The timing is off. I have checked it at midnight and reset it to midnight at least 5 times now. I now merely use as a dim night-light and turn it on to day with my other light that is set on a timer for increased light during the day. This is not strong enough to feed the ground plants on its own light (my tank has about 2 feet deep of water). The major bummer is the timing which is the WHOLE reason I bought the thing! I really liked how it changed with the time but it is very inconsistent. I did not expect it to feed the plants enough light but I did expect the timing to be way closer to a kept schedule than it is.

It is supposed to be programmable too. There are white, red, green, and blue frequencies that are supposed to be dimmable. They do not dim. It has on and off mode. When I choose a specific color then hit the up and down buttons to dim them, the light blinks with no light intensity change then turns off. I do these adjustments in the middle of the night so I can see the changes more dramatically, if it were to change light intensity. The only reason it has two stars is because I like the concept and hope they fix it.

Well, where to start. The packaging was original from the manufacturer, meaning thin, no patting, no bubble wrap, no styrofoam and no exterior typical brown cardboard packaging. The only protection the lightbulb had from the outside world was a thin layer of manufacturing cardboard, thinner than the cardboard used by Amazon Packages. Upon arrival the box had two piece of plastic tape holding each end together but barely so the bulb was shifting around. Smh.
I said let me open and at least turn it on before "jumping to conclusions."
The light looked like it had been used. No instruction manual, no remote control, just the light. Smh. As if you can operate the features without buttons or a remote, smh.
It flickered when I plugged it in, at that point I was done with the whole fiasco. I'm extremely disappointed and so are the fish. Needless to say if you decide to get this light from the same seller I wish you the best bc no one should have to go through this after paying over $127.00 bucks.
RMA in progress.

At the moment the remote control does not work and I seem to be having a problem getting this resolved. You can't use the light without the remote control. Yes, I have checked the battery. Yes, I have undertaken the remote sensor test. Yes, I have checked the connections inside the remote. All to no avail. Hopefully Finnex will agree to replace the remote control soon and I will be able to update this review with a more positive note.

I bought this light to make the jump to led. my old florescent t5 light was getting old and close to bulb replacement time. I got the 48" for my 55 gallon tank. I really liked this light a lot and it has a lot of good features. So why 1 star? I read the reviews and saw a lot of other one stars due to the light dying after a short time or even being DOA. I like the features and figured a few could have been lemons and they have worked the bugs out. It worked fine with no issues until day 29 of ownership. When it is the 24 hour timer mode there was always some level of light and I noticed it was off. I tried using the remote to turn it on but no go. I unplugged the power supply for awhile and plugged it back in and the light flashed and went off. It still would not turn on. New battery in the remote did not help. After researching the issue there appears to be a component going bad in the light. For the price I expect better quality and a 6 month warranty seems short given the issues people have been seeing. Luckily I still had a day left on the Amazon return so I have ordered a replacement to give it another chance. If it dies after 6 months it will be an expensive gamble.
IF this were built with better quality components it would be a 5 star light. For the time it worked my plants did grow with it.
If the replacement lasts then I will revise my review
edit 02./29/2016
I have just received my replacement light and it works fine so far. I noticed the remote, power supply and box look a little different this time so I hope I have a revised model to fix the flaws the previous one had. I noticed the remote is more responsive on this one too. Fingers crossed

Just opened the light finally after I had been waiting for about a month for me to get the tank set up and the remote doesn't work. Now I can't return it because it's been so long. I've tried repositioning the battery and nothing. It needs to have manual buttons on the light itself so you have the option of controlling it without the remote.
I'm very disappointed. I hope my plants, which I spent no small fortune on, don't die while I wait for Finnex to send me a new remote. I sent a email 3 days ago but haven't heard back from them. The fact that they include a remote troubleshooting sheet in the box raises red flags for me that they're aware of how unreliable it is.