While browsing the electronic ballast market I came across this guy:

http://www.reefshops.com/400w-metal-halide-e-ballast.html

400w for roughly $60 available in 110 and 220 versions.

I haven't even seen much in the way of magnetic ballast that are this cheap. This seems too good to be true but I don't know enough about ballast to understand why. But for that price, it's hard to not at least consider it.

Is it just a cheap chinese knock-off? Is it because it's not a quad tap? Are they lying about it being quiet and flicker-free and it'll sound like a bug zapper? Will it burn my house down? Is the advertising for the product clear enough that if it does turn out shitty my CC will back a charge-back?

Cheers,
Dave

At that price, it's pretty mush assured to be a Chinese knock-off.

This isn't always a bad thing, BUT, as we've seen with the eVos, this can mean pretty lousy quality control.

It's not likely to burn your house down, as long as you didn't do something dumb with the wiring int he first place, but I'd definitely keep an eye on the heat sink's temperature, and shut it down if it starts to get too hot. (The LL/Vu ballast gets plenty warm as it is, so I'd expect some heat to be normal.)