Vietnam Import Trip December-January

[Jozle]

When I went to Vietnam over the summer, I found really good and efficient lighting equipment for cheap prices and during that trip, a lot of people asked me to buy them some of the spotlight LEDs and other things. I did not have enough money to buy for everyone at the time. I will be going back this winter to get my hands on those LEDs and whatever I can find.

Like the title said, I will be there during December and January.

Just posting this months in advance for people to see and ask.
The Spotlight LED I'm currently using is strong enough to support my 30g hex tank. The size of it is 6"x 4". With 2 of them, I could probably support a 65g reef tank with that kind of intensity. If anyone wants to see what it looks like, I'd be willing to give an example of it at the next possible HAAPS meeting or next month's fish auction near Ellington Field. Will most likely post a video though.

I won't be bringing back Nano tanks anymore since I no longer trust airlines with glass.

I will be keeping in contact with Ca Nguyen, since he is currently over there for the next century or so, and I'll probably be going to ADA Vietnam if I get a chance.

Starting Price for the LED I got is 40$ but there are other sizes too, some smaller and some larger I'll update more on my finds once I'm there.

[moganman]

I'd be interested in joining. I need something for a 4fter and a 6 fter.

[Ballinxalex]

I'd be interested for sure

[Darbex]

Not an importer so i dont know the laws but I would be careful in posting things about it. US has pretty strict guidelines on declaring items brought into this country and paying a fee to bring in over a certain amount. Especially from a country like Vietnam which we dont have full trade status with because of the communist govt. If you fail to claim it on the declaration sheet then I believe its a felony. You might want to check into this before you do anything.

[TexSun]

Re: Vietnam Import Trip December-January

Not an importer so i dont know the laws but I would be careful in posting things about it. US has pretty strict guidelines on declaring items brought into this country and paying a fee to bring in over a certain amount. Especially from a country like Vietnam which we dont have full trade status with because of the communist govt. If you fail to claim it on the declaration sheet then I believe its a felony. You might want to check into this before you do anything.

+1.

[Darbex]

I just checked its $800 is the limit after that the US will charge a duty at a set rate for every $1,000 over the $800. And I am sure that they will round up not down.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/sample_declaration_form.xml

[Darbex]

Probably should be working but I found this as well. It appears that it isnt a felony but if you fail to declare they will charge you a fine of $250 or the value of the item whichever is less plus the duty you owe. For every time you come in and fail to declare the fine will go up, up to a max of 8x the value of the item that you didnt declare.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8690740_penalties-incorrect-customs-declarations.html

[Jozle]

I know about customs declaration. I really doubt I will be able to bring more than 15-20 of them back. I've seen people bring back some crazy things when I was waiting in LA-X and to be honest, I'm really not worried about customs declaration after what I've seen.

[New_Cichlid11]

ive travel alot and if you bring back something that the customs official doesnt like and you bring large quantities of it. Simply put you wont be able to take it with you and confiscated no matter if you pay or not. Ive seen it done when i was in cuba coming back to the states.

[Jozle]

Yeah.....Cuba.

[New_Cichlid11]

Vietnam is still a communist govt and without having set trading policies with the us it will be hard to bring large quantities of commercial goods. If u can do it I'm in for an led just saying that customs official are tough

[SunnyHouTX]

How many watts was that LED floodlight?

[Jozle]

24w

[SunnyHouTX]

For 24W, it didn't have much of light output, might be an illusion caused by the 120 degree beam angle on it. I think it's in the range of 3,000K when it comes to color temp, after doing some research on the P/N off that flood light.

For me personally, I'd like to see something with 45 - 60 degree beam angle and in the 8,000K - 10,000K range when it comes to color temperature.

[Jozle]

Hmm. Well, I will look for others when I get there. There's a whole district for lighting and building in the town I'm staying. If not, I will travel down to Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh city and meet aquarium hobbiest there. I'll see if I can find them in that specification or just get some ordered to build.