I think you get what you pay for is a very good outlook to live by. That being said, I think that can be a skewed assumption in the reef industry. Price in the reef industry can indicate quality OR specialty. Specialty as in its a low volume feature or item that only has value in our relatively small hobby so they have to charge more to make it at a acceptable profit. I think this is more frequently the situation than quality in our hobby. To further complicate it, I think some manufacturers try to convey "specialty" by labeling it as reef or marine specific equipment to justify charging more.
Heaters are a good example of this. They are used across many adjacent hobbies. They all do the same thing. The one exception, most marine branded heaters have temperature control where as most marketed to freshwater or reptile/amphibian hobbyist do not. Sure, to be fair, this feature adds value and cost to the product...but almost double the price in some instances? Probably not. Meanwhile, most reefers set their temps the same range anyway. A heater preset to 78 degrees would satisfy the majority of reefers, but if you go on BRS they don't sell a single heater that doesn't include or require third party temp control. As a result, you end up spending 2-3 times as much. A preset 300W heater at Petco runs you $55 or less. A 300W w/ temp control heater at BRS starts at over $120.
As for quality, I have used most of the major brands at this point and haven't seen much of a difference. Any of the big guys have relatively low fail rates, it just sucks when they do and usually creates a stink in the community.
