Pro Landscaper Magazine December 2019 Quality Over Price
Pro Landscaper Magazine December 2019 Quality Over Price
IN HIS FINAL INSTALMENT, NEIL PARSLOW EXPLAINS WHY CHEAP IS NOT AN OPTION WHEN IT COMES TO LIGHT FITTINGS
Choosing light fittings can be a daunting task. There’s an overwhelming amount of product choices on the market, ranging from cheap plastic spike lights to high-end, innovative LED fittings that are long lasting and packed with features. Buying cheap, poorly designed and constructed fittings may well suit certain clients’ requirements and budgets, but this usually tends to be a false economy as the fittings will not stand up to the harsh exterior conditions experienced throughout the year.
If the client’s budget struggles to stretch to higher quality priced fittings, try suggesting that the lighting be installed in phases over the coming months – or even in a year’s time. When installed correctly, a higher grade fitting will eliminate the typical issues that can occur with poor quality products. This will save you and your client time, money and potential embarrassment in the future.
WHEN INSTALLED CORRECTLY, A HIGHER GRADE FITTING WILL ELIMINATE THE TYPICAL ISSUES THAT CAN OCCUR WITH POOR QUALITY PRODUCTS
Light Visuals has designed and installed many high-end exterior garden lighting schemes over a number of years, and during this time we’ve encountered the many issues associated with poor quality light fittings. This ranges from water ingress due to poor gaskets and seals to poor quality LEDs and powder coat paint failures, to name a few.
This experience has allowed us to address many of these common problems encountered with cheaper products and produce our own lighting range designed to ensure many years of reliable use. We are so confident in these products that we provide every fitting with a full 10-year warranty and five-year for the LED. Our LED board is also easily replaced by the end user in the field in under one minute.
The Light Visuals range of products are all designed in-house and manufactured in the
UK using the latest CNC machining technology. Our products are constructed from high quality materials including copper and brass, although the main material we use in the construction of our fittings is 316L marine grade stainless steel, as this material offers a very high corrosion resistance to almost all exterior conditions and looks great with modern builds. We even use 316 stainless steel as the base metal for all our powder coated products which are available in five standard colours. These also come with a 10-year warranty.
Almost all of the components are modular, so replaceable and interchangeable, including a colour coded internal optic beam reflector for in the field changing of the beam angle. Our products are all IP68 rated and designed for permanent submersion in water. Light Visual’s LEDs are all extra low voltage (ELV) and use a constant LED driver to operate them. Constant current circuits almost eliminate the voltage drop commonly encountered with longer cable runs on traditional 12V systems.
An anti-wicking moisture barrier is integral to each fitting eliminating moisture build up on the LED lens through capillary action via the cable and poor cable joints. We also pay particular attention to the environment and have designed our products to be as environmentally friendly as possible with modular components and eco packaging. We are always seeking new ways to further reduce our impact on the environment.