xenon expert Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Apexcone owns DDM. Same company and same product. DDM is a good kit for cheap Chinese kits. If you want to go the cheap kit route then it's a good choice. Reliability is still above average compared to the market standard but well below the Volt and Xtreme kit reliability. Volt and Xtreme kits are a bit more expensive but are super reliable. And to those that buy direct via DDM site, it's a free country, but it would be cool if you would support vendors like us that pay to be here and contribute to this community. Plus your order will ship faster with us and our prices are not higher. Remember that we include the battery harness with our kits' prices while DDM do not. Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trademark Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Apexcone owns DDM. Same company and same product. DDM is a good kit for cheap Chinese kits. If you want to go the cheap kit route then it's a good choice. Reliability is still above average compared to the market standard but well below the Volt and Xtreme kit reliability. Volt and Xtreme kits are a bit more expensive but are super reliable. And to those that buy direct via DDM site, it's a free country, but it would be cool if you would support vendors like us that pay to be here and contribute to this community. Plus your order will ship faster with us and our prices are not higher. Remember that we include the battery harness with our kits' prices while DDM do not. Oliver I agree that for the same price we should consider buying "local". plus XE is so helpful and active on the boards.. on a side note I relocated my ground wire and disabled the DRL's and have had Zero problems with my DDM/Apexcone Kit and battery harness.. thanks XE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cino135 Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 i have the 35w DDM kit from xenon expert for over a year now. Still to this day its one of my favorite things ive done to the car. The kit has never had an issue, the ballasts are small and fit perfectly mounted to my frame. great kit if you ask me ^^2nd-D. been very happy with this seemingly low cost purchase. light output is phenomenal, every once and awhile one will not light upon turning on, but a flick of the switch turns it right on. IF mie were to go out (knock on wood) I WOULD PURCHASE THIS SET ALL OVER AGAIN!!!! i must say, i did get a slighly better offering last year when they went on sale. but again, would buy all over again, IF had to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phenryiv1 Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Apexcone owns DDM. Same company and same product. DDM is a good kit for cheap Chinese kits. If you want to go the cheap kit route then it's a good choice. Reliability is still above average compared to the market standard but well below the Volt and Xtreme kit reliability. Volt and Xtreme kits are a bit more expensive but are super reliable. And to those that buy direct via DDM site, it's a free country, but it would be cool if you would support vendors like us that pay to be here and contribute to this community. Plus your order will ship faster with us and our prices are not higher. Remember that we include the battery harness with our kits' prices while DDM do not. Oliver $98.95 shipped for the ApexCone 55w in 5000K with a battery harness. You don't sell apexcone, just DDM. Jim (owner of DDM, for those who do not know) tells me that the 55w Apexcone are more reliable on startup than DDM, and that the 55w are more stable than the 35W. Also, many here have had the known problems with the DDM kits, so in that price range, why buy something (the DDM kit) that I KNOW wil likely cause me problems. If Jim says that the ApexCone ignitors work better, then I am going with them. If you sold them, I would have bought it from you. I don't mind supporting your business- even if it is a few bucks more than direct through DDM, but you don't sell what I want/need. I know I have made 5-10 inquiries about a Volt kit in 4300K, and you cannot get it- yet. But also, you made no promises that you would ever get it. I know that you only have what you have, but if we have to go outside of site vendors to get what we want or need, then that is what we have to do. I even asked about upgrading the Volt kit to a Philips 4300K bulb (as can be done with the Xtreme kit) and I never got a price. Lastly, when we (Legacy owners) have a problem with the DDM kits, we get an exchange for the "faulty" component, which may or may not fix the problem. But you don't allow us to just try them to see if they work (and they clearly do for some people, but not others) and return them if they fail to ignite. You are entitled to sell them with full disclosure (which you do) and then if they don't work, your response is to just offer to sell kit in the next price point- which happens to have (IMO) a really ricey look and poor performance in bad weather. Sure, I can spend 2x the cost of DDM or ApexCone and get an Xtreme kit in order to get a "normal" bulb color, but I'd rather spend my money more wisely than that, since DDM WILL allow an exchange if the kit simply won't fire on a Subaru. Point is, if you sold a product that did what most of us wanted (provide reliable lighting in a reasonable color temperature) at a fair price (such as the cost of the Volt kit, which seems perfectly reasonable to me) then you would be flooded with orders. You would have had my business 6 weeks ago when I first asked about a 4300K Volt kit, and the only thing I would have gone to DDM for would have been a cheap set of Raptor 9006 3000K HIDs for my fogs. Patrick Looking for spacers or adapters to install aftermarket speakers in the doors of your Legacy? CLICK HERE or PM me! http://www.carstereoadapters.com./ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatbastard Posted January 23, 2009 Author Share Posted January 23, 2009 I would also add that while you include the harness it is not free. It basically comes out to be the same as purchasing the parts from DDM direct. Since I am not convinced that the harness does anything since many still have issues with one, I wouldn't spend the money on it. If I do decide to purchase these I would likely got to DDM just for this reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phenryiv1 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Well, I installed my ApexCone 55w 5000K and I am happy to say that he install was relatively painless and the lights have fired up the first time, every time. The color is a little "hotter" than what I really wanted, but the light is very bright on the road- even in some fairly heavy snow today. Only time will tell about long-term reliability. Patrick Looking for spacers or adapters to install aftermarket speakers in the doors of your Legacy? CLICK HERE or PM me! http://www.carstereoadapters.com./ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatbastard Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 I would consider getting a set or two but since they increased the price I am not as interested. I guess it is more the premise of teh price increase. While the price is still good I just can't understand how they can justify increasing prices when the economy is hurting and people are buying less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phenryiv1 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 They were "on sale" when I bought them, and they take things on and off of sale all of the time. I know that in late March at the latest, there will be a birthday bash. There was also mention of a sale in a couple of weeks. I'd just wait it out. Patrick Looking for spacers or adapters to install aftermarket speakers in the doors of your Legacy? CLICK HERE or PM me! http://www.carstereoadapters.com./ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenon expert Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I would also add that while you include the harness it is not free. It basically comes out to be the same as purchasing the parts from DDM direct. Since I am not convinced that the harness does anything since many still have issues with one, I wouldn't spend the money on it. If I do decide to purchase these I would likely got to DDM just for this reason. That's a mistake. A harness is a plus with the DDM. Otherwise we wouldn't include it. Plus we now stock and ship within 48 hours compared to DDM that are always backorder and take 2-3 weeks to ship. So we offer the same kit and ship faster but feel free to buy where you want. Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenon expert Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I would consider getting a set or two but since they increased the price I am not as interested. I guess it is more the premise of teh price increase. While the price is still good I just can't understand how they can justify increasing prices when the economy is hurting and people are buying less. Margins were low and DDM costs in Asia started to rise so they increased the prices on their stuff as well as wholesale prices. Not our decision. Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatbastard Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 Oliver...would like to support you but from all the threads I have read and there are a lot of DDM/Apexcone threads; the harness appears to do nothing to help the reliability. Peopele that installed them with the harness have had failures and those that have added them later continued to get failures. Back when they were offering the kits for 45 bucks spending 25 on a wire didn't make sense, for twenty more I could have two back up ballasts and two bulbs. When these kits were runnung 150 each the price tag for the harness seemed acceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatbastard Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 Not saying it was your decision to raise prices, but the economy is suffering globally. I find it hard to believe with all the plant closures in Asia that the prices are going up. Besides I can't speak for everyone but when times get tight things are like are one of the first things you cut and if you are still in the market I know I would not pay 30% more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenon expert Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Oliver...would like to support you but from all the threads I have read and there are a lot of DDM/Apexcone threads; the harness appears to do nothing to help the reliability. Peopele that installed them with the harness have had failures and those that have added them later continued to get failures. Back when they were offering the kits for 45 bucks spending 25 on a wire didn't make sense, for twenty more I could have two back up ballasts and two bulbs. When these kits were runnung 150 each the price tag for the harness seemed acceptable. Hi, I understand but just want to explain something. The $45 kit that DDM sell is not a DDM kit but a generic kit. Also, we are using a different harness than DDM now. We will have a cheaper kit than the DDM one for you in the next few days if you really want an inexpensive kit without a harness. Oliver Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenon expert Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Not saying it was your decision to raise prices, but the economy is suffering globally. I find it hard to believe with all the plant closures in Asia that the prices are going up. Besides I can't speak for everyone but when times get tight things are like are one of the first things you cut and if you are still in the market I know I would not pay 30% more We are all suffering. All I know is that DDM has informed us as well that costs across their whole line has increased. We are not happy about it either. Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatbastard Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 Are you saying that the Apexcone kit is generic? Because that was the one I was referring to. I beleive prior to the holidays it was around 45 bucks a kit now it is 60. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phenryiv1 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Are you saying that the Apexcone kit is generic? Because that was the one I was referring to. I beleive prior to the holidays it was around 45 bucks a kit now it is 60. It was $50 prior to the holidays, on sale. Now it is $60. I added the $15 upcharge to go to 55W and then $20 for the harness. With shipping, I was at $98.95. The "generic" kit is the Raptor kit, which DDM has made directly for them (as are their other kits, by the way). They had dropped the prices on the raptor kit by $5 but dropped the warranty to 1 year, but they have since raised the price and reinstated the warranty. If you really want to discuss DDM and their pricing and policies, there is a whole subforum on bimmerforums for DDM stuff. They have a LOT of people with non-BMWs on there just to discuss DDM in an open environment. Much of my research was done there, where I got info straight from DDM, as opposed to going by heresay over here. http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=286 At this time, it is not really fair to criticize Oliver for DDM pricing or reliability issues. He has been very forthright with us about DDM product reliability. I don't think that he has misled buyers, at least not since I started shopping for HIDs 3-4 months ago. Like I said a few posts up- if Oliver had what I wanted, I would have GLADLY ordered from him. If he gets an inexpensive kit that I can buy in a 9006 at 3000K for my fogs, and the price is competetive with DDM (note I did not say equal to or better than- just competetive with), then he will get my business for my fog lights. Just my $0.02. Patrick Looking for spacers or adapters to install aftermarket speakers in the doors of your Legacy? CLICK HERE or PM me! http://www.carstereoadapters.com./ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatbastard Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 I am not complaining about Oliver either...he is always here to answer questions and has been truthful about the reliability. As I mentioned before I realize he is not responsible for the price increase; I was just stating that it seems to be a bad time to raise your prices when everyone is starting to be more careful of where and how much they spend. Especially when you can easily find out the prices were 20% lower just a few months ago. I also agree I would buy from Oilver if he offered what I wanted. I do not see the point in getting the harness when it hasn't shown itself to be effective at all. If he offered to sell kits without the harness I would be spending my money with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.