Chihiros RGB VIVID 2 - First impressions video (2024)

Hi all,

I know there's a few of you with some experience of these units already but I thought I'd share my video. Interested to hear your feedback.

It was interesting to read that most of my audience that commented preferred the Twinstar 1200, or even Kessil A360we Tuna Sun.

One thing I did notice after watching the video is that the camera does seem to struggle to pick out the diverse range in colours when compared to the Twinstar.

Take care!
George

Thanks for the review @George Farmer

They retail for just under 300 pounds here in Malaysia, so hopefully not much more when they arrive in the UK.

I have to say I'm very tempted to replace my Fluval Plant 3.0 with one of these.

Do you think one unit would happily cover a 900x450x450?

Cool lights.. Yes the twinstar looked better colorwise in the vids.. But I just watched on my phone.

Shame there aren't aquashops that display all kinds of light for comparison just like TV shops.. But then it would be an expensive and large store..

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G920F met Tapatalk

I like mine, I got them because I like the rendition of the ADA Solar but I did not want to pay that much for the light. They are different to Kessil and twin star, Kessil I find really brings out the greens etc. It depends on what you want. I find them very clinical and produces a very natural light imo.

I run mine on 30% for 6 hours with a 1.5 hour ramp because I have low light plants

Loving mine too. They sell for 340€ from authorised retailer here in France, that's a lot of bang for the bucks.

The thing is, you could always mimic the pinkish/yellowish rendition of the twinstar with the chihiros vivid 2 by cutting the greens with the app.

I've to say that the rendition is superb in person, like the Ada solar RGB, you'll have to compare those light in person to give you an idea. Hope this will be possible soon for you guys in UK 😉

George Farmer said:

Hi all,

I know there's a few of you with some experience of these units already but I thought I'd share my video. Interested to hear your feedback.

It was interesting to read that most of my audience that commented preferred the Twinstar 1200, or even Kessil A360we Tuna Sun.

One thing I did notice after watching the video is that the camera does seem to struggle to pick out the diverse range in colours when compared to the Twinstar.

Take care!
George

Click to expand...

Good vid George. I have the Chihiros WRGB II which uses the same LED's as the Vivid II, and my experiences is similar to the points you have noted. The saturation intensity is off the charts, and I do like the look of my aquarium with these RGB lights on, but I can't help but feel something is missing. There's something ever so slightly unnatural with the colour rendition. Dropping the green helps, but it still isn't quote there. I think the issue is the very narrow spikes in the colour spectrum for red, green and blue means there is a reduced shading between colours.

For example, the red LED's can tend to make anything orange colour shift to red (my Ember tetras being a good example look more red than orange), and the range of green shades seems to get shifted into more of a narrow band. I do wish for something that Chihiros has included some Neutral White LED's on their RGB fixtures with independent control, to allow some of the intermediate colours to be brought back in to the owner taste.

I've not seen the ADA Solar RGB in action myself yet, but I imagine it's colour rendition is similar. I assume you've seen them, how would you say they compare to the Vivid II?

I have also compared to the Kessil A360X, and that just couldn't compete, it was just far too yellow in light, and not enough red and green. I think part of the issue is that many lights on the market don't get the ratio right between the number of Red, Green and Blue LEDS they use versus the quantity of white LED's. The Kessil would have been a great light if they'd dropped the number of warm white LED's and doubled the number of independent Red and Green LED's (and also god rid of the fan whine).

EDIT: Incidentally Chirhiros also told me that UK buyers can currently purchase directly from them. The Vivid II was quoted to me at $380 including delivery, which is about £310 at Paypal rates (bearing in mind VAT and duty may or may not need to be added to that).

Wookii said:

but I can't help but feel something is missing. There's something ever so slightly unnatural with the colour rendition. Dropping the green helps, but it still isn't quote there. I think the issue is the very narrow spikes in the colour spectrum for red, green and blue means there is a reduced shading between colours.

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Yes, that is fairly typical of RGB based LED's..
"Personally" not my favorite look.. Too many shades missing vs a more balanced spectrum ..
RGB are punchy, grow things well, and are generally well liked as to look BUT...
missing or low shades..
I look at it as so many shades blend to one.
There are arguments about this right and left and even companies selling RGB as full spectrum. I.E

not sure where " Similar to natural sun light " comes from. not the sunlight I know.. 😉

Kudos to put the RGB in one chip though..

Oh and by tailoring the outputs at full they do each have a fairly different base look.. From magenta to cyan-ish to light blue .

rebel said:

Does this mean that you need even more chips like 6500k or 3000k to be in the mix for perfection?

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Yes and no.. most white LED's are really poor in the blue/cyan range so you only get it 1/2 "fixed".. 😉
Anyways it's really not perfection per se.. just a way of looking at it..
Newest BridgeluxEB Thrive chips.
This one is 6500k .
Note like most of the high CRI 6500k Bridgelux emitters they are mostly on paper meaning
actually DIY-ing something with them is near impossible.. 🙁
Basically a royal blue pump w/ RGB phosphors. Possibly a few regular blue emitters (second blue peak).
The exact makeup isn't known to me but everything to the right of the blue peaks is def. phosphors.
Dotted line is roughly one point of daylight..
Note the patch in the upper left. almost a "pure white" tone..
Color : #FFFEF4
https://www.color-hex.com/color/fffef4

Keep in mind these are just estimates..

It boils down to a style of ones choice..
a want not a need...😉

oreo57 said:

See Also

Chihiros WRGB Pro or Vivid 2 10th anniversary

high CRI 6500k Bridgelux emitters they are mostly on paper meaning

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What did you mean here? Did you mean, they are high CRI only on paper = not really high CRI in reality?

@oreo57 You are correct in saying that's it's difficult to achieve and even what each person's preference lies.

I tried to modify my Chihiros A series light and got reasonable but not perfect results. I wish for more red,maybe blue with less yellow.

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/modding-the-chihiros-a-series-to-include-rgb-led.55743/

Wierdly, when I switched off green led (in the RGB), I don't like the look! I am not sure what I like or how to achieve it. I am afraid of paying $600 for RGB2 and not liking it!! or heaven (currently Australia) forbid $1600 for ADA RGB.

rebel said:

What did you mean here? Did you mean, they are high CRI only on paper = not really high CRI in reality?

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Sorry, meant they have catalog numbers but any normal sources (Aroow,Digikey,Mouser) doesn't ever have them in stock, be able to buy small lots, or are not way more expensive than more common ones like 5000k.
At least that has been my experience..
Currently they are supposed to put them in strips which is way more convenient than the bigger COB's. Not holding my breath though.. 😉

rebel said:

@oreo57 You are correct in saying that's it's difficult to achieve and even what each person's preference lies.

I tried to modify my Chihiros A series light and got reasonable but not perfect results. I wish for more red,maybe blue with less yellow.

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/modding-the-chihiros-a-series-to-include-rgb-led.55743/

Wierdly, when I switched off green led (in the RGB), I don't like the look! I am not sure what I like or how to achieve it. I am afraid of paying $600 for RGB2 and not liking it!! or heaven (currently Australia) forbid $1600 for ADA RGB.

Click to expand...

ADA's no better and not adjustable but if you don't want yellow.. afaict they run cool.
W/ RGB just depends on how you design the 3 colors.

Can you see why your Chihiros "white only" looks yellow?
Typical white diode behind the RGB peaks.

Best simple combo in a simple light from my perspective is 7000K white and 660nm red..
Generally a crisp white w/ good red enhancement.
Finnex planted plus (Finnex Fugeray Planted Plus or whatever, NOT the 24/7 versions though that is another story ).

Another warning, people do have different sensitivities to colors so it's a "Your mileage may vary" type of thing.
I ran an older version of this (no blues) on one of my tanks. Was called the Fugeray R.

oreo57 said:

ADA's no better and not adjustable but if you don't want yellow.. afaict they run cool.

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Yes this is what I hear and seen. it's hard to believe what you see on your screen due to calibration issues on both sides when making videos or photos.

I agree with you that 'high CRI' leds are not really easily bought on ali express etc and getting consistent BINS on two different leds could be very tricky.

I have seen two ADA lights side by side on one of the videos of GreenAqua and they had slightly different tints!!

rebel said:

Yes this is what I hear and seen. it's hard to believe what you see on your screen due to calibration issues on both sides when making videos or photos.

I agree with you that 'high CRI' leds are not really easily bought on ali express etc and getting consistent BINS on two different leds could be very tricky.

I have seen two ADA lights side by side on one of the videos of GreenAqua and they had slightly different tints!!

Click to expand...

Yes, color temp of cameras and built in post processing throws things off. Also the camera responds differently than ones eye..
I do my best to avoid anything that looks err "wrong" compared to what I expect.

If I post "my stuff" it has been color corrected to look like I see it.
Granted I also color correct my monitor which won't reflect everyones monitor either.
There is no good way to post images, thus I rely a lot on spectrum charts. Those don't lie, for the most part. Some may argue that point.

Last problem is tannins, even minor amounts push tanks to "yellow"..

This is what my old light on the 40b looked like in real life.
You do need a bit of faith.. 🙂
660nm red, cyan, royal blue, 3000K white, 6500k white
Yea, I'm not really a "scaper".. 😉
always looks for something you know the color of.. like the Eheim tube, grey heater to judge the realism of the photo.
note the 100's of guppies, a long story.

oreo57 said:

Last problem is tannins, even minor amounts push tanks to "yellow"..

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This could be my issue as I have plenty of wood in the tank.

With the calibration, yes I used to use Spyder and calibrate my IPS monitor (99% sRGB). These days I can't be bothered and my monitor is yellowing on the sides... 😉

Your tank looks muddy to me, much like mine at times. It may well be Tannins... I dislike that yellow look though. I prefer crisp whatever that means in color science.

I also saw your recommendation of 7000+660. I need to see whether I can find some 7000. 660 is fairly easy to find. I can potentially add a row of 1W LEDs instead of those strip lights and try again. I already have 660 1W available. Just for kicks and giggles.

That Fugeray looks CRISP!

Maybe we need pics of lights with the standard colour charts that they use in photography.

rebel said:

This could be my issue as I have plenty of wood in the tank.

Your tank looks muddy to me, much like mine at times. It may well be Tannins... I dislike that yellow look though. I prefer crisp whatever that means in color science.

I also saw your recommendation of 7000+660. I need to see whether I can find some 7000. 660 is fairly easy to find. I can potentially add a row of 1W LEDs instead of those strip lights and try again. I already have 660 1W available. Just for kicks and giggles.

That Fugeray looks CRISP!

Click to expand...

Since this is over 7 years old I can't guarantee its authenticity but I assume this is more of what you are aiming at.
Kind of how they start but don't , for me, always end up looking like that..

Even without wood some tannins (or whatever pigments from dead leaves/detris) always work their way in.
Another hint, don't use orangy gravels.. 😉