Hygger HG-957 Review

Haro.

I will preface this by saying that I really shouldn't be doing this review, and by way of explanation I'll post the following two pictures side by side:




The keen-eyed reader will already know what's what. Anyway. The Hyggers.



I bought 2x 72W 120cm for a side-by-side setup on the 4-footer. Shout-out to Podges in Middelburg - great service and unbeatable prices even after shipping is factored in.





Kitteh QC in full swing. Greebo is not looking too impressed.






So what do I say?

Are the pair bright enough for a 4ft? Yes.
Is it good value for money? Yes. I paid less than R4500 for the pair.





IRRITATIONS AND CONS.

This was the first:



The pigtails coming out of the units are a measly 30cm long. WHY DO THEY DO THIS??? This leaves the DIN connector dangerously close to the water and any splashes. I just don't understand why they don't reverse it so the connector can be inside the cabinet or at least far away from the water. It's like the people who designed it don't actually own aquariums.

The lead beyond that running down to the power brick is a measly 60cm long - somebody needs to explain to me also why saving 5c by not providing extra cabtyre is an acceptable business model.

Is it long enough? Yes. Yes it is. But saving those measly cents forces your customer to work around the limitations of what's provided and doesn't provide the freedom to place the power bricks where they want them.

It's... its... man, **** it. That a nation of once great philosophers, scientists, artists and mathematicians are reduced to pathetic penny pinching because quotas. It annoys the SHIT out of me, and despite the overall good value compared to what I could have paid had I plenty of munnies... the bottom line is your customers are your evangelists, for good or ill. They have yet to figure this out.

Structural integrity - it's a 4-foot span and I could immediately see it bowing downwards after placing it on the tank - and no doubt it will get worse over time. Thankfully my tank has a center brace so I'm in a position to make a support - but that's circumstantial.



There is also a quality control problem with the dog-leg wire feetses. You probably wouldn't notice if you only had one but I'm an curmudgeony grognard when it comes to this kind of thing and it requires manual tweaking if one's OCD is excessive. Yes, I'm bitching over inconsequentialities but there it is.





It has two modes - a standard mode with a preset intensity map that changes throughout the day. Cool. Except it loses its real time clock settings after the briefest power cut. That's absolutely unacceptable and forces you to run a UPS unless you want to be regularly setting the clock. But hey, it saves your carefully-configured Dutch aquascape moonlight setting to non-volatile memory...




There is no individual R,G or B control. There is no smartphone connectivity. You are stuck with the basic colour temperature of 6500-9000K unless you switch to manual mode. There is a strip of RGB leds running down the middle which can display red, blue, green, yellow, pink, cyan, or white. But in manual mode you cannot manually adjust the overall intensity - it adjusts the intensity of that center strip whatever colour you chose. It's a useless gimmick and I couldn't tell any difference except if I chose yellow - which makes it looks worse than standard.

And that brings me to what I said at the start. The first pic is of Hygophila corymbosa underneath my ADA AquaSky 60. The latter is of the same underneath the hyggers at full blast. The ADA has a colour temp of 9000-12000K and a CRI off the charts and the difference is night and day. I didn't fiddle with the pics, that is what it looks like. The ADA light makes the greens and reds look like you're high on shrooms.

Looking at the ADA and then at the 4ft is an exercise of controlling one's disappointment and developing an appreciation for the taste of sour grapes.

So the bottom line is if you are looking for a high-end look to match what you already have, look elsewhere and be prepared to pay the price. Honestly these lights are great value and perfectly fine for anyone, except if you already own high-end boutique lights. It looks like someone peed in my tank, and the plants look pale and sickly by comparison.

And that is why I should not have written this review. On the other hand, ADA does not make a 120cm light, and only offer the 43cm Solar RGB II - which is R18,000. And I would need two.


At least I can do kitschy things to give the wonderful people over at APSA a heart attack.



I don't know why the editor insists on auto-inserting these:

 

Hyggers are a great budget light. When I upgraded from my 10W Chinease light to the 14W Hygger for my 45cm tank it made a huge difference.

Admittedly, I did end up running both lights on the tank as I should've bought the 45cm 18W Hygger for better coverage... But I'm a student and budgets are a real thing

Recently found an insane deal on a second hand Chihiros WRGB Slim 2 45 light with a retail value of double the Hygger. The difference is huge. Now I just run one light on my tank and I run it on 40% intensity.

You pay for what you get unfortunately. The Hygger is a great budget light and I would highly recommend it for people starting out and looking for a good entry level light. But at the end of the day it is that, a budget light.

 

Also... have a look at Temu. Im pretty sure you can buy the Hyggers unbranded at half the price you pay for them locally.

Definitely will be purchasing one of those in the future over the branded ones...

 

I had that same thought and did have a look but didn't find anything. I think if I hadn't been spoiled by the ADA's look I'd be pretty happy and I hope that comes across in my review

The only real dealbreaker for me is the fact that it loses its time setting during a power dip. It makes the programmability features useless.

And it's funny, as you recall I hated the ADA light when I first switched it on over the empty tank....

I need to add another actinic source - a marine spectrum maybe.

 

https://www.temu.com/za/ddc-aqioua-...&refer_page_id=10009_1770046453013_4s9ctgvwnl

Have a look here... you'll cry when you see the prices, I know I did

Good for future reference at least.

And yes, once you own a Ferrari (ADA), the Toyota just never feels the same way again . Suffering from success I call it

 

Well... shit.