BehindEnemyLines
- 403
- 93
I’ve been toying around with the idea of keeping an Apogee PAR sensor in my flowering tent 24/7 to record light, DLI, etc.; however, I already have an Apogee MQ-610 and I spent so much money on the dang thing I keep it sealed up in a hard case unless I’m using it lol.
So I did some digging and found a Salt Water Reef Tank forum that was comparing the Apogee SQ-420 to the MQ-510 and they found that the results were so close that the difference was negligible. That intrigued me because the Apogee USB sensor units are less expensive, paired with a monitor running windows.
I sprang on a $234 Apogee SQ-420X and had in a couple days from Amazon. I immediately began comparing the two different Apogee par sensors. At first they had a difference in readings, with the SQ-420X reading lower, maybe 10-15% under 3 different led lights.
After more research I decided to change a setting on the SQ-420X, I turned the “immersion setting” on. This made a world of difference. Both of the units are now giving almost the EXACT same reading! They might differ by 1-3%, maybe less.
I was absolutely shocked that I am getting the same readings from the SQ420X, a $234 unit for “Electric indoor lights/Sunlight”, as the MQ-610 ePar sensor that is intended for full spectrum narrow band LED lighting.
So I did some digging and found a Salt Water Reef Tank forum that was comparing the Apogee SQ-420 to the MQ-510 and they found that the results were so close that the difference was negligible. That intrigued me because the Apogee USB sensor units are less expensive, paired with a monitor running windows.
I sprang on a $234 Apogee SQ-420X and had in a couple days from Amazon. I immediately began comparing the two different Apogee par sensors. At first they had a difference in readings, with the SQ-420X reading lower, maybe 10-15% under 3 different led lights.
After more research I decided to change a setting on the SQ-420X, I turned the “immersion setting” on. This made a world of difference. Both of the units are now giving almost the EXACT same reading! They might differ by 1-3%, maybe less.
I was absolutely shocked that I am getting the same readings from the SQ420X, a $234 unit for “Electric indoor lights/Sunlight”, as the MQ-610 ePar sensor that is intended for full spectrum narrow band LED lighting.
