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The new Apex controller from Neptune systems was released at Max. The Apex aquarium controller is setting a new bar among aquarium controllers. There are very little products in the aquarium hobby that garner as much fanboy attention as the aquarium controllers. Perhaps the buy-in atmosphere of aquarium controllers is much like that of computer ecosystems wherin all the bonus peripherals and extra add-ons are mostly specific to a particular platform, not unlike Apple and Microsoft. We’ll leave it up to you to decide who is PC and who is Mac but either way, there is much buzz going around about the new controller platform from Neptune Systems called the Apex. The basic Apex system will set you back a paltry $500 which packs a lot of features for the buck. The two largest deisgn departures from the traditional controllers is the separation of the programming and interfacing display from the module which supports all of the probes and add ons. This new split allows the Apex user to have one or more displays as far as 100 ft from the base station using the available extension connection cables. The second and more minor change is the relabeling and design of the power station and base stations. All ports are more neatly marked and they have become much easier to read. Basically, it’s easier than ever to see the whole enchilada and figure out how the whole system comes together. The Apex aquarium controller system is available now and it should be hitting your favorite Neptune Systems dealers in the coming week.
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Man, I really like the seperated modules, as well as the rss and xml feeds for data, etc. Awesome work on coverage of this!!
It looks like a good controller, but I am pretty shocked how blatantly Neptune ripped off DA’s RKE here. The headunit looks identical to the RKE, and so does the modular design. The modules are even named similarly (PM1 and SL1). Wow Neptune… way to be original. To me, this is really a buzz kill.
This isn’t the first time Neptune as done this… The completely ripped off the Expansion Socket that DA came out with and called it the “Socket Expansion”
There’s not an innovative bone in that company in my opinion! I looked at both systems at MAX and this has been eating at me sense then! I was even looking at an AC3 but now… keep it! My money’s on the RKE for sure!
Nice controller “uhh” Neptune has come a long way “uhh” I agree with Copycat “uhh” It is pretty rude that they would mimic DA’s modules “uhh” IMO this guy should have taken a speech class before presenting a showcase “uhh” But just replace my “uhh”’s with a period and it should work out nicely.. “uhh”
The innovation is on the inside sw and technology not the skinning of the hardware. If you want to stick with the DA unit because the Neptune looks like it then that is your prerogative but to me that reaction is cutting off your nose to spite your face. I’d rather go with the more capable unit myself. IMHO, the DA does not even come close to the capabilities of this unit.
ah30k, so not true… DA came out with a ton of stuff that Neptune copied inside and out! Every time I read I see more and more examples of this. But whatever, I’m sure DA has a lot of things their working on, I can only imagine that Neptune will be about a year behind… …lol… We all have our opinions and we speak with our wallets so I guess time will tell.
-DA I’m a customer! Keep up the good work!
While I seriously considered the RKE, it was the reputation of unreliability and glitches that scared me away. It appears as such Neptune has a better track record.
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