Why The Hate For Cheap Leds?

[MW7945]

Lol.

Yes. Amazon reviewers have all the knowledge in the world. Forget the plebs on this site.

 

[OldManRiver]

Lol.

Yes. Amazon reviewers have all the knowledge in the world. Forget the plebs on this site.

They have actual experience with the lights in question. You appear not to. Not sure why this makes you angry.

 

[MW7945]

I've literally spent the last 2 months every single day looking into LED lighting as I'm interesting in starting a company. Spoken to 30+ light manufacturers. Watched hundreds of videos/read articles/compared various chips/diodes/drivers/etc./etc.

And I still know significantly less than many people here when it comes to this.

But them folks reviewing cheap Amazon lights. They know their stuff.



You can't force logic upon a mind unwilling to use it :/

 

[MW7945]

All we're saying is they can yield 3x as much as cheap lights. If you can't see how that can pay for itself I'm not really sure what else to tell you I guess.

 

[sixstring]

But I LIKE growing pot. Its one of my favorite hobbies. I just don't need to grow mountains.

Really, at the end of the day, its angels dancing on the head of a pin. I'm trying to reconcile the reviews of over 50 users on Amazon, with actual experience with the lights, with the opinions here, which, to be blunt, seem largely experience free as reagrds to the current crop of available lights. I think the only resolution is to complete my grow, and get actual experience. I may be a timber lights customer in 4 months.

ya gotta also take those reviews with a gain of salt,im sure they aint posting pot pics on amazon lol.plus i have seen people give good reviews on items i was giving a bad review on because the product was terrible,cheap quality crap basically .

 

[OldManRiver]

ya gotta also take those reviews with a gain of salt,im sure they aint posting pot pics on amazon lol.plus i have seen people give good reviews on items i was giving a bad review on because the product was terrible,cheap quality crap basically .

Well, there are plenty of blurple lit bud pics in the reviews. It feels like i'm bucking accepted wisdom with data that y'all aren't willing to check out. So be it. I'll find out for myself.

 

[MW7945]

What data are we supposed to be checking out...? I don't get what you're even arguing at this point. There's nothing to refute between high-quality lights and low-quality. You get what you pay for.

Data and wisdom me away then I guess. I'm always willing to learn something new

 

[MIMedGrower]

ya gotta also take those reviews with a gain of salt,im sure they aint posting pot pics on amazon lol.plus i have seen people give good reviews on items i was giving a bad review on because the product was terrible,cheap quality crap basically .

They post pot. They review pot. But many of the reviews are supposedly fake. Like Netflix streaming reviews. Sometimes it's like the reviewer must have watched a different movie. Lol.

My question in this cheap led argument is do they offer the same quality of plant growth and ripening to create a truly top shelf end product?

They obviously cut corners in production and design for price somewhere. What is missing?

Even an hps system can perform much better with a horticulture specific bulb and a good electronic ballast over a cheaper bulb and old magnetic ballast.

How bout cheap LED's?

 

[MW7945]

Here's my deal. I'll pay for a CXB3590 + MeanWell driver because I know it's going to last. If you plan on doing this for years to come why not invest in something that's going to last.

I know it voids warranty, but I've gotten pretty curious as to what Viparspectra uses. When my last plant is ready to harvest in a week or two here I plan to tear my 300w apart and see what they're using for drivers and so on.

My thing with cheap light reviews is a lot of these companies have only recently popped up. I'm aware they can grow some decent stuff. My vipar's are doing a pretty decent job. But how long are they going to last me?

And the spectrums of a lot of these cheap lights is dog shit tbh. Most of them are great for vegging, but eh for flower.

 

[OldManRiver]

All we're saying is they can yield 3x as much as cheap lights. If you can't see how that can pay for itself I'm not really sure what else to tell you I guess.

And I get that. I get that COBs have more PPFD per watt. But for two times the PPFD, it looks like you pay four times the price. I get that I can grow more weed. I don't need more weed. I need enough weed, of decent quality. The question is, can the last gen LED lights produce that?

I've got one group, with about 50 data points, with apparent experience and photographic evidence of success. 52 reviews, 48 five star reviews among them. Pics of nice buds. Several of them obviously growing weed, claiming success over multiple runs. I have another group, with about 5 data points, with a vehemently contradictory opinion. This group does not use the lights in question. I have my own experience, which is that my last crop was fine vegging under these, my current crop is fine. Looking at that objectively, what is rational to conclude? I understand that most people here have plenty of experience, but I submit that your viewpoint is skewed towards commercial yields. I'm not a newbie myself, odds are good that I harvested my first bud before most of you were born. But I'm definitely not an expert on the bewildering array of choices available today.

You don't need to convince me that in an unconstrained world, COB's are the shit. I fully get that they are the state of the art. I also get that you pay well for the state of the art. The interesting question to me is what are the state of the market cheap lights capable of. There is a lot of data that seems to indicate that they will be fine for my closet grow. In four months we'll know, and I may be a COB owner by then. ;-)

 

[MW7945]

Go on youtube. Type in CXB3590. Enjoy. If that's not enough data idk what to tell you. I'll take videos over an amazon review with some pictures any day :)

You're still missing the point. I get you don't need a lot. But had you not bought HiPoint and spent maybe $100 more tops for a 200w CXB3590 system. You'd get same, if not higher yields, and the extra $100 would've made up for itself quite quickly. I too like Amazon reviews, but I guess if you think that's the only way to tell the value of something I guess idk what to tell you.

I made the same "mistake" as you. I got lights that are "good enough for what I need". Doesn't mean there isn't more to be desired.



Can't teach an old dog new tricks maybe? Idk. Anywho. Let us know if you get the COBs.

 

[OldManRiver]

Can't teach an old dog new tricks maybe?

Possibly, though I don't think it's a relevant comparison. I'm collecting data, performing an experiment, from which knowledge and new habits will emerge. This is part of the data collection, and its been informative. I learned a lot about the COB's and will be watching that space for sure. That said, I'm not about to drop several hundred dollars without hard evidence that I need to go there, and the evidence is, as I pointed out above, contradictory.

I have the luxury of a great outside garden that is going to produce well this year, so I can afford a mediocre indoor crop as an experiment. I look forward to the journey.

 

[MW7945]

What data has been contradictory? That's where you lost me..

 

[OldManRiver]

What data has been contradictory? That's where you lost me..

The large pool of amazon reviewers, which is in conflict with the smaller pool of reviewers here. Tough to resolve that without hard evidence.

Look, I think we've beat the horse. I'll post again when I have actual growing data. I genuinely don't have an agenda here, other than finding out the real poop. I have a grow going with these, I'll post the results.

 

[sixstring]

This thread is like the twilight zone.
You cant teach an old dawg new trickz :)
Any of those cheap leds have reviews from users that have owned a light for over a year? 1 crop dont make a good light.you can look around the net and see cree cobs (3070 chips) from years ago still putting out the dank.my mars panel has been sitting in the corner for almost 2 years now i think,dead and waiting for me to hack some cobs into it.

 

[fatawa]

I'll find out for myself.

this is always my plan.if yur curious bout anything u gotta debunk it yurself

 

[MW7945]

Maybe you're not collecting data correctly then... there's many more than just 5 people on these forums that can back the CXB3590. And I'm talking MANY. Again, Youtube > CXB3590 Grow > Enjoy.

 

[gwheels]

I would also point out a lot of reviews for lights on amazon are from the vendors or light producers themselves. You can grow with any light. If you want to go cheap HPS is about the cheapest and good quality. I agree with many here. If I were to do it over I would go timber frame all the way and never look back. A 600 watt 4 x 4 coverage light would work forever for me. :)

the 315 CMH is pretty nice though too. Wow is that light bright and the babies are loving it so far. :)

And my 550 watt mcob fixture is pretty damned nice too. It came with a 3 year guarantee that is honoured by the vendor. Good luck getting that with the cheapos from china. Or fixing dead LEDs

 

[CallmeTex]

Y'all are being a little hard headed in missing OMRs main point. He just needs a cheap light to grow a small crop for his own medicine. He's not trying to supply fat weight to feed the fiends. ;)

 

[MW7945]

I fully get that. But with cobs less is more.