Review of the Maxspect Gyre XF-130.

[Evolutionz]

I got myself the Maxspect Gyre XF-130 and here's my personal review about it.

First Impression

The gyre XF-130 came in a well-structured box like any other products will come with nowadays.

Upon opening the box, i was well prepared for parts to fall out and was astonished to find out that 2 boxes, a black tin box and another white cupboard box resides inside. Maxspect has taken packaging into a whole new level here! I don't have the luxury of owning high-ends pumps or marine equipment but i do believe none of them came in metal tin box!

The gyre sits comfortably in the metal box surrounded by black foam, even the foam's finishing was professionally done and had a soft suede-like material.

Seriously well made packaging.

The manual and user's guide was simple and easy to understand with proper English.

The gyre itself

The first major improvement of the XF-130 over the bigger brother, XF-150 is the new vibration absorbing padding. This will greatly reduce noise which was the main problem XF-150 users faced. This results in the gyre being further away from the glass reducing noise too.

The gyre XF-130's dimension are 10"x2.95"x1.57". The magnet will support tank up to 20mm. The recommended maximum length a gyre XF-130 can push water up to is 4ft. I will be testing this gyre in my 3x1.5x1.5ft reef tank.

Controller

Literally one of the best looking controller out there! The controller has a simple, sleek black design, 2 buttons and a circular dial. Top button changes the mode (Also turns off the device if you hold it for 4 seconds) from constant speed mode, to pulsing mode, to alternating gyre mode and finally a 10 minutes feed mode.

All these are found in the Jebao controller (other then the alternating gyre mode) and i must say im a little disappointed there is only 1 new mode other than the common 3 modes. The 2nd button allow you to go into setup mode where you decide how strong you want the current to be, how fast or slow you want the pulsing to be and the time interval for the alternating gyre mode.

Spare parts

We all hate it when our pumps start breaking down or when we accidentally breaks any spare parts. Certain brands do have spare parts for sale while spare parts are hard to find for cheaper alternatives. Maxspect decided that they want to give buyer a better piece of mind, and included a couple of spare parts. That includes a pair of rotor and cages, a pair of vibration paddings and 2 pairs of rubber nuts.

Power supply

A 24v 3A power supply made by maxspect will be used to power the 35w gyre generator. cables provided are pretty long too.

The Magnet

As i mentioned above, the magnet mounts tank up to 20mm thickness. Whats interesting here is that Maxspect actually made the magnets removable. This means you can probably purchase stronger magnets from Maxspect in future, if you plan to house multiple XF-130 in a large aquarium. There's also rubber paddings glued to the magnets.

Taking it apart

Now, i was pretty nervous when taking it apart to switch the cages and rotors. However it was pretty easy to take it apart as well as putting them back in. Everything is pretty solid with good build quality. I also applied some strength on the rotor's fin and wasn't able to bend the fins even with a substantial amount of strength. Previous reviews on the XF-150 fragile fins seems to have been improved on the XF-130.

The Rotors

Maxspect provided an additional pair of rotors not only because they are spares, but also they can be swapped so the rotors faced different directions and thus, move water in different directions as well. With the use of alternating gyre mode, there's tons of direction the gyre can push water to.

Action Time

The XF-130 being 25cm long, appears to be just nice for my 45cm width tank. I would imagined a 2 - 2.5ft width tank having dead spots on the side of the gyre's flow direction. The gyre's flow cage can also be adjusted to blow water upwards or downwards.

Its amazing how small or flat the gyre is. And yet move so much water in an all new different way. Even the ecotech MP wavemakers cannot match the gyre's sleekness

Here's some video i shot with the gyre in action. Remember to watch in 1080P if possible.

This video shows the gyre running constant current mode at 70% power. At 100% it will be too strong and will start blowing sand around.

Now here's my favourite mode. The pulse mode. the controller allows you to set the power and also the frequency of the pulse. How fast or slow the pulse is, is indicated by the flashing of the blue light on the controller. This video shows the gyre on 100% power at the fastest pulse rate. This mode also pushes some sand around but not as much as constant. I do see alot more PE swaying left and right with this mode. The fishes seems to love this mode too!

Next is the alternating gyre mode. Its something new in the market but unfortunately, the flow of the reverse mode seems to be too week to do any good. As you can see in the video below, at the 40 second mark, the gyre's motor spinned in reverse and started blowing water downwards. The reverse flow here is set at 50%, at 100%, it will blow alot sand up and i think this mode is more suitable for bare bottom tanks or when the gyre is placed vertically.

As mentioned above, changing the rotor allows you the gyre to move water in different direction. Here in this video, the right rotor is blowing straight as per usual but the left rotor is blowing water upwards. This is particularly good if you place the gyre vertically and have them in alternating gyre mode.

Now, we all know that when you place any wavemaker near the top of your tank's surface, it will start an 'air tornado' and starts sucking air in. Interestingly, this dosn't happen with the gyre. As it sucks water in from below and blows water forward. This video shows the gyre just 1" below water surface. It also doesn't splash water as much as a wavemaker would.

Placing the gyre vertically creates a gyre that circles around the tank in the corners, probably leaving dead spot in the middle. However this can work depends on the scape you have, and for mine, its best to leave it horizontal.

Thats all for video and here's what i think are the pros and cons of the gyre:

Pros :

- Revolutionary gyre generator, it could be the next big thing!

- Strong yet gentle. The gyre has a distributed flow instead of cone-like flow from a wavemaker. You can never have SPS right infront of a wavemaker but with the gyre, sps can be placed pretty close to it without getting it's skin tore away.

- Fishes appears to love the flow now, i've never had fishes swimming infront of my Jebao Rw-8 before and now my fishes are swimming happily above my SPS, infront of the waves!

- Its sleek and its small for the amount of flow it gives.

- Great build quality. Comparing to the big players like tunze and ecotech, the gyre here do not lose out to build quality in my opinion

- Competitively priced. Yes its not exactly jebao type of cheap, but using 1 gyre XF-130 removes a RW-8 and 3000L sunsun wavemaker from my tank. They do cost alot more than jebao wavemakers but given that only 1 unit is required, its worth it.

- Spare parts included.

- Adjustable flow to all 3 modes

- Pulse mode does not make the rotor stops completely. Jebao's pulse mode stops the impeller completely and some people have mentioned that this might spoil the pump/impeller. Gyre's pulse mode ramps the rotor up and down smoothly instead of stopping the rotor entirely.

-Exceptionally well packaging. Not that it really matters,but who doesn't like a nice packaging?

-Well explained and simple to understand manual and diagrams.

-Appears to be more anemone safe compared to other wave makers.

Cons:

- No else/random mode.

- In a silent room (Like your bedroom), the gyre can be heard whirring up and down (for pulse mode) if its power is above 70%, below that its almost silent. I've yet to hear from the XF-150 but with XF-130 at full power, its noiser than a RW-8 at full power. But its still alot quieter than the MP10/40. Not an issue if you don't have your tank in your bedroom.

- No night mode.

1 week after Gyre

Its been a week since i played with the gyre and currently have mine on pulse mode 80% Power. During the first day of running the gyre, my tank mostly remained 'dusty' with particles and debris floating around. Thats probably because i had more dead spots prior to using the gyre. I also spotted green algae floating around apparently being teared off by the gyre! I've yet to see a real improvement of Polyp Extension from my SPS, But the wave movements do sway their PE nicely from left to right!

The best thing with the gyre is how fishes reacted to it. Prior to using the gyre, i was using the Jebao RW-8 and a 3000l/hr Sunsun wavemaker both on full power blowing on my sps (mainly top half of my tank). This resulted in fishes only swimming the bottom area of my tank as the waves were simply too direct and too strong for them to bear. A few moments after turning on the gyre, my wrasses were the first to explore the new currents and the rest of the fishes followed shortly after. Now my wrasses and anthias love the flow and is occupying the top part of the tank as well!

Conclusion

All in all, the gyre lives up to its reputation and hype its been creating ever since the release of the prototype and the release of the XF-150. We all know as this is not only a new product, its also a new range of water moving equipment. The one big question here about the Gyre is it's reliability, how long will it last before the rotor or the motor breaks down. With the build quality and how detailed maxspect was when designing the gyre, gives me the confidence that the gyre should be able to last a pretty long time with regular cleaning and maintenance done to it. Moreover, spare cages/rotors should be available for purchase should you happen to spoil it. Although there are still certain features that the gyre lacks but with the XF-130/150 being the first generation gyre generator, im excited what Maxspect has to offer over the next few generations of the gyre generator. Im pretty sure they are here to stay.

Thanks for viewing.

[Evolutionz]

videos in respective order

Next is the alternating gyre mode. Its something new in the market but unfortunately, the flow of the reverse mode seems to be too week to do any good. As you can see in the video below, at the 40 second mark, the gyre's motor spinned in reverse and started blowing water downwards. The reverse flow here is set at 50%, at 100%, it will blow alot sand up and i think this mode is more suitable for bare bottom tanks or when the gyre is placed vertically.

As mentioned above, changing the rotor allows you the gyre to move water in different direction. Here in this video, the right rotor is blowing straight as per usual but the left rotor is blowing water upwards. This is particularly good if you place the gyre vertically and have them in alternating gyre mode.

[Evolutionz]

Now, we all know that when you place any wavemaker near the top of your tank's surface, it will start an 'air tornado' and starts sucking air in. Interestingly, this dosn't happen with the gyre. As it sucks water in from below and blows water forward. This video shows the gyre just 1" below water surface. It also doesn't splash water as much as a wavemaker would.

Placing the gyre vertically creates a gyre that circles around the tank in the corners, probably leaving dead spot in the middle. However this can work depends on the scape you have, and for mine, its best to leave it horizontal.

[surreal1228]

Where can buy it, any promotion?

[inwear]

I can't watch your video as it is private. BTW good product insight from a User standpoint. Next qn, does the current price justify for the end use. Price vs benefit ? As every product application hv its 'diminishing of return', whats your thoughts as compare to similar products within current market ? To be frank, i was moved by your review but without promotional price, i have my second thoughts.

[Whiskie]

Saw it at dr evil's.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[inwear]

DE had a soft launch last year

[Jameshong]

Wow...nice write up .

Good stuff...will definitely get one when I shifted to my new house with new setup.... !

[nuj244]

How much is this?

[asg]

yo bro. Good detail review. But video cannot see ah.

Just one question, in the absence, can we change to any alternate mode on timer or have to do it manually?

[Evolutionz]

Where can buy it, any promotion?

Can get from Delightings, promotion have to ask Dr Evil himself!

I can't watch your video as it is private. BTW good product insight from a User standpoint. Next qn, does the current price justify for the end use. Price vs benefit ? As every product application hv its 'diminishing of return', whats your thoughts as compare to similar products within current market ? To be frank, i was moved by your review but without promotional price, i have my second thoughts.

Thanks for the highlight, already published all the videos already. The gyre was actually priced in between jebao and ecotech's wavemaker, im not sure how much does tunze cost (in total inclusive of controllers) but i do believe the gyre will still turns out to be cheaper. The gyre XF-130 moves a total of 2300g/hr (9200l/hr) of water so a single unit is actually sufficient for tanks up to 4ft long. Take my tank for example, for the flow im achieve with the gyre, i will need either :

-3x RW-4

-2x RW-8

-2x MP40

Yes, the jebao will still turns out to be cheaper but comparing to the ecotech here, the gyre will save you alot of money. However, all the jebao wavemakers i've used (WP series) have died within 1 year of service. If this gyre can last as long as what ecotech/Tunze will and maintain it's quietness, i'd say we got ourself a winner here.

Wow...nice write up .

Good stuff...will definitely get one when I shifted to my new house with new setup.... !

Thanks bro! I see you're looking for a similar tank size as me right? A single gyre will do the job!

How much is this?

Right now its close to 6 blue notes. Best to consult Dr evil from Delightings for pricing.

yo bro. Good detail review. But video cannot see ah.

Just one question, in the absence, can we change to any alternate mode on timer or have to do it manually?

Video publish liao!

The alternating gyre mode works in this way where it alternates between 2m, 5m, 10m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 4h, 6h, and 12h. Unfortunately these are fixed and i am not able to switch the modes as and when i liked to. I would only suggest using alternating gyre mode if you uses more then 1 gyre or had it placed vertically.

[kenyee]

Nice review bro..I m a happy user of the maxspect gyre XF-150..the only test now is its durability n only time can tell

[Ken_ng]

Thanks for the thorough and great review! This really is revolutionary

[Evolutionz]

Nice review bro..I m a happy user of the maxspect gyre XF-150..the only test now is its durability n only time can tell

Thanks! Indeed, luckily there's 1 year warranty on it and im pretty confident this pump will definitely live pass it.

Thanks for the thorough and great review! This really is revolutionary

Indeed it is! its time for the gyre generator, no more wave maker.

[Damianiac]

Wah bro Evo.. U can be their salesman liao. Lol. I'm using one too.. But still havent have the time to try.

[dr evil]

demo at RWS

IMG_1542.MOV

[Zack Chan]

Thanks for the review.

[limz_777]

how's the motor running ? warm ?

[Damianiac]

how's the motor running ? warm ?

Din feel any heat..

[Evolutionz]

This is a video of the gyre in pulsing mode 80%, its been pushing alot sand.. absolutely 0% dead spot in my tank!

[picoreef]

Hi Do you recommed it for a 2ft tank?

[myintkhine]

Wow, great review covering all the features!

[limz_777]

Din feel any heat..

i see , nice