Are these par meters worth it

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Skeggox

Skeggox

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Not to rub salt on a wound since you seem healthy and fine , if I was to buy a meter there is no other choice then Apogee.
I've heard good shit about them. I was put on a leash after buying the 600 R spec so this was the next best I found. If I failed to do better research I'll just pour more salt on my shit
 
Skeggox

Skeggox

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I know the apps suck, they are free. And yes most should calibrated or the user may need to know math themselves to ball park the error.
$160 for an Apogee says you bought used or a piss poor model.
No need for meter at all.
Not laughing at you at all, beside my emoji where you proclaim....
The plants will tell you. Turn it up till they say stop.
No meter needed, just a little attention toward your effort..
I am glad you are happy with the results of your meter, I am a huge Apogee fan for years .But what a new reasonably accurate model cost is not worth it for those with 100 plants if they fail to see what is happening.
Growing 3-4 plants total waste of money.
Glad you improved your grow and hope you took notes so you can repeat.
This is where I feel expierence comes in. I ran 2 grows with hid and they're pretty straight forward. It was simple for me being a newbie to figure out. The R spec was a different ballgame. The dial has 10 settings. There was no info I could find on how much each setting increased the intensity. With the meter, I found each setting increases about 50ish umol. I had no clue how to work my light down while turning up the intensity. Leaves would be canoes the next morning. I'd adjust it to see stretch over the next week. I was all over the place trying to learn the light. This last round I didn't move my light during veg much at all because the nodes were stacking nice and everything looked good. When I got the par meter I was fixing to hit flower at only 300 umol under my hlg. I'm the idiot that needed a meter lol. Because my apps weren't doing the job
 
steamroller

steamroller

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I like the 600R and even considered the scorpions myself.
Having a tool and knowing how to use it or interpret it are two different things.
I am just a lowly Mars hydro guy, without a meter. I hate cell phones and most of the tech today embraces.
I have invested a lot into my hobbies and often entered purchases knowing it was mostly for me and really a waste after time passes and experience grows.
My thread says what I do. The link is my sig in my first response to this thread. Post #5 . At least what I say is consistent............ Forgot you were OP... 🤣 . I would not have bought your meter.
Not saying you're wrong, but will say you're not right and without even checking on that meter or the lux meters people I respect here say are ok, I say NA [ Not Acceptable to those of us who really count and interpret.]
Lets ask @Moe.Red what meter is Acceptable and maybe he will favor us with an opinion of your meter, I know he has no experience at that level as he is quality orientated.

HID and LED are apples and oranges...
Most don't understand LED completely yet but it compensates for many errors IMO.
I see Moe has not responded to this thread yet, but some how feel confident he has been watching....
Lets see what he says, I know he counts the peanuts.
65-78% of statistics are made up, think about this for a moment.
 
Skeggox

Skeggox

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I like the 600R and even considered the scorpions myself.
Having a tool and knowing how to use it or interpret it are two different things.
I am just a lowly Mars hydro guy, without a meter. I hate cell phones and most of the tech today embraces.
I have invested a lot into my hobbies and often entered purchases knowing it was mostly for me and really a waste after time passes and experience grows.
My thread says what I do. The link is my sig in my first response to this thread. Post #5 . At least what I say is consistent............ Forgot you were OP... 🤣 . I would not have bought your meter.
Not saying you're wrong, but will say you're not right and without even checking on that meter or the lux meters people I respect here say are ok, I say NA [ Not Acceptable to those of us who really count and interpret.]
Lets ask @Moe.Red what meter is Acceptable and maybe he will favor us with an opinion of your meter, I know he has no experience at that level as he is quality orientated.

HID and LED are apples and oranges...
Most don't understand LED completely yet but it compensates for many errors IMO.
I see Moe has not responded to this thread yet, but some how feel confident he has been watching....
Lets see what he says, I know he counts the peanuts.
65-78% of statistics are made up, think about this for a moment.
I probably would not have worried with a meter if I stayed with HID. I got the led because of heat issues in the summer. I'm very indecisive and can't be content with anything if i have question about it. There for the meter eased my anxiety about the situation more than the weed I was smoking did lol. My personal opinion I see a meter necessary if you're setting up a large space/ different lighting to make sure you have the coverage you need. I agree with you that I will probably not pick this up after one more grow and it will sit in my closet. But the knowledge I got from it is worth the $160 regardless if it's acceptable or not. I can vouch that it does what it needs to when yeilds/quality are compared with previous harvest. Win win in my book
 
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Skeggox

Skeggox

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I would like to know what sets the 2 brands appart. Why one is more reputable when I walk out with mine to the sun and it reads 2000-2100 umol off my porch with clouds rolling by. It's gotta be pretty close
 
steamroller

steamroller

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None compare to Apogee, regardless of the lack of respect to patent laws in China.
They manufacture many products for less, and some are very cost effective.
Not all are quality orientated honestly as the market they sell to look at $ before quality.
Just my guess after being one of the weakest links in this society since 1965.[ people are cheap many times and make few large purchases compared to the amount of junk they invest in]
Have you ever given Dr. Bruce Bugbee an ear? He talks light and meters with a little knowledge/degrees.
@Shaded_One introduced me to him...
 
Skeggox

Skeggox

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I did notice when I was turning up my light that the last 3 settings didn't increase the intensity. If I remember correctly when I was looking at leds. Some branss stated that after a certain point on the dimmer you get into different spectrum. Is that the case with the hlg?
None compare to Apogee, regardless of the lack of respect to patent laws in China.
They manufacture many products for less, and some are very cost effective.
Not all are quality orientated honestly as the market they sell to look at $ before quality.
Just my guess after being one of the weakest links in this society since 1965.[ people are cheap many times and make few large purchases compared to the amount of junk they invest in]
Have you ever given Dr. Bruce Bugbee an ear? He talks light and meters with a little knowledge/degrees.
@Shaded_One introduced me to him...
I have seen some of his stuff. I'll be sure to dive a little deeper.
 
Skeggox

Skeggox

224
63
I would like to know what sets the 2 brands appart. Why one is more reputable when I walk out with mine to the sun and it reads 2000-2100 umol off my porch with clouds rolling by. It's gotta be pretty close
I didn't even consider China. Fuckers
 
Skeggox

Skeggox

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I have noticed one thing with my hlg. And I've read that some brand of leds are this way because once you past a certain point on the dimmer you get into a different spectrum and doesn't necessarily increase the intensity. But the last 3 settings on the dimmer doesn't increase the intensity on mine. Has anyone else checked a 600 r spec with a meter and noticed this? Was wondering if the dimmer needs replaced being it is a refurbished light. Or is the last few settings just adding a different spectrum. The info I've found doesn't elaborate on this with hlg
 
Shaded_One

Shaded_One

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I have noticed one thing with my hlg. And I've read that some brand of leds are this way because once you past a certain point on the dimmer you get into a different spectrum and doesn't necessarily increase the intensity. But the last 3 settings on the dimmer doesn't increase the intensity on mine. Has anyone else checked a 600 r spec with a meter and noticed this? Was wondering if the dimmer needs replaced being it is a refurbished light. Or is the last few settings just adding a different spectrum. The info I've found doesn't elaborate on this with hlg

There's more than one way to dim a light! Just increase the distance between the canopy and the light :) I run my LED's at full blast unless heat becomes and issue, and then I just use distance to control the intensity. I use a cheapo LED lux meter to give me a ballpark range every week or two and then I just watch for the canoe/taco effect on the top leaves.
 
Blastfact

Blastfact

756
143
I would have given my left nut to have my Apogee MQ-610 years ago. All that fuss around with lux, foot, candle meters and all the hard learned and yes sometimes failed grows learning to read lighting would have been worth it at $2k purchase price. We didn't have the net back in those days. We had general ag books, High Times if you could get it and few news letters and old veteran growers that did not like sharing because of various reasons and it took a damn hard vetting to even get to meet the super star growers. Not to mention in most states a 20 year to life sentence for growing. I'm old enough and been at this long enough when the same dumbass battle raged over PH. PH was for swimming pools and burning eye balls,,,, not plants! Never mind the local ag extension office would test your soil and offer insight to PH and how to work with it. But that carried a risk of arrest and prosecution because most ag agents and offices were anti weed. And PH meters were friggen expensive and only used in labs and boiler rooms back then. What got me to my Apogee meter was Photone and a few other apps that were in fact complete crap! Then I found out about the Apogee Clear Sky Calculator website. I used it to calibrate Photone on my iPhone 13 Pro Max and the wifes Sammy Ultra22. Both flagship devices. iPhone with diffuser was PPFD high and the U22 was 200 PPFD low. Well that wasn't worth a damn. So calibrate them to Clear Sky and all was fine until you rebooted the phones and there out again. So I bit the bullet and bought the new Apogee meter. And the phones still wouldn't hold calibration. They have since pushed out a update and now both phones hold a calibration be it against the Apogee meter or the Clear Sky Calculator. But using my iPhone is a pain in the ass because I have to take it out of it's case and use a diffuser. Or I get bad readings. And I really have no interest in using the wifes phone. Even Apogee tells consumers if they care to read to check there meters against the Clear Sky website.
 
Skeggox

Skeggox

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There's more than one way to dim a light! Just increase the distance between the canopy and the light :) I run my LED's at full blast unless heat becomes and issue, and then I just use distance to control the intensity. I use a cheapo LED lux meter to give me a ballpark range every week or two and then I just watch for the canoe/taco effect on the top leaves.
I'm not talking about dimming my light. The last 3 settings on my R spec doesn't increase intensity. Asking people that run hlg if they have a meter and notice the same thing.
 
freezeland2

freezeland2

3,421
263
I would have given my left nut to have my Apogee MQ-610 years ago. All that fuss around with lux, foot, candle meters and all the hard learned and yes sometimes failed grows learning to read lighting would have been worth it at $2k purchase price. We didn't have the net back in those days. We had general ag books, High Times if you could get it and few news letters and old veteran growers that did not like sharing because of various reasons and it took a damn hard vetting to even get to meet the super star growers. Not to mention in most states a 20 year to life sentence for growing. I'm old enough and been at this long enough when the same dumbass battle raged over PH. PH was for swimming pools and burning eye balls,,,, not plants! Never mind the local ag extension office would test your soil and offer insight to PH and how to work with it. But that carried a risk of arrest and prosecution because most ag agents and offices were anti weed. And PH meters were friggen expensive and only used in labs and boiler rooms back then. What got me to my Apogee meter was Photone and a few other apps that were in fact complete crap! Then I found out about the Apogee Clear Sky Calculator website. I used it to calibrate Photone on my iPhone 13 Pro Max and the wifes Sammy Ultra22. Both flagship devices. iPhone with diffuser was PPFD high and the U22 was 200 PPFD low. Well that wasn't worth a damn. So calibrate them to Clear Sky and all was fine until you rebooted the phones and there out again. So I bit the bullet and bought the new Apogee meter. And the phones still wouldn't hold calibration. They have since pushed out a update and now both phones hold a calibration be it against the Apogee meter or the Clear Sky Calculator. But using my iPhone is a pain in the ass because I have to take it out of it's case and use a diffuser. Or I get bad readings. And I really have no interest in using the wifes phone. Even Apogee tells consumers if they care to read to check there meters against the Clear Sky website.
I have been resisting replying to this thread as I too have an Apogee. I use it everyday and have 3 plants beginning flowering. They are two different strains so I have them in two separate spaces. What I find useful with my apogee and has been very educational is the correlation between the response to lighting and vpd. There are days when the plants want more light, and other days less light. And vpd plays a huge role in that. I have been recording my ppfd readings and vpd when I have the leafs presenting flat. When I see or intentionally make changes in vpd I have recorded readings so I know exactly what intensity I need to set the light at. It’s amazing to watch the plants respond. Before it was all guess work, not now.
 
Skeggox

Skeggox

224
63
There's more than one way to dim a light! Just increase the distance between the canopy and the light :) I run my LED's at full blast unless heat becomes and issue, and then I just use distance to control the intensity. I use a cheapo LED lux meter to give me a ballpark range every week or two and then I just watch for the canoe/taco effect on the top leaves.
Some brands state you only change Spectrum after you crank the light so high. It only gets so intense untill the last settings change spectrum not intensity. Is hlg like this is my question. Not how to dim
 
Shaded_One

Shaded_One

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I'm not talking about dimming my light. The last 3 settings on my R spec doesn't increase intensity. Asking people that run hlg if they have a meter and notice the same thing.

you don't even visually see an increase in light produced? your dimmer might be busted if that's the case but maybe some other R spec owners can chime in on what the switch seems to do.

AFAIK there are no HLG products that alter light spectrum produced but I may be misinformed.
 
Skeggox

Skeggox

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63
you don't even visually see an increase in light produced? your dimmer might be busted if that's the case but maybe some other R spec owners can chime in on what the switch seems to do.

AFAIK there are no HLG products that alter light spectrum produced but I may be misinformed.
Yes I seen the increase and watch my meter climb 50+ umol untill I hit the 7th setting. 8 9 and 10 changed nothing.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Yes I seen the increase and watch my meter climb 50+ umol untill I hit the 7th setting. 8 9 and 10 changed nothing.
Because a par meter is not a quantum meter and does not measure light outside of the par spectrum like infrared and UV
 

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