Here's my take on the situation - so far every LED manufacturer except Kessil is using off-the-shelf LED's that we can buy and install ourselves. The cost for the LED's alone on the Ecotech Radion for example (retail $750) is only $150 from a DIY source like RapidLED.com. That's $600 for the driver, heatsink/housing/fans and their R&D which you can copy for much less. AI units pretty much the same thing but they use few colors and have a lower retail price. GHL is coming out with a light also, which I bet will be using the same off-the-shelf LED's.
Point being that if you're on a budget you can build comparable lights for much less. In particular, if the light unit is going to be hidden inside a canopy - who cares how slick the housing looks?
I've put together one DIY project already for my RSM tank using only cool whites and royal blues. Choosing the colors (outside of cool white and royal blue) to me is like setting the equalizer on your car stereo - whatever looks/sounds good to you.
Now that I'm setting up another tank (56gallon - 3 feet long) I'm looking at my lighting options again. Since I built my first DIY there are several more colors available and I've designed builds using as many as 7 or 8 different colors (UV, royal blue, normal blue, cyan, green, red, cool white and/or warm white). Coincidentally, this sounds like almost exactly like the GHL light being released later this year. The downside for doing all these colors in a DIY project is the number of driver units needed - you basically end up with so many bulk drivers that you need a second cabinet just for the electronics. Sounded far-fetched at first and then I figured the second cabinet would be a great place to hide all the components of the controller (power strips, etc.).
On the flip side I really like the look of the Kessil lights but hate the fact they can't be controlled other than on/off. I keep flip-flopping on what I'll be using but the deciding factor will probably be whether the new Kessil light being announced this month has the features I'm looking for. For me, I'm weighing the simplicity of a unit that just has to be plugged in but offers few options to control the light vs. the ultimate DIY LED setup that requires a second piece of furniture to house the components.
Just something to think about. Glad to help if you want some help with a DIY project, it can definitely be done in your budget and you can always start with 2 colors like royal blue and cool white and then add more at a later stage. The guys at rapidled.com have always been prompt and given me good advice (IMO) as well. I'd also recommend a wide single-piece heatsink from someone like heatsinkusa.com. I don't think you're heatsink can be too big.
