoms. They are quite similar to Lumatek and I also haven't heard of any issues as of yet. Phantom 1000W Digital Ballast
Sorry, I'm actually running a quantum and a nextgen not a phantom...I have not used the phantom but I am happy with my lumatek.