Tom,
Sorry to hear you will have to be looking for other means of income. These times are tough for a lot of people and changes are having to be made all around. Unfortunately I can't say I am sorry to hear Malibu exiting the stage but I am sure some other product will jump in a take their place. I know they were trying to offer a cheap product to the market place, but in reality they have actually done far more harm to the legitimate low voltage lighting industry than good.
The following remarks are primarily targeted towards Hampton Bay and Malibu products, the LOWES vs. HOME DEPOT brands.
They have provided product without education to the general masses. Any legitimate lighting guy knows that simply telling a customer all they have to do is daisy chain their lights with some pierce point connectors and they will have a winning system is not only erronious but downright deceptive. All in the name of making a quick, cheap buck. I have suspected for years that these "lights" and "transformers" were knowingly designed and constructed to be installed this way so that in 2-4 years the manufacturer could expect that same customer to come back and purchase replacement fixtures, more wire and more transformers because of the pre-planned and projected product failure. This seems to be the case as I always have to tear out this junk, throw it away, and completely re-educate clients who have been sold these false bill of goods.
Every day, we in the lighting industry have to battle with our customers over the perceived value of the products we install and the specialty work that we do. This is a direct result of them walking into one of these stores and seeing some annodized pot metal fixture priced at a mere 35 bucks, adding up how many we specified into their job and then doing the multiplication in their head to figuire up what he "perceives" he should be paying for the "solid metal" fixtures. Now, in reality it really doesn't take to much to overcome these objections about product quality. Simply place a solid brass fixture in their hand along with the "metal" fixture from one of these others and the differences in actual quality become clear right away.
The biggest thing we have to overcome is the psychological stigma of low voltage lighting being junk because, "well bubba, he had some at his house and he was always replacing light bulbs and they were dim and the fixtures didn't last very long so I should probably install some line voltage lights since they won't give me all these problems". When in reality, Bubba was told he could do it himself so easily, and with all his shiny new fixtures in tow he goes home and pieces his lights together only to start encountering problems within months, because no one ever told him, "Hey Bubba, you shouldn't use those pierce points. They are just going to let water get into the copper wire and corrode your system from the inside out!" or "Hey Bubba, Didn't anyone ever tell you to make sure you have 10.8-11.5 volts at all your halogen lamps or you'll be fighting burnouts and dim bulbs, oh they didn't tell you that, well why not?!"
Literally millions of people across this country and abroad have been duped into falling for these cheap, gimmicky fixtures and brainwashed into believing that they are every bit as good as what the pros use only cheaper and you don't have to pay for professonial installation fees when "WE" will show "YOU" how to do it yourself. (and then we will collect more money from you in a few years again!)
Sorry Tom, but hopefully you will realize the problems these types of products cause for those of us who are truly passionate about this profession and industry.