Last Christmas, I received an AeroGarden as a gift and initially I loved it but lately it’s become a huge money pit.   Perhaps I’ve just had a bad streak of luck but the bulbs keep going out in my AeroGarden.  I’ve already replaced them TWICE and at $20 for a pair, that’s $40 spent on light bulbs.    There is no ROI calculation that will justify spending $40 on bulbs to produce a small amount of veggies even if they are “home grown” veggies.

If there is anything Aerogarden can do to keep me as a customer, it is to reduce the cost of the bulbs to no more than $10 per pair.   Right now, the Aerogarden has been sitting idle in a corner doing nothing.   If it sits there for a few more months, it’s going to find its way to the curbside during the next heavy trash cycle or perhaps I’ll take it to the city recycling center since it appears to contain some electronics.

I’ve been wondering if Aerogarden’s economic model is similar to that of inkjet printers: Give away the printer and make money by overcharging for ink.   Right now, I feel as though I’m being taken to the cleaners by paying such a huge amount for bulbs and from what I can tell, these bulbs are proprietary and can’t be bought at your corner Home Depot or Lowes.  The seeds aren’t cheap either when you compare regular seeds to that of the Aerogarden you’re paying over a 150% premium for seeds.

The Aerogarden is fun and does produce plants as advertised but it’s also a huge money pit.  Caveat emptor.