Which take-home Lightbox vendor is recommended?

[The Griffin]

I just discovered NPF and I went to the conference at Portland and I had a revolutionary experience there that I am so thankful for. That said, I am talking to a new dermatologist and i need to find a company to go through for an at-home lightbox. Any recommendations? Thanks so much!

[twinieten]

I just discovered NPF and I went to the conference at Portland and I had a revolutionary experience there that I am so thankful for. That said, I am talking to a new dermatologist and i need to find a company to go through for an at-home lightbox. Any recommendations? Thanks so much!

National Biological, even though the order was placed on a Thursday with 2 day shipping, decided not to ship my order until the following Tuesday (Monday was a holiday) with over night shipping. Condering the holiday weekend, and the time difference between here and there, I was OK if the unit arrived late so long as they made an effort to ship before the weekend. They didn't even bother! So, I got my unit a day late, and it was the wrong one. I specified a UVA/NBUVB combonation unit, but they sent a UVA/BBUVB combonation unit.

They didn't enclose calibration specifications with the unit, so I'd know exactly what the output was for the machine. I had to call and request it. When I called, the woman said "It's in the manual". No, what's in the manual is an average of all units. I wanted the specifications for my particular unit. The output of my machine was almost 3 times more than the average! A point in their favor, I asked for the specificaitons to be mailed to me on Friday and I had them by Monday. At least that was dealt with promptly.

Now someone who got their machine from Daavlin got a calibration and a nifty laminated chart so time, mw/cm2 and joules could be properly calculated. There is someone else on this forum who dealth with Daavlin and had a bad customer service experience. I wonder what ever happened with that?

I can't say the machine is superior or inferior to any other out there. Looking at pictures on the internet, they all pretty much look the same (at least the hand/foot unit) operate the same, have the same features. I just felt that the customer service was lacking.

[MikeK]

Hi The Griffin,

Welcome to the Board! :cool: Nice to meet you! Isn't the conference an amazing experience?

Here's the links to some previous discussions about home light units:

http://www.psoriasis.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3936&highlight=edited+post;

http://www.psoriasis.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12059; and

http://www.psoriasis.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14692.

I hope this helps!

Mike

[Resist]

Daavlin all the way! http://www.daavlin.com/

[dlruss]

I am very happy with my Daavlin unit. Even though I bought it used, the folks at Daavlin were extremely helpful in getting it set up and even gave some pointers on how to completely dismantle the thing to fit it through the narrow staircase into my apartment...

[SuzanneT]

Yes, I recently bought mine from Daavlin (I'm the one with the calibration and laminated chart, etc). They were wonderful to deal with, very helpful, and I'm very pleased with both the service and the unit.
Sue

[RichJ]

hi griffin,
sorry i can't help but welcome to the p family. you have met some of the wonderful people on here and will find alot of great info. welcome and nice to meet you.

have good night all

richard

[jolene]

I just received my Daavlin nbuvb UV Series yesterday. I haven't used it yet, plan to tomorrow. Reading the manual, it seems very easy to use. They were very helpful and ready to answer any questions you have.

Jolene

[The Griffin]

Thank you so much for all your replies! Now i get to go about the fun process of getting my insurance to cover some of it! I've got United Health Care by the way. Anyone have experience going through them for this type of thing?

[twinieten]

Thank you so much for all your replies! Now i get to go about the fun process of getting my insurance to cover some of it! I've got United Health Care by the way. Anyone have experience going through them for this type of thing?

Mine was covered 100%, no issues at all. I have Cigna.

[jt1]

I have blue cross and they turned me down completely-even after an appeal.Mine is PPPP on one foot and they say it has to be at least 20% to cover it.Good luck! I hope you did better do better than I did! Jennifer