12 Apr LED Landscape Lighting manufacturers are Cheapening Down their products
By Mike Gambino
I would like to expose an unfortunate situation in the landscape lighting industry. A problem which does not affect me in the least because I have complete control over the manufacture of my proprietary brass and copper fixture line LED’s included. But as a consumer you’d better watch out for this practice and I will explain why it’s becoming an undesirable trend.
LED Fixtures- Integrated LED fixtures which means the LED light source is built into the fixture and in some cases are not replaceable or adjustable (beam spread, intensity , color, etc.) cost more than the traditional halogen fixtures of yesteryear to produce. Therefore the selling price in the marketplace is higher. The majority of the buyers who install landscape lighting are not specialists which means that most of the buyers install landscape lighting as a sideline. They do not specialize in landscape lighting and it is usually does not make up a significant portion of their yearly gross sales or profits. Lighting is typically installed along with some other main project like landscaping, sprinklers, masonry, decks etc. Budgets can be stretched already so the lighting has to be shoe horned into the budget somewhere.
Manufacturers of landscape lighting products know that most of their yearly sales come from these occasional purchasers (landscapers, electricians, handymen) and therefore in order to sell to them their products must be reasonably priced (cheap) or they won’t sell. This also means that products are not designed with the high end pro in mind because those products would never sell to the mainstream non specialist which we have already established are their largest customers.
Cheaper prices mean cheaper products. So how are manufacturers compensation for the higher cost of LED electronics included with their integrated fixtures? They are making them smaller and or using cheaper build materials. Aluminum and plastic are the most popular.
This is something I would never install as a professional seasoned landscape lighting specialist. Let’s take these two issues separately.
Fixture size- Unusually small fixtures are a problem because their size almost always interferes with their ability to distribute (spread) light properly. Many times these fixtures are also lacking glare shields because when you put a glare shield on a fixture it also limits the spread of the light which isn’t normally a problem when the fixture has a reasonably sized lens aperature.
Small fixtures also get lost in the landscape and get covered with plant materials sometimes to only be discovered years later or never found again. They are also built more fragile and break more easily and since they are so small and hard to see in the garden the maintenance people tend to kick them out of position and break them because they are not easy to see.
Small fixtures are almost always lower output because the limited qty of LED diodes that can be installed and heat buildup are the major issues.
Cheap build materials- Aluminum is always painted in most cases powder coated. If the aluminum and powder coat is not of extreme high quality it is only a small matter of time before they degrade by their exposure to the elements. Plastic can break easily especially after the heating and cooling cycle of the lamp over time. Resins also tend to get more brittle with exposure to the sun. Plastic lenses will also haze over like the headlamp covers on an automobile. It’s just not a good material to use for longevity.
So what can you do as a consumer to protect yourself?
Insist on inspecting every fixture that is intended for installation on your property before signing on the dotted line. Do not fall for the inflated warranties being offered on these products. Some of these products are only sold on the promise that if anything happens for an extremely long time then you are covered. Think again because if you look at the fine print you will see that these warranties have many exclusions and limitations. My friend colleague and co author Mark Carlson of Avalon landscape lighting design wrote a great article on this and i suggest you check it out.
http://www.avalonlighting.com/what-is-really-being-said-in-the-warranty/
Bottom line is that Gambino landscape lighting would never sacrifice and cheapen fixture build quality in order to compensate for the higher cost of the LED electronics by having them made from lower quality materials or by making them smaller to the detriment of the lighting effect.
If it doesn’t look right or sounds too good to be true then you know what they say. It probably is.
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Mark Carlson
Posted at 15:16h, 12 AprilMike, another great article and excellent points about poor materials and construction of these products. It’s all part of the game to build a less costly product so these guys and/or consumers will buy them. However, this is a recipe for long term problems.
It’s really too bad that this seems to be the common practice for all landscape lighting. It is hurting the trade’s image of this discipline.
By the way, I’m glad that my article ties in so well with your topic, as they both do go hand in hand. Thank you for being such a great voice to lead not only consumers, but trade practitioners in the right direction. Nice work.
Mike Gambino
Posted at 23:28h, 12 AprilYes Mark, the industry doesn’t give the buying public much credit. They mistakenly believe that they won’t pay for quality so in order to make what they think will be more affordable, (and more profitable) build quality and equipment longevity suffers.
We do what we can to educate and drive the quality/value message home with every blog post but sadly its not enough.
It needs to be done more on the national level. I have been waiting 25 years and have never seen it happen . I guess I will have to keep waiting.