Taking recommendations on lights for flower.

[beluga]

I was checking out the lumatek just a few minutes ago, i can't find anywhere in the US that sells them. But that was just a quick search

Yeah availability might be tougher than I thought.
I tend to look at BGHydro for well-vetted products, but they, too, don't have lumatek.

LED Grow Light Fixtures - LED Grow Lights - Grow Lights

Hydroponics gardening is the easy way to grow indoors. BetterGrow Hydroponics offers over 3,500 hydroponic supplies to help you grow bigger, better and more productive plants.

www.bghydro.com

 

[Blastfact]

My current light setup for my 3x3 is two HLG 260 Respec's bolted together with a UVA-30 mounted between them. Gives me great light distribution similar to a bar style fixture and great dimmer control. I can run them low and close with low dimmer settings and keep temps low during hot summer months. Or raise them higher in the tent and use them to keep the tent warm in the winter months without baking in my office. It's a win for me! I bought a original gen 1 260 kit years ago. The light was so good I hauled all my old HID's to the scrap yard. Several years later I decaided to update the older 260 to Rspec. Called HLG and worked out a deal with them,,,, Really good people. I ended up buying another 260 Rspec kit at a great discount and they gave me the new Rspec boards and driver to upgrade my old light if I sent my old gen 1 boards and driver back to them. How can you beat that deal? Recently I have looked into upgrading the 260 Rspec's to Diablo 350R boards and drivers. HLG has given me a number concerning the needed four boards and I can go with one or dual drivers. Think I would prefer the dual drivers for flexibility if I ever need to separate the fixtures. Name me one company that will work with there customers like HLG. I was a manufactures rep in Boiler, Chiller, Pump and Control world for 30 years. And even my best efforts to meet or exceed my customers needs paled in to comparison to HLG. If I wanted to come out of retirement and go back to work,,, HLG would be a company I would want to work with.

Old light getting it's upgrade to Rspec.

All setup.

Please show me how one can do better concerning quality of product, performance, company, service and price over all.

 

[beluga]

That mess of wires with cock-eyed drivers on aluminum sheets seamed together with a UV strip definitely takes the cake.

I'll see myself out.

 

[Goodshit97]

My current light setup for my 3x3 is two HLG 260 Respec's bolted together with a UVA-30 mounted between them. Gives me great light distribution similar to a bar style fixture and great dimmer control. I can run them low and close with low dimmer settings and keep temps low during hot summer months. Or raise them higher in the tent and use them to keep the tent warm in the winter months without baking in my office. It's a win for me! I bought a original gen 1 260 kit years ago. The light was so good I hauled all my old HID's to the scrap yard. Several years later I decaided to update the older 260 to Rspec. Called HLG and worked out a deal with them,,,, Really good people. I ended up buying another 260 Rspec kit at a great discount and they gave me the new Rspec boards and driver to upgrade my old light if I sent my old gen 1 boards and driver back to them. How can you beat that deal? Recently I have looked into upgrading the 260 Rspec's to Diablo 350R boards and drivers. HLG has given me a number concerning the needed four boards and I can go with one or dual drivers. Think I would prefer the dual drivers for flexibility if I ever need to separate the fixtures. Name me one company that will work with there customers like HLG. I was a manufactures rep in Boiler, Chiller, Pump and Control world for 30 years. And even my best efforts to meet or exceed my customers needs paled in to comparison to HLG. If I wanted to come out of retirement and go back to work,,, HLG would be a company I would want to work with.

Old light getting it's upgrade to Rspec.
View attachment 1287825

All setup.
View attachment 1287827
View attachment 1287830
View attachment 1287832

Please show me how one can do better concerning quality of product, performance, company, service and price over all.

All i ever hear is how awesome HLG is to deal with, customer service must be well above A+ as ive never heard a bad review about them as a company. That's some light ya built there, wish i had the time to build one myself.

Thinking of going with the HLG 350R, photontek SQ300 Pro, or the lumatek ATS 300 pro if i can find that one in the states.

 

[Goodshit97]

Anyone here run with electric sky? Ive looked at the 180 v3s for a while now, reason being is i can get 2 180s for around $500, at 400 watts. Where the es 300 is $670, at 330 watts.
Havent looked to see if there is a difference other than wattage yet either. Just to many lights out there

 

[Blastfact]

All i ever hear is how awesome HLG is to deal with, customer service must be well above A+ as ive never heard a bad review about them as a company. That's some light ya built there, wish i had the time to build one myself.

Thinking of going with the HLG 350R, photontek SQ300 Pro, or the lumatek ATS 300 pro if i can find that one in the states.

I've got two 350R's in my 2x4. May move them to my 3x3 then reconfigure the 260's end to end for use in the 2x4. The problem with HLG is they don't make a bar style light, just panel and petal/scorpion style lights. I know HLG is working on some great stuff to address a few things. 2023 is going to be a big year for HLG. So thats why I'm holding back on upgrading my 260 Rspec's to Diablo boards and drivers. Wish I could say more.

 

[Goodshit97]

I've got two 350R's in my 2x4. May move them to my 3x3 then reconfigure the 260's end to end for use in the 2x4. The problem with HLG is they don't make a bar style light, just panel and petal/scorpion style lights. I know HLG is working on some great stuff to address a few things. 2023 is going to be a big year for HLG. So thats why I'm holding back on upgrading my 260 Rspec's to Diablo boards and drivers. Wish I could say more.

Im not going to be purchasing until after the new year so i have tons of time to do some extra research thats going to mooshify my brain some more
If HLG releases bar lights, those will be the purchase i make, regardless of pricing.

 

[Saul.Goodman]

I ended up sending the Amazon light back. There were too many reports of electrical problems with it that I initially missed and didn't feel like risking it. I figured I'd try what folks on here have had good results with and purchased the:

Spider Farmer Upgraded SE3000 Full Spectrum LED Grow Light.

It'll be a nice upgrade to my existing lights. I'll be looking forward to lighting it up during my next grow.

 

[Goodshit97]

I ended up sending the Amazon light back. There were too many reports of electrical problems with it that I initially missed and didn't feel like risking it. I figured I'd try what folks on here have had good results with and purchased the:

Spider Farmer Upgraded SE3000 Full Spectrum LED Grow Light.

It'll be a nice upgrade to my existing lights. I'll be looking forward to lighting it up during my next grow.

Hey! Thanks for the update on that. Ive been looking at the se3000, i just havent figured out what im getting yet. So many options

 

[Saul.Goodman]

Hey! Thanks for the update on that. Ive been looking at the se3000, i just havent figured out what im getting yet. So many options

Yeah, so many options. I used the code SFTHC and got 8% off, so it came to just under $300. They do a lot on this forum too so supporting a sponsor is always good too IMO.

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

Hey! Thanks for the update on that. Ive been looking at the se3000, i just havent figured out what im getting yet. So many options

I’m running (2) SE3000’s very successfully in a 3x3 tent believe it or not .

Another light manufacturer I think you should take a hard look at is ChilLED. I’m not suggesting you get it - but I think their Ultra Growcraft series is has the highest rated Full System Efficacy of - 3.19 µmol/Joule.

I’m running (3) various lights from ChilLED in addition to my Spider Farmers. My Spider Farmers (which I love) will likely be replaced with ChilLED.

I honestly can’t believe more people don’t talk about ChilLED.

 

[Gorbo]

I enjoy my California lightworks 550, you can get a touch screen controller that lets you control the red white and blue spectrums separately, if you like min maxing with that kind of stuff.

 

[Buzzy12]

I seen this light being used in a grow on the forum. This is a pretty impressive light for $400 and it fits in a 3×3 tent. AC Infinity makes some high quality stuff.

IONBOARD S44, Full Spectrum LED Grow Light 430W, Samsung LM301H, 4x4 Ft. Coverage

Your source to create smart growing systems with components including advance grow tents, inline fans, clip-on fans, LED grow lights, and UIS™ controllers.

acinfinity.com

 

[Goodshit97]

I seen this light being used in a grow on the forum. This is a pretty impressive light for $400 and it fits in a 3×3 tent. AC Infinity makes some high quality stuff.

IONBOARD S44, Full Spectrum LED Grow Light 430W, Samsung LM301H, 4x4 Ft. Coverage

Your source to create smart growing systems with components including advance grow tents, inline fans, clip-on fans, LED grow lights, and UIS™ controllers.

acinfinity.com

Ive been looking at the ac infinity line of lights since they were release on the website and they didnt even have an ETA on development yet. I really want to get one i just want to see some reviews on it first.

 

[ninjadip]

I just picked up one of these for $139.99. (Should be delivered tomorrow)

Stat wise it appears to stand up to the name brands you see here on the forum at half the cost and I'm a cheap bastard.

SZHLUX 400W LED Grow Light 6×6ft Coverage Dual Switch Full Spectrum Grow Lamp with 864 LEDs.

Amazon.com

Some potential downsides to it is that it doesn't have a dim dial. Rather it has two switches that control different bars for reducing the light intensity.

I'm growing in a 3 x 3 and expect this to be plenty of coverage for that. It states that the light was tested in a 4 x 4 area so the 6 x 6 reference is likely a marketing ploy.

I'm interested to see how this hold up though for sure and for $140 bucks I can't complain either way.

This is one of the same brand I have been eyeing
SZHLUX PT5000 LED Grow Light 6×6ft with Timer and Temp Control, Full Spectrum Grow Lamp Dimmable with 1056 Samsung Diodes for Indoor Plants, Sunlight Plant Light for Seedling Veg and Bloom Grow Light https://a.co/d/1M05hgK

The light has this cool feature of reducing it's own heat if over a set threshold by turning one bar then two bars, etc.. off. I really love this feature to maintain temps.

Personally I have never used this brand, but the features and price point are something to consider

 

[Blastfact]

This is one of the same brand I have been eyeing
SZHLUX PT5000 LED Grow Light 6×6ft with Timer and Temp Control, Full Spectrum Grow Lamp Dimmable with 1056 Samsung Diodes for Indoor Plants, Sunlight Plant Light for Seedling Veg and Bloom Grow Light https://a.co/d/1M05hgK

The light has this cool feature of reducing it's own heat if over a set threshold by turning one bar then two bars, etc.. off. I really love this feature to maintain temps.

Personally I have never used this brand, but the features and price point are something to consider

You do know for any of these POS pure china light company's to legally claim/market Samsung LEDs on there junk lights they only have to have 20% Samsung LEDs per fixture. And most of them are low binned junk or complete knock offs. And almost all of there UL, CSA, CE claims to certs are fake.

 

[Saul.Goodman]

You do know for any of these POS pure china light company's to legally claim/market Samsung LEDs on there junk lights they only have to have 20% Samsung LEDs per fixture. And most of them are low binned junk or complete knock offs. And almost all of there UL, CSA, CE claims to certs are fake.

Im not saying you are wrong but I'm not saying you are right either. The cheapest light I have is a Chinese Blurple light and so far it has produced the most buds per plant and the most dense, fat buds that I have grown.

I guarantee this light doesn't have high end Samsung diodes but it works extremely well. So not all cheap lights are garbage is all I'm saying, some do in fact stand up to the premium lights but the hard part is finding those ones throughout the lot of others that don't stand up/compare.

 

[ninjadip]

Im not saying you are wrong but I'm not saying you are right either. The cheapest light I have is a Chinese Blurple light and so far it has produced the most buds per plant and the most dense, fat buds that I have grown.

I guarantee this light doesn't have high end Samsung diodes but it works extremely well. So not all cheap lights are garbage is all I'm saying, some do in fact stand up to the premium lights but the hard part is finding those ones throughout the lot of others that don't stand up/compare.

Yes, 100% agree. It's a Russian Chinese Roulette when you pick one of these unknown lights, heck and even with some of the known ones. Like that guy on here that had 2 Mars Hydro lights catch fire. I have some cheap-o lights, do they work? yes. Would I make the same choices knowing what I know, and that I could have gotten something more reputable for only a little more? No. I would definitely have gotten something else.

For me I thought I knew something about lights in my initial research, but after being on here i'm convinced that I didn't study the brands enough.
But like you said Hooligan, sometimes the cheap stuff produces incredible results. :) It's a chance that some of us take, and some never do.

 

[Goodshit97]

Like that guy on here that 2 Mars Hydro lights catch fire.

Thats me lol

 

[Goodshit97]

@ninjadip
i just look back and laugh about it now. Should've never got another one after the first one burned up. Stupid me.