Reviews wanted: Earmark Marine Malibu OEM style LED Underwater lights

I was looking online and noticed that Earmark Marine's online store has "Underwater Transom LED Light - Malibu OEM Style" lights that are really cost effective and put out 720 lumens... seems to have output simular to oceanled pro6 lights at 700 lumens but cost significantly more.

Any reviews of this product would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the link.

http://www.earmarkcaraudio.com/Xcart...cat=264&page=1

You will get what you pay for. Cheap lights don't use proper thermal protection or constant current protection. Heat is an LED's worst enemy. Good thermal protection lets the lights shine brighter and last longer. Constant current protection protects the LED's from current spikes in the boats electrical system. Cheap lights use resistors that do a poor job of protecting the LED's from these spikes. The current spikes cause excessive heat in the LED and they burn out quickly. A Shadow-Caster SC-4 puts out 800 lumens and will last you longer then the boat will.

To be very honest you are not going to get much light at all out of those. You defiantly get what you pay for with underwater LEDs. I would spend a little more and get a much higher quality of light. I tried to save a buck when I did mine and run the four Baller 2's from Grants LED test, wrong call on my part. Moving to some shadow casters this summer. to compare brightness 1 SC-10 is brighter and penetrates the water better then all 4 of my lights, hands down a HUGE difference. Cost wise 1 SC-10 would have cost me about the same with less install time and wiring needed. Plus now they offer the controller for their line of underwater lights.

I think it all comes down to the amount of light you want, and the clarity of the water you plan on running in most frequently. Some of the norcal water i've seen looks so clear you could have a mag light strapped to your boat and it would look good.

fishermans green light

I believe thats the 6 LED fixtures, similar to what I bought. Their pretty bright & going on 4 yrs old now. Not like Grant's boat or anything, but they definitely add to the experience on a night time boat ride.

BTW, my first thought was that having some light out back, might get people swimming after dark. But these lights attract so damn many fish that no one wants to swim after they have been on a for a bit.

I have no experience with these, but Coastal Night Lights seem to be hard to beat. I read a lot of good users on various boating forums...
http://www.coastalnightlights.com/

The Malibu OEM underwater lights represent an excellent value. We also carry the Shadowcaster lights and consider them to be a premium underwater product along with Abyss. But look at the wide cost difference. There better be an added performance benefit with the Shadowcasters for the difference! And there is. Big surprise...right?
We have the advantage of having installed the four brands that we offer plus the many brands that our customers have brought to us. It is true that no matter what the specs are, you do generally get no more than what you pay for. And, there is alot of snake oil in underwater lighting specmanship. Its hard, more like impossible, to get an objective comparison from brand to brand on specs alone. Most lighting spes are not accompanied by any qualifications that would make them meaningful.
For the most part our experiences coincide with Grant's test and review.

David
Earmark Marine

Originally Posted by david_e_m

The Malibu OEM underwater lights represent an excellent value. We also carry the Shadowcaster lights and consider them to be a premium underwater product along with Abyss. But look at the wide cost difference. There better be an added performance benefit with the Shadowcasters for the difference! And there is. Big surprise...right?
We have the advantage of having installed the four brands that we offer plus the many brands that our customers have brought to us. It is true that no matter what the specs are, you do generally get no more than what you pay for. And, there is alot of snake oil in underwater lighting specmanship. Its hard, more like impossible, to get an objective comparison from brand to brand on specs alone. Most lighting spes are not accompanied by any qualifications that would make them meaningful.
For the most part our experiences coincide with Grant's test and review.

David
Earmark Marine

david

in your opinion what would you install on the back of a malibu vlx. i want a good light that will get the job done and last. i may not want the absolute best light but deffinately don't want the cheap stuff. I am thinking that it will take 2 due to the wedge in the middle. also i am new to led so will i need a controler as well. thinking of some speaker rings as well. i may just give you a call if thats ok.

ktrent,
Sure. Give me a call. For me most things are application driven rather than brand driven. Each boat is different based on the obstructions (spot or flood lights), the transom radius and flat surface area (round or elongated lights), the type of water in determining the light power, etc. A photo of the transom never hurts.

David
Earmark Marine

I bought two Blue SC-10 Shadow Casters from Earmark for my 2010 Malibu 23 LSV. They are crazy bright even in this Texas water. We usually have at least one boat pull us over at night when we are out and most times they have some underwater lights that aren't putting out much light. They all want to know who installed them and where they came from.

Shadow Casters are the best underwater light that I have used in a wake/tow boat application. The fit and finish is second to none, they are very bright, and the diffuser they machined into the light housing help disperse the light much better then a standard clear cover that almost every other light uses. Yes they cost alot, but they are worth every penny (Just MHO).

We too have installed many different types of lights from all the mainstream manufactures, some have failed over time due to poor seals allowing water to enter the light and short out the LEDS, others have just not performed as expected.

My personal example. I have 4 Blue Mako underwater lights with 6 - 1 watt LEDs in each. Sold at around $199 = $800 to make it easy. installed on a 2007 Bu LSV. It gives out light, but only about 2 to 3 feet off the back of the platform.
My partner with the same boat installed 2 Blue SC-10 Shadow Casters sold at about $599 = $1200. those 400 more $$$ equal about 4 to 5 times as much light in the same water, he lights up 10 to 15 feet behind his boat easily.

Defiantly not a case of diminishing returns here. The extra cost and half the lights = 4 to 5 times the brightness in the SAME Water on the same day.

Now I have not compared a pair of SC-6 side by side in the water, but my experience as well as seeing them out of the water lit in a dark shop lend me to believe that 2 SC-6 (about $840 for both) will generate more light then my 4 Mako's for almost the exact same price, when you factor in the install cost of only 2 lights you will actuall save yourself some $$$



Now back to the OP. I have not see the OEM "style" like Earmark carries, but I would strongly recommend that you not go that route. If they are anything like the actual OEM light then you can kiss that Lumen rating out the window because there is no way that they output 720. Again have not actually see that specific light in person.

I can also tell you that I had 2 - 6 foot rubber encased LED strips from Oznium that I attached to the bottom of my swim platform facing down into the water, those 2 strips where about as bright as my 3 Mako's for 1/3 of the cost. I removed them when I installed the Mako's and have regretted it since.

Note: no BS, not over complicated words, not confusion, just facts from experience and some opinion based on those facts.

I've heard the OEM Malibu LEDs also has or had a 9 LED version versus the 6 LED and was much better not only because of more LEDs but by design. Wonder if David could get these as well.

There is zero construction or quality difference between the Malibu OEM 6 and 9 light versions. Three of the six LED fixtures are equal in power to two of the nine LED fixtures. And the total cost is roughly the same.
I can tell you that there is a vast difference between the penetration of two $600 ($1200 ttl) lights and two $150 ($300 ttl) lights. Again, no shocker there!
I'm a little more tolerant in that I realize that some consumers will need to work within a budget.
We have an underwater display tank in our showroom plus a stand alone Shadowcaster display. We go by what we see rather than specs. It has always seemed that the better the product the more conservative the specs.

David
Earmark Marine

If the SC-10 Shadow-Caster's are more money then you want to spend you should check out the SC-6 Shadow-Caster lights, or even the SC-4's. The SC-6's put out 1500 lumens and cost $489. That is still a lot more light then most of the other underwater LED's.
http://underwater-lightsusa.com/unde...w-caster-sc-6/