Alpha Sun

Alpha Sun (including Alpha Power and Sunny tanning beds) are owned by Alpha Industries, Ltd. of Hasselt, Belgium. Beginning around 2000, they are now built in Chisinau, Moldova, (eastern Europe) by Spamol, a solely owned subsidiary of Alpha Industries. They have been in business since 1982.

The most common tanning bed with the Alpha Sun name are the Sunny series. These are typically 24 lamp beds, in a variety of colors, most using choke style electronics. They also have several models with more lamps, such as the AS30 (built for Virtual Sun), Power 36, Executive, Elegance and others. The Sunny and AC30 beds are all steel and virtually indestructable. They use the same basic frame design for all these beds, and the same steel end caps, with only the length of the bed varying. They are all 39" wide and lengths come in 75 inches (Sunny), 81 inches (Sunny XL) and 87 inches (Sunny VL).

They have produced a much wider variety of tanning beds for the European market than for the American market, including the massive Ecotan, a system so large that it will not fit through any doorway, and must be built around. They also produce a line of dedicated leg tanning machines, although less than 100 have been imported to the USA.

Alpha Industries is also a major supplier of infrared cabins for the European market, and produce other health and beauty products for both the US and European markets. Since 2000, the exclusive importer and distributor of Alpha Industries products is UVA SunSystems. Previously, Aloha Tan, Inc. imported the systems for about 3 years. The status of Canadian imports is unknown at this time.

With the exception of their dedicated leg tanning systems, all Alpha Sun tanning bed use 71 inch tanning lamps, some with reflector, some in 100w or 160w configurations. Some of their beds used a mix of 100w and 160w, or different types of 100w lamps. Here is a basic chart of their lamps and a few replacements:

Sol Soft: 100W lamp in the 2.6% UVB range. LSI Morning Sun is a replacement.
Sol Plus: 100w reflector lamp in the 2.6% range. SunMaster Pro Reflector is a replacement.
Sol 160: This is actually a 100w lamp, but uses a 160w phosphor. 5% UVB range.
Sol Prof: 160W: 5% UVB 160W lamp, SunMaster Power Bronzer is a replacement.
Sol Face: 100W two color lamp, use SunMaster Pro Face.
Sol Body: 100W two color lamp, use SunMaster Pro Body.

A quick opinion: If you find one of these used, particularly the 24 to 30 lamp models, buy it if you can get a good deal. Parts are available and relatively inexpensive, and these are very, very heavy-duty beds. Very heavy, but very durable.