630w Cmh Vivosun Competes With The Big Boys?

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Hwmpunk

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I must admit, I'm impressed with the stats on this Vivosun fixture. They claim a low frequency 50-60hz, square wave ballast, same as the reputable brands. Vega aluminum 98% reflective hood, same as the best ones out. And a three year warranty with responsive customer service. All this, for $229. With a pair of philips 315w bulbs you're talking $360.

I am eyeing this and the solis tek 630w controllable fixture. They are a legit brand and I've personally seen their 630w killing it in a pheno hunt room. They are on a super discount right now, $350 with their own brand bulbs. Their reflector, like most out, is German aluminum which is usually 95% reflective but might be 98% nowadays.

Here I'm thinking it's a no brainer for the controllable solis but the lady at hydro builder said they have been getting relatively more ballast returns on that brand than the rest. Plus, they don't come with option for philips bulbs which produce 10% more par. Don't forget cmh bulb loses 10% in a year so a year old philips still runs like a clone type bulb.

So that is the dilemma. Vivosun seems hard to hate right now, only fault being no daisy chain option. I've seen reviews of their cmh claiming they're running just as well as another sun system in the room. If solis tek offered their set without forcing their bulbs I'd 100% chance returning their ballast because like vivosun they're warrantied for three years and are reputable to boot.

The million dollar question is, does vivosun ballast compare enough to the good ones, so that it can throw out higher par than solis tek ballast with in house weaker bulbs.

Thanks for the insight
 
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patchgrower

patchgrower

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i'm running 4 vivosun 315's right now . this is the third run with them
and no problems so far .i'm also running 2 other 315's[chinese knock offs]
that i paid twice as much for with ushio bulbs. to be truthful it seems like
the vivosun bulbs are brighter than the ushio's.maybe the spectrum is better on the ushios.
 
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Hwmpunk

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i'm running 4 vivosun 315's right now . this is the third run with them
and no problems so far .i'm also running 2 other 315's[chinese knock offs]
that i paid twice as much for with ushio bulbs. to be truthful it seems like
the vivosun bulbs are brighter than the ushio's.maybe the spectrum is better on the ushios.
Thank you. I thought vivosun was Chinese as well but seem clearly more professional? Are you running 3100k or 4200k? That's another test I'm going to run since it's impossible to get consistent data on. Everyone has an opinion on whether 4200k is better to flower, or 3100k, or mixed bulbs.

I'm going to do a test with all three, as well as a row checkerboarded with gavita. I see 3100k is brighter than 4200k but I can't justify the diminished full spectrum without seeing it for myself. For what it's worth, my boys grow is using mixed spectrum bulbs and canopy buds even five feet away are looking caked with resin.
 
patchgrower

patchgrower

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pretty sure vivosun is chinese.hoping they last for a while .
so far so good. im using 3000k bulbs for the whole show.
might try mixing some 4000k when i have to replace bulbs.
 
cemchris

cemchris

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Do they solistek have different cmh mogul then normal ones or is it the spacing between them? What I can say about my experience with solistek in the 1000w DE space is they were way better then Gavi's and Nano's as far as failure. When we had the Nano 630's I saw 10 go out over the span of 6 months maybe.

If they are Chinese just make sure the warranty is handled local and you don't have to ship them back to them. Specially if you are talking multi lights. If it is handled locally, as I have always said about 630's, buy an extra fixture if you don't want any downtime unless the company is local and will swap it for you.
 
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Hwmpunk

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pretty sure vivosun is chinese.hoping they last for a while .
so far so good. im using 3000k bulbs for the whole show.
might try mixing some 4000k when i have to replace bulbs.
Have you ever done a lumen or par test, using the same bulb but different ballast brand? I'm wondering if there's ever been a test to show whether different brands really do put better light quality, all things considered and equal eg same type of technology, square wave etc?
 
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Hwmpunk

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Have you seen any difference
Do they solistek have different cmh mogul then normal ones or is it the spacing between them? What I can say about my experience with solistek in the 1000w DE space is they were way better then Gavi's and Nano's as far as failure. When we had the Nano 630's I saw 10 go out over the span of 6 months maybe.

If they are Chinese just make sure the warranty is handled local and you don't have to ship them back to them. Specially if you are talking multi lights. If it is handled locally, as I have always said about 630's, buy an extra fixture if you don't want any downtime unless the company is local and will swap it for you.
Have you seen any difference in quality of light, using the same bulb but different brand ballasts that boast the same technology?
 
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