buying entire setup, suggestions?

**grassified** · 04-09-2010, 02:27 PM

Cheap hydro seems alright to me so far, some of the prices u can get cheaper in other places however.

any more?

**tat2ue** · 04-09-2010, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by grassified

Cheap hydro seems alright to me so far, some of the prices u can get cheaper in other places however.

any more?

I got most of my set up between HTG Supply and dchydro.com

Both have pretty good prices and they both have real storefronts w/ phones that are actually answered by people and not machines.

Also, once you get set up, probably be a good idea to watch Craigs List and catch an extra ballast cheap as a backup in case of failure in the middle of a grow. I run 600w Quantums (bought new) and a week after I got them in place I found one on CL for 90 bucks and bought it as a back up.

Good luck

**Boston's Best** · 04-10-2010, 10:50 PM

Why you buy at a local shop - When you buy at a store, if anything happens to break, bulbs, ballasts and reflectors are under warranty. The store will just swap you out for a new one when you bring the broken equipment in. By the time you ship out your broken 30lb ballast to the california ebay seller, the cost of shipping and the time spend in the dark will not be worth the savings online. A lot of the new technology on the market is not 100% perfect. Digital ballasts have all sorts of problems. Plus when you buy online, most of the quality is shady. Ebay sellers like High Tech Gardening selling cheap ballasts that catch fire. 2 year warranty? Get a 5 year warranty at the store and a better quality product. Plus hydro stores are there to answer your questions and steer you in the right direction and solve your problems, as long as you don't say anything stupid or shady.

**tat2ue** · 04-11-2010, 12:21 AM

Originally Posted by Boston's Best

Why you buy at a local shop - When you buy at a store, if anything happens to break, bulbs, ballasts and reflectors are under warranty. The store will just swap you out for a new one when you bring the broken equipment in. By the time you ship out your broken 30lb ballast to the california ebay seller, the cost of shipping and the time spend in the dark will not be worth the savings online. A lot of the new technology on the market is not 100% perfect. Digital ballasts have all sorts of problems. Plus when you buy online, most of the quality is shady. Ebay sellers like High Tech Gardening selling cheap ballasts that catch fire. 2 year warranty? Get a 5 year warranty at the store and a better quality product. Plus hydro stores are there to answer your questions and steer you in the right direction and solve your problems, as long as you don't say anything stupid or shady.

You do pose a good argument as to why you should buy locally and support your local hydro shop but if I did this when I bought my six 600w Quantum dimables locally verses online I would have spent 1470.00 (with tax $1598.63) -vs- $990.00 w/o tax (with shipping$1020.00) Savings buying online was $578.63...Even add in the used Quantum I bought off CL for 95.00 as a back up ballast I still saved $483.63 and I do have a 5 year warranty with my online purchase. As much as I hope they maintain a profitable bottom line I can't see handing them almost 600.00 more than what I spent to ensure their profitability.