Cheap 400W HPS's Way Cheaper then HTGsupply for a Superior Product

I agree with this being a great deal for a beginner. However, if the beginer has more time than money he/she could peice a setup together and/or make some parts on their own.

This ballast is magnetic so it will only work on a HPS but it is a great price @ $36.30 shipped.

A Mogul socket can be bought for $6.90 shipped

A low price HPS bulb can be found for $15-20 shipped.

I made my "batwing" relfector from a piece of HVAC sheet metal from a local "home improvement store" for about $10.00

All the wiring was a hacked up extension cord that costed about $4.00.

So with it all said and done a whole HPS setup can be done with a little time and less than $80.00.

And im sure many will b1tch and moan about quality and reliability but the whole reason the OP started this is to find the least expensive way to get started on a grow for a beginner.

So you can say that HTG sells shit, though you have no first hand knowledge? interesting.... Should i take your word, or the word of over 100k 5 star feedbacks?

I linked you a great 400W deal that was $189 with shipping, with a warranty.....

A conversion bulb is similarly priced, so why not? What happens when the igniter in your ballast decides to quit firing MH bulbs? I prefer mine in the bulb.... if it blows, I send the bulb back. the fact that the bulb can be used in any hood is a plus, not a detriment.

And why do you think HTG has such a loyal following? It didn't come from luck or hope.... it came from offering guarantees, fast shipping, quality merchandise that they personally back. If I only had $150 tops to buy a 400 watt system, I might consider the one you linked. But knowing what i know, I will spend the extra money and gain piece of mind in my purchase... I know i can send it back, I know it has a warranty, even on the bulb. Can you say that? What will you do when/if your ignitor fails or the bulb blows in 2 weeks? Who will you call?

You get what you pay for. Your deal is great in price... I hope it fulfills what you want it to do.

dajosh42069 said:

Lights all hooked up, actually runs cooler then my CFL's. It runs great, the ballast is small, very small, and works like a charm.

I'm SURE the bulb is cheap, but the rest of it is good. And I don't need to own a piece of shit HTG to know that it's a piece of shit. I know that a lot of people swear by them, but I just don't see it. I've never found anything from them that I couldn't find better, and cheaper somewhere else.

On the HTG website, the CHEAPEST HPS with Digital ballast is more expensive then the one I got, and it's only 250W's, the 400's are closer to 300 bucks. I got mine ordered, and shipped complete for HALF that price.
Can't argue with results...

Nothing you've told me about HTG justified the paying twice as much for an inferior product.
Why would you buy a MH Conversion bulb when you can just use a NORMAL MH BULB???

I realize it's blasphemy to talk bad about the almighty HTGsupply, but I just don't find any of their products to be worth the prices they charge for them.
And as Gastanker said, Customer service is all well and good and all, but if it's just a badly made ballast or product, then being able to reach them isn't really all that useful...

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Serapis said:

How can the OP claim that this is a much better product? He hadn't even owned one at the time of the posting.... And he is comparing it to what HTG combo? And good luck with that bulb and ballast.... I'd much rather spend the extra few dollars and get an HTG bulb with a warranty. HTG also has excellent customer service and they ship from 5 different locations. The ACTUAL price before shipping is also $152.99, not 139 as posted. If you go with the super saver free shipping, prepare to wait up to 10 days to receive it. For those that have read high times and know that digital-switchable ballasts can kill your bulbs prematurely, HTG has a great deal on a name brand, not a knock off, cool tube 6 with a magnetic ballast and free shipping, with a HTG HPS PLUS bulb. http://cgi.ebay.com/400-watt-HPS-GROW-LIGHT-400w-COOL-TUBE-GLASS-REFLECTOR-/390100001652?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ad3c5a374

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HTG's similar deal is $240 total with shipping. Today, the Amazon deal is $155 total with 2 day shipping. HTG sold me a 400W digital greenhouse ballast and bulb combo once that nearly started a fire. I don't believe HTG's equipment is UL listed, like the one OP is talking about.

BTW, they now make digital bulbs for digital ballasts, so no more worrying about non-compatibility.

I am however concerned that OP's ballast deal doesn't seem to have a brand name, and could be of inferior quality. If the UL listing on the OP's ballast is genuine, wouldn't that mean it should be as safe as your tv, etc.? HTG's ballast was completely blank of any official power ratings.

dajosh42069 said:

Lights all hooked up, actually runs cooler then my CFL's. It runs great, the ballast is small, very small, and works like a charm.

I'm SURE the bulb is cheap, but the rest of it is good. And I don't need to own a piece of shit HTG to know that it's a piece of shit. I know that a lot of people swear by them, but I just don't see it. I've never found anything from them that I couldn't find better, and cheaper somewhere else.

On the HTG website, the CHEAPEST HPS with Digital ballast is more expensive then the one I got, and it's only 250W's, the 400's are closer to 300 bucks. I got mine ordered, and shipped complete for HALF that price.
Can't argue with results...

Nothing you've told me about HTG justified the paying twice as much for an inferior product.
Why would you buy a MH Conversion bulb when you can just use a NORMAL MH BULB???

I realize it's blasphemy to talk bad about the almighty HTGsupply, but I just don't find any of their products to be worth the prices they charge for them.
And as Gastanker said, Customer service is all well and good and all, but if it's just a badly made ballast or product, then being able to reach them isn't really all that useful...

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They had a $70 something 150 HPS digital ballast, hood, and bulb. I still use it from a couple years back. I would trust HTG's magnetic ballasts only, from my experience.

Serapis said:

And why do you think HTG has such a loyal following? It didn't come from luck or hope.... it came from offering guarantees, fast shipping, quality merchandise that they personally back.

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Their "quality merchandise" nearly started a fire. However, they did send me a higher priced name brand bulb when I sent the burnt and melted one back. So, you are correct on the service. Kind of anyway. I had to call back 3 times to get it all straight.

Anyone with a HTG electronic ballast and a HTG MH bulb, a test. You may not want to do this as it could be dangerous, but so could not knowing if you're not home.

Simulate a brown out by flicking the power off and back on real quick. When it tries to re-ignite the HTG MH bulb, mine resembled an arc welder's torch, and sounded like marbles were hitting the inside of the glass until I yanked out the cord. It melted the inside of the bulb and had black soot all inside. If I wasn't home, it almost certainly would have burned through the bulb's outer glass casing, and then, who knows what.

Ok, done posting now. Sorry for hijacking, OP.

I took a look at my HTG ballast today - no UL or CE stamp. Just says made in China.

this is hillarious, i was googling like hell to find some info on that setup and i gave up.. then i just stumbled upon this.

well i ordered the 600 watt version of what the OP posted, and since ive got amazon prime it was 2 day free shipping. 200 bucks total.

It came un broken, and pretty decently packaged. The glass cooltube is heavy duty and nice.
I have not fired this thing up yet because I am not ready to. Im still building my cab.

The ballast is what concerns me. Im usually one to throw down the money for the quality product but the price of this setup was right for me. The ballast is big. It has an official Ul listing sticker on it, as well as CE certified. it also has all the voltage info and stuff on it.
Initially I am impressed, but I want to be certain this ballast is safe since my cab is solid wood. Im still trying to figure out a way to put the ballast somewhere away from everything since it has a fairly long cord.

Ill post up my review when I get a chance to fire it up, possibly in a couple hours if I get off this couch.

triedntrue said:

this is hillarious, i was googling like hell to find some info on that setup and i gave up.. then i just stumbled upon this.

well i ordered the 600 watt version of what the OP posted, and since ive got amazon prime it was 2 day free shipping. 200 bucks total.

It came un broken, and pretty decently packaged. The glass cooltube is heavy duty and nice.
I have not fired this thing up yet because I am not ready to. Im still building my cab.

The ballast is what concerns me. Im usually one to throw down the money for the quality product but the price of this setup was right for me. The ballast is big. It has an official Ul listing sticker on it, as well as CE certified. it also has all the voltage info and stuff on it.
Initially I am impressed, but I want to be certain this ballast is safe since my cab is solid wood. Im still trying to figure out a way to put the ballast somewhere away from everything since it has a fairly long cord.

Ill post up my review when I get a chance to fire it up, possibly in a couple hours if I get off this couch.

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The thing about the ballast, is that it's digital, so it outer structure acts as a heat sync (allows ambient air to blow around the ridges and cool the unit.) Without fans though, they can be warm to the touch. I simply put a little $5 baby fan from walmart on it, and she runs as cool as the room is.

But for the price of the equipment, and a 3 year warranty, I can afford to upgrade my bulb, and buy ANOTHER one in 3 years if it breaks down on schedule.
And I don't need to own an HTG to know the difference between digital, and magnetic. Noise, Heat, Power. And a 3 year compared to 5 year warranty is fine with me. If my grow doesn't evolve or improve in 3-5 years....my light deserves to break.

In the meantime, gl with your HTG.
You pay more, you get less.
You sorta got what you paid for.

Following this thread with much interest as I am thinking about just jumping to a MH setup in the cabinet I want to build.

I think it's all been said. But GL with your cabinet, I hope this post helps!

Thanks man. Kind of worrisome with the fire danger talk and all. That's my biggest fear running high powered lights and stuff. Can't afford to burn a house down.

where was this crap two 4 days when i bought my 400 watter with a dam batwing

Great offer man i paid a lot more for almost the same setup -.-

Thanks guys! And sorry super, I guess I posted it after you clicked "Order"...Cause, that's what I was waiting for.

Been using it for about about 2 weeks now, and i'm getting great bud formation.




This is at about 11 days into flower under the HPS out of box. I can only imagine how nice they would look with an enhanced spectrum bulb. But even just using the stock bulb they sent me, i'm getting good results.
And as I reported before, the ballast gets a little warm to the touch, and only because i'm paranoid, I put a tiny $5 fan on standing on top of it pointing downward. And I also purchased a Stanly Blowerfan that i've modded to run through it, I'll take some pics of it tomorrow to explain how. So that if you DO decide to buy this light, you don't have to spend like 450 bucks on an inline fan to cool it. It's a great way for beginners to get their grows started right! HPS is truly the best way to flower and is very efficient compared to CFL's output vs power consumption.
I highly recommend it!!

(Oh, and the only reason I have that 55W CFL in there, is because I vegged with complete CFL coverage, with no consideration to the fact that a lack of LST would effect me in flower, as I (at the time) had seriously considered CFL flowering.)

fack!! spent 220$ on a generic 400w hps/mh and batwing setup...

Guess I should have bumped the thread sooner?

i just bought a used, p.o says a month a half 12/12, looks to apear that way so ok cool, anyways its an htg hps400w ballast with hood and the whole giddy up, even has a mh conversion bulb with it, 164.99, now the hood that it comes with is a joke, its probly the smallest hood ive ever seen, so now i gotta buy a new one, but guess what htg hardwires there shit so buying a hood for it has to also come from them as its there design, bs, so i went to home depot and got some materials and made a new hood with the old one being used as well, the good side to electronic digital ballasts r they save power, but i currently have a sunpro 400w switchable magnetic and my htg is being customized

mcelhenye said:

i just bought a used, p.o says a month a half 12/12, looks to apear that way so ok cool, anyways its an htg hps400w ballast with hood and the whole giddy up, even has a mh conversion bulb with it, 164.99, now the hood that it comes with is a joke, its probly the smallest hood ive ever seen, so now i gotta buy a new one, but guess what htg hardwires there shit so buying a hood for it has to also come from them as its there design, bs, so i went to home depot and got some materials and made a new hood with the old one being used as well, the good side to electronic digital ballasts r they save power, but i currently have a sunpro 400w switchable magnetic and my htg is being customized

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Good deal bro, hope it works well for you. Those magnetic ballasts can get HOT and can also be dangerous, so...keep a close eye on it. Cause if trouble happens, it can start a fire. And while HTG has a 5 year warranty (not sure it applies if you got it 2nd hand), they won't rebuild your house if it burns down . Read back in the thread a little, people talk about their experience with HTG ballasts and the fact that they're made from cheap parts out of china. I dunno if my ballast is made from cheap parts from china, but I DO know that my ballast is UL certified, and HTG ballasts, aren't.
Switchable is good, but but the MH conversion bulb doesn't sound like it would be needed if the ballast was switchable?? Perhaps I didn't understand you correctly.

AND, keep another thing in mind. I'd use the HPS bulb (provided it's a standard bulb from HTG) for 1 MAYBE 2 grows and replace it, as the bulbs will lose power and spectrum over time, 3 grows is about the best we can expect from our cheap bulbs. It's the same with the one I purchased, the bulb is semi cheap, but IS at least 2300K color temp. So i'll most likely be replacing it for my next flowering, or at least the one after that.

Good luck with your grow man!
But keep in mind, that the deal you got wasn't for a cooltube design, and didn't have a decent hood on it either. That + the heat from the magnetic ballast ends up warming the room quite a bit! Since I have the cooltube, I can hook up ventaliation and easily suck the heat from my lamp out of the room!
And welcome to RIU! Hope you stick around a learn something from us, there's A LOT to be learned here!