SunStar Lighting

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radiopet

radiopet

Senior Member
Location
Spotsylvania, VA
Hey Guys,

I did not know if any of you actually use SunStar Lighting down in Florida....We have been using them for about a year......great prices and free shipping if you order enough.

I just got 106 recess lights with while baffle trim and bulbs for $ 10.99...and they are the speedy cans.......install must faster than the normal models.

Some great prices....I also bid a house out using Decorator Switches and Receptacles......they beat the price per receptacle and switch by .50 to 1.00 per device....awesome.

Figured it may help other EC's out....I could not beat the price on the 6" cans.
 
We just bought some yellow, tan, red, gray and blue wire nuts. They look pretty good and are about half the price. I have not tried the recess cans, I think we are using Halo. I will look into the cans though.
 
I tried Sunstar for a few years and found that if you buy namebrand stuff from them their prices are competative but not great and they don't carry everything so you have to buy some stuff locally anyway. Now you don't have the volume with your local supplier to leverage better pricing. The place where Sunstar prices are good is in the offbrand items (gfi devices, recessed fixtures etc) and our experience is that alot of this stuff is junk.

Bottom line ............. you get what you pay for.

Bob on the left coast.
 
BK,

I got 106 of their "Speedy Cans" and I have installed 1,000's of CANS and they look very nice.....no sharp edges and well 10 x's the features that a normal can has...

* Hinged Junction Box Door
*Swivel Mounting Bars
*Easy Access Mounting Bar Lock
*Push In Connectors
*Easy Romex Installation Feature
*Polished Aluminum

And it is like $ 7.49 for the Can and $ 3.89 for the white baffle trim and $ 1.19 for the bulb......

Now they do cut deals.....because I got all 3 for $ 10.99....I could not beat it and since I plan my projects in advance it saved me $ 1,000 just in recess cans when I priced it locally.

They gave me (3) bags of wirenuts as well ( (2) Tans & (1) Greenie )

I price the recesses, switches, covers plates and other things locally then price it with SunStar and all I am saying is I have no problem with the quality...I have been very impressed....and their Decorator Switches are almost half the price and made my "Preferred Industries"....they work FINE to me and I like the savings.

It is worth getting a free catalog.....NO I dont sell for them....just figured other guys would like to know some of the savings....
 
Have used sunstar on and off for a few years now. Mainly used to buy cans from them on a tight or large job. Never any complaints about quality. I was getting 4'' lv lights, trim, bulb for around 24.99. Installed hundreds and like them better than the local suppliers juno at twice the price. When my local supplier noticed he beat their prices. Now I have a lot of jobs with no fixture/device substitution so can't really use them. No complaints though and in the long run they did help me get better prices.
 
Garbage....absolute garbage. I would never buy anything from them. I'll take an Ideal wirenut or a Halo can over their knockoffs any day.


And as mentioned above, their name brand stuff is more expensive than most electrical suppliers.
 
I greee with Peter. Lucky I don't have to be low bid & have to buy from them. When I get to Spec out the fixtures I will use Lightolier first, then Halo, I'd rather pay a few dollars more per can & know I'm putting in Quality fixtures that the bulbs willl not all be different heights & falling out of the ceiling in a few months.
If a customer supplies them I just shut up as the service on the Sunstar Imports will make me money!
 
FYI everyone. This forum is not a place to bash a manufacturer's or a supplier's products. It's just forum etiquite. If you want to gripe send PM's but doing it in open forum is not right. The moderator should jump in on this and close the thread. Just my opinion.
 
Why is your opinion on my opinion, more important than anyones opinion on a particular manufactures rececessed cans.
Why is my opinion considered Bashing and your opinion not considered bashing Me Personally.
If you don't like this thread don't subscribe to it & move on.
 
I don't see any reason we can't give our personal opinions of products good or bad.

It is common to see posts here that ask 'Who makes the best....'.

It is also common to see FPE or Zinsco panels talked about in less than kind terms.

Of course that is just my personal opinion. :)
 
Forum etiquette

Forum etiquette

goldstar said:
FYI everyone. This forum is not a place to bash a manufacturer's or a supplier's products. It's just forum etiquite.
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There are entire websites dedicated to people's opinion's on various products:
http://www.epinions.com/
http://www.consumerreports.org/
http://www.cnet.com/

Heck, even [Lowe's] and [Home Depot] have gotten into the opinion game.

If brutal honesty is not allowed - what's the point in giving ANY opinion?

I would rather hear the opinion of my peers on Mike Holt than use any of the sights I've mentioned above.
Why?
From the many hours I spent reading and repling to posts, I feel I can "trust" my peers' opinions. If opinions clash - good! The more opinions tossed out here, the better for ALL of us.

"Forum etiquette"....I think not.

My humble brutal honest opinion....(MHBHO)
 
I respect the opinions of people who have actually used a product. A person who bought 1000 of something and was happy with what he got seems to me to be credible. The claims of junk from others who never said they even used the product does not give them a whole lot of credibility.

I have discovered it is quite possible to get very high quality products at very attractive prices off the Internet. It is also possible to get junk. But both situations are also possible at any store.

using Internet pricing as leverage with your normal suppliers is an interesting idea.

BTW, I understand that American Express has some kind of program where they will match any printed price if bought on their card. They won't match Internet only prices any more, but if you have a local ad paper you can show them, and you buy the product at another retailer and pay more, they will make up the difference. I don't know if it covers business supplies though.

On price leverage. A couple weeks ago an outside lamp died at a club I belong to. The bulb was not the problem so we just bought a replacement fixture. The supply house told our guy almost $200. I emailed them and told him I wanted a better deal. For the time spent emailing them, they knocked $50 off the price. I do have some clout with this particular supply house (the company I work for does a lot of business with them) but it tells you what the margins are on some of these things. They want your business and would rather sell for a little less than lose it.
 
77,

I didn't mean to infer that my opinion counted more than yours however, to the best of my knowledge it has always been a forum etiquette (as far back as the archived posts) not to bash a manufacturer's product. Now, If Bob Badger, as moderator, wants to change that it's OK with me. I have had experiences with a wealth of products that I truly believe are pure and unadultrated horse manure that manufacturers push on the market at the lowest cost possible.. In your opinion do I have the right to post them here and go into a tirade about how much I think they stink ?

There are electrical contractors out there, the kind that both you and I are competing with, that use the cheapest possible products, for the cheapest possible prices, using the cheapest possible unsupervised labor force to install electrical systems that we both know will probably fail in a short amount of time not to mention we are losing jobs by 20-30% of what we bid.

There are circuit breaker manufacturers whose breakers fail more than others (and I'm not referring to Zinsco or Federal), whose breakers wiggle in place or fall out of the breaker slot when the cover is removed, recessed fixture trims that turn yellow after a year, GFI receptacles that fail a week after they're installed, etc. So, if were going to start bashing, lets go all out but let's not stop there. Why don't we post the names of contractors who are doing lousy work so that all will know what we are up against ?

Bob,

Before you post your opinion about how the forum is supposed to operate I would check with Mike Holt (after all it is his forum) or the chief moderator to see what the proper forum etiquette is. If you are right then I will humble myself and apologize and stand corrected.

Regards,

Phil Bufis,
Gold Star Electric
New Jersey
 
goldstar said:
Bob,

Before you post your opinion about how the forum is supposed to operate I would check with Mike Holt (after all it is his forum) or the chief moderator to see what the proper forum etiquette is. If you are right then I will humble myself and apologize and stand corrected.
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Phil if you read my post I made note that my post was my personal opinion.

Even a moderator has a right to a personal opinion. :)

I think there is a large difference between 'bashing' a product and simply giving ones opinion of the product.

If we are not free to say we dislike a product it is only reasonable to conclude we can not say we like another.


Here are the current forum rules.

This site is designed for:

  • Contractors
  • Electricians
  • Engineers
  • Inspectors
  • Instructors
  • Other electrically related individuals
* This NEC? Forum is for those in the electrical and related industries. Questions of a "How-To" nature by persons not involved in the electrical industry will be removed without notice.
While the administrators and moderators of this forum will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. Therefore you acknowledge that all posts made to these forums express the views and opinions of the author and not Mike Holt, the administrators, moderators or webmaster (except for posts by these people) and hence will not be held liable.

You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-oriented or any other material that may violate any applicable laws. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned (and your service provider being informed). The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. You agree that the webmaster, administrator and moderators of this forum have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time should they see fit. As a user you agree to any information you have entered above being stored in a database. While this information will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent the webmaster, administrator and moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.
This forum system uses cookies to store information on your local computer. These cookies do not contain any of the information you have entered above; they serve only to improve your viewing pleasure. The e-mail address is used only for confirming your registration details and password (and for sending new passwords should you forget your current one).
By continuing to register you agree to be bound by these conditions.
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Giving an honest professional opinion is rarely slanderous.

And again this is my personal opinion, I have no idea how Mike Holt feels about this.


 
Bob,

The terms abusive and slanderous seem to stand out. The reason I posted my response was because in one of the archived posts, myself and several others, were commenting on a particular manufacturer and the chief moderator ( I don't recall who it was at the time) commented that this wasn't in accordance with forum policy to bash a manufacturer's product and I have lived by that policy ever since.

It's one thing to say that "I don't like a particular product because......" and quite another to say " that product is pure garbage". In light of that I think we, as a fouum, have to be careful as to what we purport to be factual and what we profess to be opinion. In either case, the safest way to avoid any legal actions against the forum or repurcussions from manufacurers is to avoid making such comments.

Again, just my opinion.

Regards,

Phil
 
goldstar said:
There are electrical contractors out there, the kind that both you and I are competing with, that use the cheapest possible products, for the cheapest possible prices, using the cheapest possible unsupervised labor force to install electrical systems that we both know will probably fail in a short amount of time not to mention we are losing jobs by 20-30% of what we bid.

So, if were going to start bashing, lets go all out but let's not stop there. Why don't we post the names of contractors who are doing lousy work so that all will know what we are up against ?

iwire said:
I think there is a large difference between 'bashing' a product and simply giving ones opinion of the product.

If we are not free to say we dislike a product it is only reasonable to conclude we can not say we like another.

Giving an honest professional opinion is rarely slanderous.

And again this is my personal opinion, I have no idea how Mike Holt feels about this.
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I agreee with both of ya.
But I have tried Sunstars 4" low volt cans & replaced 1/2 of them already. So my opinon on them is verified & documented.
Lucky, I have choosen not to have to compete in the cut throat, low bid, cheap material and labor new construction market. But if it wasn't for them my business would not be booming, in the service end of residential. So while I am aware of the problem I can only bash them to my customers when I am charging them to replace the Import fixtures or properly wire a 3 or 4way switch after the warranty is out.
Gold, start your own post about any of this! It will be agood one!
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bkludecke said:
I tried Sunstar for a few years and found that if you buy namebrand stuff from them their prices are competative but not great and they don't carry everything so you have to buy some stuff locally anyway. Now you don't have the volume with your local supplier to leverage better pricing. The place where Sunstar prices are good is in the offbrand items (gfi devices, recessed fixtures etc) and our experience is that alot of this stuff is junk.

Bottom line ............. you get what you pay for.

Bob on the left coast.
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Just to be clear about my opinion that some of the products are 'junk'. Some of the offbrand products are JUNK. I came to this conclusion after numerous callbacks on failed GFCI devices for example that never seemed to happen with say Leviton or P&S devices. My purpose is not to bash Sunstar or anyone else, but to point out that many times a low price does not necessarily mean a good value.

So there!

Bob on the left coast.
 
goldstar said:
Bob,

The terms abusive and slanderous seem to stand out.
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Well I made them bold if that is what you mean.

Slanderous is not simply saying you do not like something.

Slander is a false statement.

If I said all GE electrical panels burst into flames, that could be considered slanderous.

If I say I think that GE grounding bars are garbage that is simply my opinion.

Neither of the above statements fit the definition of abusive.

I am not suggesting the forum should degenerate into bashing everything.

All I am saying is IMO giving honest opinions of the equipment we work with good or bad should be part of the openness of this forum.

Mr Holt has some protection for himself in the rules.

By now you must know that the moderators are all very different and we do not always agree.:D

And again this is my personal view.

Bob
 
"You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?" ~ Rockhound in Armageddon
 
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