I'm bored, so let's talk lights. Considering the extent of my boredom I'm gonna go through all that I have used in the past and finish up with what I have now... I'll try to break it up so you aren't reading about lights you couldn't care less about.
I started with LEDS. Given the size of my first grow space, which is presently my "closet" conventional bulbs were really in the cards. I liked the thought of using new tech anyway, and after hearing how bitchen they were in the sales pitch they MUST be great, right?
PLATINUM P300(2) AND A P4
My very first grow lights. I would love to shoot holes in these disco lights, but honestly, I loved them. My first grow went surprisingly easy, luck played a huge part, but the lights worked well in the small space
Well I loved them till I got something better. I used them for a few seasons but moved on.
SPECTRUM KING 400
An interesting white LED light that has a passive cooling system, no fans of any kind. It uses ferofluid circulating through a huge heatsink. During the hotter months I could hook a duct from the shed exhaust to the heatsink and pull air through it to keep the closet cooler. It's got decent power at 400 watts to a "puck" design LED board. Very bright, but very "beamy" meaning it's footprint is tight and does not do much beyond a 36" diameter at 18/20 inches. It worked very well in the closet. Last season, I lost a driver (there are 2) and the light took a dump. It's wired in a way that doesn't allow plug and play drivers so fixing it has become an issue and I'll probably just throw it away. Kind of a shame. Spectrum King as a company is absolute dog shit. Customer service is terrible, which is a real shame, considering I can drive my broken light to them, but they aren't good people
G8 RED FLOWER BOOSTER (2)
A silly gimmicky little light that probably sold well, but does do much. once farther along in my knowledge I got rid of them.
Black Dog Phytomax 2 400 (2)
These were my entry into high end LED grow lights. It's a bit of an old design. They worked very well, but some may confuse them with other carny colored lights. These are colored lights, but are made very well, light output was outstanding (for the time), and the spectrum really worked. My first plants, there were 2, with these lights gave me 27oz. and my first 1 pound plant.
I did have a CMH in between the 2 lights to ensure everything got some Sun. Somewhere I have pictures of the top of a bud in-between the CMH and LED lights. The LED side had a ton of pistils, the CMH has some, but not the same amount. I thought that was interesting. I took a break growing and spent my money on other hobbies, my old car and stereo stuff. I sold the Black Dogs to help buy some speakers.
I regretted that to some degree, but I went on to try HPS, MH, and further work with the CMH.
As for other LEDs I borrowed a Perfect Sun Dwarf Star from a vet. friend. He was moving around a lot and couldn't grow, I wanted to try his light, and went ahead and used it while I grew a plant for him. It did ok. It's under powered, but gave 7oz.
Another friend was using a Mass Medical Rapid cob fixture, and cob lights from Ursa. I was never really impressed with either. The Rapid light wasn't very bright, and the "full spectrum Ursa started at 4500K color temp. I was very involved with a couple seasons and these lights.
DOUBLE ENDED HPS and MH
Sorry, I don't remember the manufacturer of the double ended fixture. It has a very large XXXL reflector and a huge footprint. It was very bright and adjustable from 600 to 1100 watts. Temps were an issue, but I grew some nice plants with it. I still have it in my attic in case I bump my head and decide to use it again. I used it for a few years. I really wanted to see the pluses and minuses of a bulb light. I even tried a relatively old school trick for stressing out plants to improve oil production. I used a 10000k MH bulb for the last couple weeks. I didn't see an improvement, but to me the theory makes sense. I only tried it once due to my new LEDs, but maybe someday I'll try it again
I really like the spectrum of a CMH. Despite what I said earlier with the pistils. I've grown some nice plants with it. The down sides of course are low power, a tiny footprint, and buying replacement bulbs. This last issue is a deal breaker.
ChilLED X3 500Watt (2)
These lights are still pretty new to me. I've had them for a little more than a season. They are amazing and would put them up against anything of like wattage except for the ChilLED Ultra series. Let's talk about the company first. In LED grow lighting terms this company has been around for a very long time. They pioneered water cooled lights, then later teamed up with Growmau5 to design and build his puck design LEDs. They don't pad their test results,, because they don't need to. Their DIY Growcraft, and Commercial lights make up a large selection of various sizes and strengths. They have another series of lights, the Ultra, one of the most efficient lighting systems you can buy. But it sells out very quickly after restocking. I've never seen a bad review of their work. I like to tell people buy lights like they will be your last set. Get the best you can afford. These are pretty cool, and not nosebleed expensive. 2 of my big lights (1000 watts) was less than 1 Black Dog (400watts).
I had to buy a light meter to properly adjust them. They will do 1000PPF at 24 inches without breaking a sweat, and these are relatively small lights for ChilLED. Really hard to see where you should be without a meter. They don't run hot, and have a decent footprint for this style light at 3x5 feet.
But there was a problem. I was super stoked to put these up. Once I had them together I hung them and life was good. But the ferrels used to make the loop on the ratchet hangers wasn't crimped properly and failed ON BOTH HANGERS. My light thankfully landed on an adolescent White Widow plant, which saved the light but broke every branch on the plant. I was pissed beyond words and told ChilLED all about it. A few months go by and I decided to buy the smaller version of my lights for the closet.
While assembling the light I looked down at the ratchet hanger, still in the bag, and could see it wasn't crimped at all.
I made a video and sent it off to ChilLED. 2 orders, 2 major issues with the hangers. The lights work great, and are durable apparently, but fuck their hangers!
Lights are a funny thing. While I say you should buy lights like they will be your last, something new will come along and shuffle the deck. Colored LEDs, to white, to cobs, to Qboards, and now the rail style. HPS/MH, to CMH, and Plasma. It won't end anytime soon. But if we are talking lights to look at right now, seems like the Q board Diablo series and/or the new ChilLED fixtures seem awfully nice, I can only vouch for the later. They ARE awfully nice.