I'm not sure who you're refering to as a "friend" as i'm not defending anyone, just stating my findings.
As well i'm not trashing you, if I were there would be no mistaking it. The proper (and professional I might add) response would be to simply explain what makes yours worth the $$$. Show pics of the custom mounting hardware, etc. As well you might want to show pics of that stuff on your web page, rather than some photos of a very generic looking light setup.
But since you want to get mouthy, you're basically charging $40 for the lights and $120 for the brackets...
And you would be correct, the forums aren't generally just to bad mouth people. BUT they are used for us all to share info, experiences, which is exactly what is taking place here. Remember it's not slander/libel if one is speaking the truth from first hand experiences.