Poll technological obsolescence and aquarium products

[sgheights]

Over the last couple decades, many aquarium products have become "smart". every decent light these days seems to have an app. Filters have apps now. Dosing pumps. Even simple plug in timers have apps. Some of these products come from companies with long-standing reputations (Aqua Illumination, Fluval etc.). Some come from new (at least to the USA) brands with limited presence outside of China or their home countries. And these are often the best products that are either completely unavailable or significantly more expensive from the established brands. But what happens if X Lighting Brand ceases to exist, or stops servicing their apps, or their app has a security vulnerability? What happens if a company pulls out of the US market because of tariffs or simply market uncertainties? What are the chances you pay $500 for a light that is rated for 50,000 hours, but stops working in a year because of some software issue? What happens if a company changes the app into something worse?

I'm not trying to pick on foreign (to me in the USA) companies. I recently sunk a lot of money into AI Prime lights that started making awful high pitched whining noises. Sent them back and forth to the company for repair, finally they told me that it was a firmware problem that they didn't really understand, so they authorized my app to rollback to a previous version. Fixed the problem, but now I can never update the firmware unless they fix the issue in a future update, but I will never know when that happens, or if a future update will create a new issue. (Side note why does a 6-year old product need regular firmware updates?). Plus, it took over a month without my lights as they were in shipping and diagnosis.

Are you concerned about this issue? Do you have brands you trust? Are there workarounds to use a product without the app?

 

[renesis]

This is always a worry, not just in the aquarium world, but everything I purchase.

As a rule, unless I can't avoid it - any product with an app must be controllable offline, and if it is smart - must be compatible with home assistant in a cloudless capacity. This way I'm only using 1 app for everything and not a separate app for every appliance, lightbulb, smart blinds, lock, garage, etc in my home.

 

[hamfist]

To be honest, I mostly avoid anything that is "online" or links to an app. Even if it has that option I wil generally not use it. I could do without the hassle. It rarely adds anything actually useful for me.

 

[gnatster]

Missed this in the poll.

Mildly worried, but throwing caution to the wind to get enough adjustability to royally mess up the settings.

 

[Capraquaria]

I actually am a bit concerned about support/obsolescence, mostly because tech stuff evolves pretty quickly, and companies may simply decide not to continue down that path for a particular product. I was looking at AquaVitro dosing pumps the other day, as they are modular, and expandable, and wondering how many of those they actually sell, as they do have some level of affordable market competition, and if they would still sell them 5 years from now. Right now I'm not in so deep with any of my equipment that it would be an insurmountable issue, but I do favor convenience and automation of the day to day as much as possible, so I currently tend to lean more on app-heavy equipment as I have so few tanks. My biggest single item investments outside of the tanks are probably lights, and CO2 regulators. I am probably safe with GLA, at least for now, but I already have been concerned at the rate that Chihiros DC's equipment. I have already had hardware issues with lights, and I do resent having lights that I can't just plug in and switch on manually without an app. My Vivids are slimline paperweights when an app update fails, or the bluetooth controller gets glitchy. If I do get to build out the spare basement room as a home gallery/studio, it is something that I will consider more when true MTS sets finally in!

 

[sgheights]

Missed this in the poll.

Mildly worried, but throwing caution to the wind to get enough adjustability to royally mess up the settings.

added!