Best Hydro Shops and why

[mr. bojangles]

Mountain men don't need no lube:evilgrin0040:

 

[coloradochem]

In soco try the two stores in pueblo one on 4th and santa fe and one in pw on hwy 50 frontage. decent prices, will sell you what you need. not two much pressure and they know thier products decent enuff.
better than driving to the grow store in springs.

 

[eyecandi]

since I expressed my unhappiness with HTG in Commerce City, I thought a follow-up would be appropriate.


Problem: 10x new Digital Greenhouse 1000w ballasts (non-dimmable), every one of them has a high pitched mosquito buzz. If I had a small garden and only spent 20-30 in the room, no issues, probably wouldn't notice. However, I work in a large warehouse and 10 of these screaming at us for 5-8 hours a day is unacceptable.

Testing: Before even calling, I made sure to test them all on 2 seperate 240v and 2 seperate 120v circuits off different panels, to make sure it wasn't our power (however, 2 other brands of digital/electronic ballasts are silent, no issues). Same issues with them all.

Today at HTG we finally got a chance to take them back in for testing.

Results: the 1000w non-adjustable DOES make the noise. the 1000w adjustable does-NOT. I'm guessing that there was a run of bad capacitors or some component/design flaw.

HTG Resolution: CJ wasn't exactly thrilled with this result, but he can understand that working for several hours a day under them wasn't going to work long term. So he exchanged those for the adjustable ballasts to make us happy.

While I'm unhappy with the initial product and the time/energy it took to resolve the issue (timing is my issue, hard to get out when working 7 days a week. but still took time out of my schedule to deal with), I am happy with how CJ handled the issue, and I think he has a little more info on what won't work for a commercial grower. I plan on adding another 20 lights soon and I have no issues with going back to do biz with him again.

 

[RMCG]

Interesting. I don't notice the mosquito squeal...

But I've ridden MC's too long and have probably lost some parts of my hearing.


CJ is a stand-up dude.

You going to make it to the HTG party?

 

[eyecandi]

do you have the straight 1000w or the adjustable (dimmable) 1000w? the straight 1000w were what gave issues. even plugged em in while we were there to test and hear, very clear and distinguishable high-pitched whine (@15,000Khz or higher). again, it may also have just been a bad run of capacitors or something on the boards from that production run. we pulled a couple others from the back, and same thing. but the 1000w dimmable are completely silent as they should (except for the fan, but that is nothing). worth the extra few bucks next time to avoid issues.

didn't know about it?

 

[RMCG]

do you have the straight 1000w or the adjustable (dimmable) 1000w? the straight 1000w were what gave issues. even plugged em in while we were there to test and hear, very clear and distinguishable high-pitched whine (@15,000Khz or higher). again, it may also have just been a bad run of capacitors or something on the boards from that production run. we pulled a couple others from the back, and same thing. but the 1000w dimmable are completely silent as they should (except for the fan, but that is nothing). worth the extra few bucks next time to avoid issues.

didn't know about it?

I've got the non-adjustables. I don't notice a thing, but maybe thats why all the dogs in the area are howling?

:)


March 26th. Vendors, free food, giveaways. I thought it was coinciding with the Expo, but that is the following week.

 

[HighCreek]

been using HTG for many years..never had a prob with any of the products ! :rasta: got a few 600w digi's a few 400w mags and all run strong as hell for the $$$

 

[Buddy Flowers]

"Mountain men don't need no lube "


oh yea? what mountain do you live on?

 

[HighCreek]

Both shops in NED!

Just be careful if you shop at waytogrow, I was raped buy 3 of the employees last time I went. :makeup

the store in Denver raped me for like $73..i was half way home on 25 when i looked at the sale copy they gave me and i almost shit, i turned around went back and the guy had a grin on and gave me back what he over charged me..i paid in cash so he thought he was prob going to just pocket the xtra $. fuker :harvest: funny i didnt even notice till i smoked on the way back :bongsmi:

 

[HighCreek]

:character0029:

 

[Onespark]

This is a funny thread. I have not been to some of the shops discussed but personally BT is the only ones that have come through every time.

Now a quick flame session...

Had negative experiences with Cltvate and W2G. W2G sold me a pallet of RO soil INFESTED with root aphids... :evilgrin0040:
Lol... they couldn't have cared less. They stored the pallet outside in the summer for a few days and were still happy to sell it to me. Lost a customer for LIFE right there. No need to go into the loss from this but it almost destroyed me. They just said it would be hard to prove! Not to mention many broken promises I won't go into. Cltvate in wheatridge had some nice friendly people. The other locations are a joke. I can walk into an empty store and be ignored for twenty minutes only to find they don't carry "large" sizes of anything. But we can sell you 128 1 OZ bottles for 10x the price... dee da dee. The "owner" seems to be very anti social and surly as well. Just my two cents but W2G used to treat me really well. Something happened and they became too cool for the customer. They only like you when you are dropping $$$. Only BT for this cowboy. They always give me free products, they get anything I need ASAP, they are professional, knowledgable, and ready to fix any problem right away. Class act over there.


All experiences are personal and subjective!

Aww now that felt good... Thanks for the opportunity to vent OP.

 

[Rednick]

I just stay away for RO altogether now.
They gave me RA at a store here in Golden. Then denied it came from their soil, 'haven't heard anything like that from Colorado'.
They are either purposely sending out infested shit from Oregon, or just to cheap to do proper testing of their product, or it is getting RA in the process of storage. Storing outside in Colorado shouldn't infest a product with RA. When it sat outside and got wet, it must've provided the warm moist environment for the eggs to hatch...RA is not native to Colorado and rarely found outside of mj gardens. For me it was eggs in their coco mix. And it WAS in the mix, not a hitchhiker. I should've known not to buy when is was 'on sale'.
:character0029:

 

[IVIars]

In soco try the two stores in pueblo one on 4th and santa fe and one in pw on hwy 50 frontage. decent prices, will sell you what you need. not two much pressure and they know thier products decent enuff.
better than driving to the grow store in springs.

they're both the same company. Decent place so far

 

[mendel]

I shop at ricks garden center in Colorado springs. I like it because it is not a hydro shop.

 

[Inuit]

I've been to many stores since arriving in CO, trying to find a winner.

The Grow Depot - Has what appears to be a perpetual 30% off sale, but prices are above MSRP by a little, so you don't really save 30% over MSRP. Didn't stock bigger than 1 gal on most items, but willing to order it for you. Best price I found yet on a case of RW cubes though.

Grow Store - A bit overpriced. Only stopped in for some Root Excelulator.

Cultivate - Very high on prices, no discount offered. Took my business elsewhere when they wanted damn near $30 for an 8" "Y".

High Country Hydro - Small, little selection. Willing to order things and have them next day. Small discount offered. Seemed to think not having standard stock items on the shelf was made up for since he offered LED's. "No man, we only have a 20' ballast power cord, no 8'ers, but we have LED's and everything else in the catalog...I can order one for you though." Guy was nice enough, but I need things when I need them and not in two or three days.

Mile High Hydroponics in or near Lakewood - Very well stocked store! Informed staff and good prices. Would return more often if I was a little closer.

GoGreen/Big Bloomz in Castle Rock - Small, but moving into a larger space. Very well stocked for the area they had. Nice, non-pushy guys behind the counter. Would return.

Big Tomato - Very well stocked, good prices and good discounts. Will return.

Be safe,

Inuit

 

[Onespark]

I just stay away for RO altogether now.
They gave me RA at a store here in Golden. Then denied it came from their soil, 'haven't heard anything like that from Colorado'.
They are either purposely sending out infested shit from Oregon, or just to cheap to do proper testing of their product, or it is getting RA in the process of storage. Storing outside in Colorado shouldn't infest a product with RA. When it sat outside and got wet, it must've provided the warm moist environment for the eggs to hatch...RA is not native to Colorado and rarely found outside of mj gardens. For me it was eggs in their coco mix. And it WAS in the mix, not a hitchhiker. I should've known not to buy when is was 'on sale'.
:character0029:

I don't think RA have eggs. (edit- they have eggs but they are carried in the adult and the offspring hatch inside.) They go dormant for long periods of time and re awaken when conditions are favorable. They are asexual and produce up to 12 live clones of themselves in a day. (I could be wrong but this is what I have found so far.) I was thinking that the WTG warehouse in FC is surrounded by agricultural land and I heard beets were getting RA infestations now in Northern Colorado. I could imagine a flyer taking refuge in a damp soil bag outside. You may be right however. It is very possible they came from the company themselves. Packaged away in each bag as little gifts to us. We all know other companies have been found guilty of this. RO assured me this is not the case but... Time for someone to start a cannabis specific soil company here for sterilized soil that has been mixed up and cooked for a few months with none of these insane bugs in it. Anyone? Does anyone know of something like this going on now or good sources for clean local products?

 

[RMCG]

do you have the straight 1000w or the adjustable (dimmable) 1000w? the straight 1000w were what gave issues. even plugged em in while we were there to test and hear, very clear and distinguishable high-pitched whine (@15,000Khz or higher). again, it may also have just been a bad run of capacitors or something on the boards from that production run. we pulled a couple others from the back, and same thing. but the 1000w dimmable are completely silent as they should (except for the fan, but that is nothing). worth the extra few bucks next time to avoid issues.

didn't know about it?

Ok, I swapped out a bad ballast and now have the mosquito squeal. Its only when the lamp is warming up and SEEMS to be coming from the bulb/reflector, not the ballast itself. I run a flip-flop and the ballast is in the other room and it was only slightly noticeable at the ballast but was very noticeable in the other room. It did subside when the lamp was at full brightness though.

 

[DoobyScoo]

Well RO denies hearing about any problems, they haven't found which of their distributors is causing problems, b/c there are no problems. Which means to me that it is their problem.
So their genius marketing manager came up with this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g5Hz17C4is

 

[Budsworth]

I am a WTG guy. But we have an arrangement and they give me ridiculous prices. I've moved away from soil, but the last bag of OF I bought from them, they charged me $12. For me, they generally give me anywhere from 20-40% off. Lucky me.

The grow store on Colfax? The one on west Colfax? Or the Grofax on East Colfax? The Grofax is tiny. They have one douche that works there. The rest of the guys are pretty nice. Their prices are nothing to write home about.

 

[IVIars]

Anyone know of somewhere in colorado springs that carries canna nutes?