New Vertex Cerebra $699.99 - Intro Price $374.99

[slief]

Originally Posted by burton14e7

It's not humorous that you said you didn't know or didn't reply, it's that you made an explicit statement that the warranty was better with out any knowledge of it actually being better. I agree that what you said is not humorous at all as your statement lacks integrity which is a grievous mistake.

I never stated anything explicitly about the warranty. To say something explicitly would imply that I was making a factual statement about the warranty which I never did. I was directly asked a question in which I replied to. Since I wasn't sure what the actual warranty was, I prefaced it as an assumption (not fact) when I stated [B]"I can only assume it matches their standard Apex warranty["/B]. The key word being assume. In other words, I am not 100% sure what the warranty is but I would guess it is their standard warranty. So I was making an assumption which I was pretty clear about and not making any explicit statements about what the warranty actually is.

Anyhow, to set the record correct, the probe warranty is 90 days. As for the industry standard, I have no idea what the industry standard is one probes. As I said in one of my previous replies, in over 20 years, I have never once had one of these probes fail me. Not on my original Aqua Controller Gen 1 or on my Apex and I get years of great use out of my probes with very minimal maintenance.

[gcarroll]

Originally Posted by shermanator

There is probably a good, middle ground between claiming something will be out soon over the past six years (yes, the Cerebra has been due out for a looooong time now) and waiting until it's released to promote it (as alton suggested).



I think some of the hate or skepticism about the Cerebra is due to the fact that this was supposed to come out over 6 years ago. And because their recent flurry of claims it's coming soon have already seemed to miss their release date.



I'm skeptical this will be out anytime soon, but I'm not a hater. In fact, if they ever do release it, I might buy one... I signed up for the notification on BRS.

Products at shows are often prototypes. When they showed off the product years ago, it was always said it was a product they were developing. They never set a official release. Remember, at that time it was an ambitious and revolutionary design. The software that they are currently showing looks nothing like the software of previous iterations.



2010: First showed what they were working on.





2011 - 2013: beta testing started. But also we started seeing the Apex push the limits of what was possible with controllers. Also you had the beginnings of DC pumps and LED. Ultimately that interface appears to have been scrapped after 3 years of development.





Fast forward another 3 years of development and we have what is being released now.





I'm moving in a couple weeks and will begin my build. I have 2 tanks and will run the Apex on one and the Cerebra on the other. Personally, I rely on a controller's monitoring abilities far more that controlling abilities so these new controllers have far more features than I am accustomed to. I can't wait to discover all the new things you can do with both!

[FirstContact]

Originally Posted by shermanator

I might buy one... I signed up for the notification on BRS.

As far as we know BRS is no longer selling the beta package. You would have to go through Aquarium Specialty, Premium Aquatics, or Aqua Cave.

[gcarroll]

Originally Posted by FirstContact

As far as we know BRS is no longer selling the beta package. You would have to go through Aquarium Specialty, Premium Aquatics, or Aqua Cave.

My understanding is that BRS does not do preorders. Once they receive them, they will be offered for sale under the discounted price. We shall see in the coming weeks if that is or is not the case.

[fcmatt]

I wonder why they decided to connect the temp probe via usb to the head unit? That alone may limit the placement of the head unit relative to your display/sump. Since it has a screen to actually touch and use I would imagine bending down to the stand to use it for any length of time is impractical? Better for the temp probe to plug into the "power bar". And for that matter all of the modules are USB as well. So I guess a person may want a usb hub in the cabinet while the module is on the wall next to the aquarium or what not?

I wonder when the modules will be available?

I am still slightly confused about this product. Less so now. I truly wish they would have made this more clear with a good website, using pictures, listing each piece.

http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/med...ra-Details.pdf

I have to admit I find it humorous that here I am, a buyer with cash on the barrel head, wanting a controller, but I cannot determine if their product is the best option for me due to a lack of information/pictures/etc...

[scuzy]

It is standards USB so you can place it anywhere with a hub


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fcmatt]

Originally Posted by scuzy

It is standards USB so you can place it anywhere with a hub


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes. That is true. As I was typing out my post I figured it out as well.

Use my google foo power to find out more info especially pics. hm. had to upload a pic to a unix box to get it to display. Forget this forum dislikes certain websites.



But notice the cable going to the head end unit. just one usb port in the power bar would have been so helpful. Just one for a hub.

edit. i am dumb. from the head end, cable a hub, plug power bar into the hub. i hope that would be allowed.

[gcarroll]

Thanks for posting that document fcmatt! I'm noticing on page 4 they provided the country that each of the probes are made (all the major ones from Germany). It is obvious that they are not cutting corners there.

[reefingnoob]

This is from today. Little disappointed if you ask me.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

[fcmatt]

[Dmorty217]

They could be giving this product away for $100 and I still would be very skeptical. They have been coming out with this for the better part of 6 years now and no one has any hands on experience with one. It also appears that they never did a limited release to actually get some real world testing done on it before it was released. This will be plagued with problems and ie I'll be full of bugs. If you want a controller Apex is the way to go, this Vertex Cerebra is about 10 years behind the ball on this. Interface looks cool but function ability and reliability are unproven and there are other options out there that aren't a risk like this will be. There was a product on Kickstarter called Zano that did a lot of the same things vertex is doing. (Nice pictures, over promising, ect) Zano fell flat on its face...

[fcmatt]

According to gossip online they did do a limited release to people worldwide.

[Salty150]

Originally Posted by slief

I never stated anything explicitly about the warranty. To say something explicitly would imply that I was making a factual statement about the warranty which I never did.

Originally Posted by slief

The fact remains that the Apex OEM probes will be very competitive price wise (if not less expensive) with industry standard ones and carry a better warranty. This whole industry standard probe marketing pitch is nothing more than a marketing ploy to lead astray the misguided or ill informed.

That is what was funny

In your zeal to constantly defend everything Netpune - you made a "misstatement" - that's all.

And it appears that you were wrong - Neptune has a 90 day warranty - Vertex has a 120 day.

Didn't mean for you to take it so personally!

[slief]

Originally Posted by Salty150

That is what was funny

In your zeal to constantly defend everything Netpune - you made a "misstatement" - that's all.

And it appears that you were wrong - Neptune has a 90 day warranty - Vertex has a 120 day.

Didn't mean for you to take it so personally!

Ahh.. You do have a good point there. I didn't catch that I said Neptune would have a better warranty but on the other hand, warranty time (90 vs 120 days) is rather meaningless if the support and service isn't there to back that warranty effectively. Vertex has a history of less than stellar service and support where as Neptune has a history of exceptional service and support. You can do a search here and see what I mean.

I support/defend Neptune because they make a great product backed by great support. They have been building great controllers for over 20 years and I've been using their products since the very first Neptune controller. I've never had any major issues with any of their products let alone support. My current Apex is 7 years old as are most of the other dozen plus modules on my system and none have failed me yet. Anytime I need help from support or questions answered, they have always been there to respond in a timely manner. They even remote into your controller if needed. As such, I think they are worthy of defending. One thing you will notice about me is that I defend pretty much any manufacturer in the industry who builds quality products backed by great support. In fact, I am very unbiased when it comes to that. I support GHL and have a Profilux 3 controller here as well. Like Neptune, GHL builds a great products and back them with great support too. While I am affiliated with Royal Exclusiv, I also defend competitive products such as Abyzz, Tunze, Iwaki, Reeflo, Life Reef, ATB and many others because of quality and support. I'm honestly hoping that US support for the Cerebra is better than Vertex support has been in the past. It looks like it can be a great option in the controller market provided it's backed with same level of service and support than competing products offer. Supporting controllers is a huge undertaking and requires a lot of man power from a technical support and service standpoint.

As a hobbyist who depends on controllers, support is a very critical factor and it's created major issues and lost many a customer for some of the other controller manufacturers. I'm also in the computer industry and support is what I have built my server and data storage manufacturing business on. Like our aquarium controllers, the servers and RAID products we build are used in mission critical 24/7 operational enviornments. It's our support than has helped build a great name for my business and secured very high profile repeat customers. From my perspective, every company and product will have issues. How things are handled when there is an issue seperates the good companies from the bad companies. Time will tell on this product and hopefully things are improved From a support standpoint moving forward. Time will tell.

There are some neat features in this controller that will certainly drive improvements in competitors products. I'm very tempted to pick up a Cererba to play with. Having been in the hobby and industry for as long as I have, I like to keep up with technology. I've owned other Vertex products as well and they do make good products. As such, I am optimistic about the Cerebra but I also think it will take a fair amount of time before it's truly seasoned and has the expansion capabilities that advanced systems require. I also hope that Vertex USA can implement the infrastructure for the support than will be required and provide the kind of service that controller users demand. A skimmer pump failure is one thing but a controller failure is a whole new ball game.

By the way, I didn't take your reply personally. I just thought it was a silly reply. If you had questions or contentions about my comments, you should have been forthcoming instead of what came off as kind of condescending. Then again, this a forum where we convey our emotions with things like LOL and SMH etc.

[SchnitzelReef]

Originally Posted by gcarroll

Products at shows are often prototypes. When they showed off the product years ago, it was always said it was a product they were developing. They never set a official release. Remember, at that time it was an ambitious and revolutionary design. The software that they are currently showing looks nothing like the software of previous iterations.



2010: First showed what they were working on.





2011 - 2013: beta testing started. But also we started seeing the Apex push the limits of what was possible with controllers. Also you had the beginnings of DC pumps and LED. Ultimately that interface appears to have been scrapped after 3 years of development.





Fast forward another 3 years of development and we have what is being released now.





I'm moving in a couple weeks and will begin my build. I have 2 tanks and will run the Apex on one and the Cerebra on the other. Personally, I rely on a controller's monitoring abilities far more that controlling abilities so these new controllers have far more features than I am accustomed to. I can't wait to discover all the new things you can do with both!

Begin your build in a couple weeks? I'm gunna hold you to that. lol

[jason2459]

Originally Posted by fcmatt

...

I have to admit I find it humorous that here I am, a buyer with cash on the barrel head, wanting a controller, but I cannot determine if their product is the best option for me due to a lack of information/pictures/etc...

I was kind of in the situation last year except a bit further. I wanted to buy the DA Archon. I think it has some good potential and would suggest anyone looking at buying a controller to give it a look.

I gave DA some $ to preorder the Archon. It wasn't the full amount. When the Archon released I waited for a call or email from them saying my spot in line was ready.

Needless to say I tried calling and emailing them to give them some mote money once I finally got an email. I got no where and after a few months I gave up and requested my deposit back. They did process that request which was nice.

I then bought an Apex and put my reefkeeper on my nano. Glad I did as I discovered the seasonal table and some much more advanced programming. I love it. But I wouldn't touch the new 2016 Apex yet either. I'll beta test easy to swap out things like pumps and skimmers but not something thats automating my systems life support.

[jason2459]

Originally Posted by fcmatt

Yes. That is true. As I was typing out my post I figured it out as well.

Use my google foo power to find out more info especially pics. hm. had to upload a pic to a unix box to get it to display. Forget this forum dislikes certain websites.



But notice the cable going to the head end unit. just one usb port in the power bar would have been so helpful. Just one for a hub.

edit. i am dumb. from the head end, cable a hub, plug power bar into the hub. i hope that would be allowed.

I don't get why they made that display so Bulky. That sucks. Would be fine for those that have space to hide it. But I've seen a lot of under tank areas very tight with space. My nano has no closed cabinet to even try to hide it. Those power bars look pretty bulky to for 6 outlets.

[ReefCowboy]

To the "early birds" that ordered this controller i must say good luck and pray you get good customer service. I was quick and bought the new apex, to have an issue that required replacing the brain unit within 12hrs of use. While reading the forums, found lots of other ones having bug issues.

To my luck, Neptune jumped in right away, emailing me 4 times on a sunday, which really impressed me. Controllers will have tons of bugs right out of the gate, and an early controller will need sometime until the engineers correct these problems with new firmware updates.

I sell underground drills for construction(gas/electric) for a living and with my newer units with lots of electronics, we encounter lots of bugs and need time to get them running properly. Thats the price of technology,i guess.

My point for this post is, I am very glad that Neptune is an American company, so i could contact them quick and get responses in the same fashion for issues. Controllers failing are the definition of tank crashes, and getting in touch with support directly asking engineers that manufactured the product really made me comfortable that i was on the right path.

Once you get your controler and have bugs, trust me you wont remember how much you saved of not if your tank is all over the place and things are dying. Make sure you know who will support this new controller, snd if they are indeed responsive/any good.

[reefingnoob]

Originally Posted by ReefCowboy

To the "early burds" that ordered this controller i must say good luck and pray you get good customer service. I was quick and bought the new apex, to have an issue that required replacing the brain unit within 12hrs of use. While reading the forums, found lots of other ones having bug issues.

To my luck, Neptune jumped in right away, emailing me 4 times on a sunday, which really impressed me. Controllers will have tons of bugs right out of the gate, and an early controller will need sometime until the engineer correct these problems with new firmware updates.

I sell underground drills for construction(gas/electric) install for a living and with my newer units with lots of electronics, we encounter lots of bugs and need time to get them running properly. Thats the price of technology,i guess.

My point for this post is, I am very glad that Neptune is an American company, so i could contact them quick and get responses in the same fashion for issues. Controllers failing are the definition of tank crashes, and getting in touch with support directly asking engineers that manufactured the product really made me comfortable that i was on the right path.

Once you get your controler and have bugs, trust me you wont remember how much you saved of not if your tank is all over the place and things are dying. Make sure you know who will support this new controller, snd if they are indeed responsive/any good.

Very well put. I am one of the early bird and this is what worries me.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

[jason2459]

Support, or lack of, was the major deciding factor for me to move away from digital aquatics. Neptune isn't always perfect either but my support from them has been a million times better.

[Salty150]

Originally Posted by ReefCowboy

To the "early burds" that ordered this controller i must say good luck and pray you get good customer service. I was quick and bought the new apex, to have an issue that required replacing the brain unit within 12hrs of use. While reading the forums, found lots of other ones having bug issues.

To my luck, Neptune jumped in right away, emailing me 4 times on a sunday, which really impressed me. Controllers will have tons of bugs right out of the gate, and an early controller will need sometime until the engineer correct these problems with new firmware updates.

I sell underground drills for construction(gas/electric) install for a living and with my newer units with lots of electronics, we encounter lots of bugs and need time to get them running properly. Thats the price of technology,i guess.

My point for this post is, I am very glad that Neptune is an American company, so i could contact them quick and get responses in the same fashion for issues. Controllers failing are the definition of tank crashes, and getting in touch with support directly asking engineers that manufactured the product really made me comfortable that i was on the right path.

Once you get your controler and have bugs, trust me you wont remember how much you saved of not if your tank is all over the place and things are dying. Make sure you know who will support this new controller, snd if they are indeed responsive/any good.

Neptune has always been very good at customer service.

However, every time I have emailed Vertex USA about the new Cerebra - I have always gotten a, very pleasant, response back from them within an hour.

So, here is hoping Vertex USA has really gotten its act together before the launch of this new controller.

[cali9dub]

Originally Posted by ReefCowboy

To the "early birds" that ordered this controller i must say good luck and pray you get good customer service. I was quick and bought the new apex, to have an issue that required replacing the brain unit within 12hrs of use. While reading the forums, found lots of other ones having bug issues.

To my luck, Neptune jumped in right away, emailing me 4 times on a sunday, which really impressed me. Controllers will have tons of bugs right out of the gate, and an early controller will need sometime until the engineers correct these problems with new firmware updates.

I sell underground drills for construction(gas/electric) for a living and with my newer units with lots of electronics, we encounter lots of bugs and need time to get them running properly. Thats the price of technology,i guess.

My point for this post is, I am very glad that Neptune is an American company, so i could contact them quick and get responses in the same fashion for issues. Controllers failing are the definition of tank crashes, and getting in touch with support directly asking engineers that manufactured the product really made me comfortable that i was on the right path.

Once you get your controler and have bugs, trust me you wont remember how much you saved of not if your tank is all over the place and things are dying. Make sure you know who will support this new controller, snd if they are indeed responsive/any good.

Guess there were no "early birds" when Neptune systems came out with their product or when digital aquatics came out with their product or ghl came out with their product or any other manufacturer came out with their product. Not sure there was such an outcry of "good luck to those".... We'll see how things go and that is the same as any other item brought to market not sure why all the vitriol for this one ?? Maybe because so many Neptune owners might find out they don't have the be all to end all ??? We'll soon see.

[cali9dub]

Oh....and by the way I own 2 full Apex systems with 4 eb-8's an eb-4 a wxm and vdm modules. I am still excited about the introduction of the vertex Cerebra. It can only help.

[redddogg69]

Not sure if anyone posted this yet, but i just noticed it on Vertex's FB page.

Looks like all their probes are guaranteed 120 days "fresh" so no stock that's 6 months old or more.

[fcmatt]

Originally Posted by redddogg69

Not sure if anyone posted this yet, but i just noticed it on Vertex's FB page.

Looks like all their probes are guaranteed 120 days "fresh" so no stock that's 6 months old or more.

While I find the fresh guarantee to be awesome... I think by buying probes from a reputable source who sells a lot will take care of that. I am more worried about this device being supported for years to come. Updates, community support, and otherwise a great product.