brettrotchell, I wasn't offended. Don't worry about it.
Now, about your comments... Looking at all product manufacturers, some items within a particular line are winners and some shouldn't be rated as high. Also, looking at price points some are good value and others are not. You can apply this to any given manufacturers.
Now Eheim... I've sold Eheim products for over 30 years. For seemingly ages, I never felt I had to defend any of Eheim's products. Manufacturer's reps from other lines (Hagen, Marineland, Aquarium Pharm and others) didn't push when I said I sold Eheim and preferred their product when compared directly with the rep's offering. They just shifted to other types of filtration in their discussions. In general, I like Eheim, actually, I prefer them to the alternatives. During the course of those years I learned how to pack them, repair them, which parts were needed for back-up and more importantly how to sell them. I've met several of the Eheim family members. They came to my store when I was an "authorized dealer." The family is a class act. Several years ago the tiered structure of their distribution chain was disrupted by Eheim Canada indiscriminately selling products to distributors at "reduced" prices to garner more market for the line. Most of these NEW distributors bought the filters but NOT the support parts. Actually, IMO, it only elevated sales of Eheim Canada. Eheim Canada also thought the company was losing money by not taking advantage of cartridrige sales, Eheim had no HOB filters to hold these cartridges. Many of the imports to North America were coming in pre-packaged with media. So, at about the same time, several things happened. Eheim started shifting manufacture of more of their products to China. Products now came with no pre-installed media, with rare exceptions. AND a line of HOB filters and the associated cartridges were introduced. Off hand, do you think Gillette makes more money from razors or razorblades? Whether these new products were intended to increase the value of the company or just increase revenue, the company is now controlled by someone other than the family.
That's the capsule version of why I feel some of the current offerings don't measure up to the previous standard. In short, I had promoted Eheim as if they were THE class of the industry, only now finding the the company cared more for profits than the image I'd promoted. I thought them above that. I thought they could both have the image and get the profits.
As for my comments about Americans being too stupid to use the products... Eheim promotes differently in North America than elsewhere. They offer different products in other countries. AND if you check the boards, you rarely see comments about Eheim's quality but often see questions on how to pack them or how to fix them. With the exceptions of the 29 and 27 wet/drys, none have the sensitivity of a watch. Possibly the Pro3 could be added to this short list. IMO, the Pro 3 is not in the same vein as Eheim's previous filters. The addition of the computer chip and the diversion of water input as the filter gets dirty make it more like my concept of the want-to-bees then the class shown by previous models. Re the ECCO... what would you think if Lexus had been the first offering and then the company started selling Nissan, no Datsun, at the same or other outlets?
There are many threads I could respond to on this and other boards. I don't have the time or inclination to "convert" others to the way I keep fish or treat them. Many of the threads are just asking for justification for something the poster has already done rather than input on what to do. This type of thread seems like the exception. Many of the people involved show experience above that shown on other threads. Dan
. Threads on the FX5 have declined, the peak of purchases upon market introduction seems over. Now everyone is using them, and there have only been very few comments since - nothing major recently except for a guy who dropped it and broke it, but Fluval sent him a new part for free. I believe you were still around for Oddball's intake or outlet fix?!