If you head to your local Pet Smart, then you will likely see a wealth of Top Fin products. It is a brand that they push rather heavily, mostly because they own the brand. A lot of people see the cheap Top Fin products and wonder whether they are good. So, is Top Fin a good brand?
Top Fin is OK for the money. However, the equipment is more ‘starter equipment’. If you are willing to spend a few more dollars, then you are going to be able to get something a whole lot better from one of the many other brands on the market.
Let’s explain.
Is Top Fin a Good Brand?
This is a difficult question to answer, but we shall do our best.
Top Fin products are designed for the lower end of the market. In fact, if you walk into a Pet Smart store, it is highly likely that Top Fin products will be the cheapest ones that they sell.
As you can imagine, when something is manufactured to be as cheap as possible, the quality is not always going to be that high. In our opinion, Top Fin products are designed for the lower end of the market e.g. those that are just getting into the world of fish keeping. Those that have a bit more experience under their belts will probably want to steer clear.
One of the reasons why Top Fin products may not always be good is down to the fact that it is an outsourced brand. Pet Smart pays a variety of manufacturers to produce their products. While Pet Smart does have some control over the manufacturing process, they are always trying to get the cheapest price possible, and some manufacturers are not brilliant.
If you ask most fishkeepers, they will tell you that the only products from Top Fin that are worth buying are their tanks. After all, you can’t really mess up a tank. However, you should almost always steer clear of their chemicals and their filters. None of these ever tend to be good. In fact, it is evident how cheaply they are made.
What Brand is Top Fin?
Top Fin is Pet Smart’s own brand. This means that the company asks other companies to manufacture products from them and, ultimately, the Top Fin logo gets stamped onto the product. This is why you are only able to find the Top Fin products on the shelves of Pet Smart.
Sadly, it is impossible to know for sure which companies manufacture each of the products in the Top Fin range. By all accounts, the vast majority of the products are manufactured in the United States by United Pet Group. The various old filters under the Top Fin brand will have been manufactured by Intex.
As we mentioned, the fact that Top Fin products have been manufactured by so many companies does make it pretty difficult to determine which products are good, and which products aren’t so good. Things are made even more complicated by the fact that Top Fin can change who manufactures their products at a moment’s notice. This means that a product that you buy this week may not necessarily be the same as a product that you pick up a few months later.
Is Top Fin a Good Brand For Betta Fish?
Top Fin products are going to be passable if you have Betta Fish. About the only product in the Top Fin range that you can expect to be good for the long term will be the tanks. Everything else, you can get substantially better products for not a whole lot of extra money.
If you are new to keeping Betta Fish, we understand that it can be very expensive to buy all the equipment that you need upfront. In this case, you should be fine purchasing Top Fin products. However, when the things that you do buy break (and they will break), then purchase something a little bit higher in quality. Yes, it will cost you a little bit of extra cash, but you will save a lot more money.
For the ‘vital’ products that you need e.g. heaters, food, etc. then we would probably steer clear of Top Fin. The quality is far too sporadic, and we are sure that you want your Betta Fish to have the best possible life in the tank.
Does Top Fin Have a Lifetime Warranty?
This is going to be fully dependent on the product that you are purchasing.
Since all of the Top Fin products are manufactured by different companies, only a few of them will have a lifetime warranty attached. So, just because you have bought a Top Fin branded product, you cannot be 100% certain that you have a lifetime warranty with it.
That being said, you do have to remember that Top Fin products are cheap. This means that the lifetime warranty that you get with them is going to be incredibly limited. The company is only going to cover you against defects in workmanship and the like. If the product has lasted as long as it was expected to last or perhaps was used incorrectly, you won’t be able to claim on the warranty.
For most people, it is probably best just to purchase something new. There is no sense in going through the rigmarole of the Top Fin warranty process, only to end up having your warranty claim denied at the end of it, something which has happened to many people.
Conclusion
Top Fin is a good brand when you are working on a very tight budget. However, very few of the products in the Top Fin range are going to be good. They really are budget products. If you can afford to spend extra money, then do so. In the long run, you will probably end up saving money like that. After all, better products will need to be replaced far less often. If you do buy Top Fin, then make sure that you upgrade as soon as possible.
