I started with 4 of the old silver aluminum ones. 2 failed, and a third was noisy. Being honest, these were purchased used, and were kept in the same enclosure as the tank. When I bought them, I put them outside under the eaves, so that they had plenty of air, no salt and no water.
Coralvue replaced 3 of them for me, at cost, with the new red/purple ones. They had some saltcreep on them, so I can't really complain. I've since replaced 2 of the 3, and one of them twice. It's cost me shipping one way. Some of the early red/purple ones appeard to have a wiring short - nothing dangerous, they just wouldn't fire. The newer ones - with fans - seem to be better. But, the most recent one to fail was one with fans - and the fans had quit.
Like I said, the customer service has been just plain outstanding. In this hobby, that's hard to find. I'll take an imperfect product with perfect support, anyday.
Bill
215g FOWLR... and anemones, GSP, gorgonians... carp, that isn't FO!
"I killed my first SW Fish in 1971..."