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GroErr said:

I have a bunch of those LG-LED reflector panels. I'd expect the MARS to be about as good for flowering as the LG's and would not recommend them for flowering. I do still use them and the quality of the build and components has lasted as long as 1 1/2 years for the oldest one I have. But I would not recommend them to my worst enemy for anything other than vegging/clones/seedlings. They do a fine job for that. But after switching to CMH for flowering, I ran a test run on clones from the same mother I had flowered under the LG's and the CMH produced 3x the weight. So yes, they can flower, but you'd do better to buy a bunch of Cree bulbs if you're looking for any kind of weight/density from them.

While I haven't tried the MARS lights. I've tried to follow some grows with those to see what the results were. It seems they all stop short of the final weigh-in and that raises red flags for me.

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my mars hydro makes a great door stop LMAO. it did not work very well as a grow light HAHAHAHA

mauricem00 said:

my mars hydro makes a great door stop LMAO. it did not work very well as a grow light HAHAHAHA

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I think a lot of these Chinese brands would do well for vegging, I'm happy enough with mine that I won't switch unless something significantly new/better comes out.

What irks me with a lot of Chinese panel marketing is their ridiculous claims that from my experience have no basis and imo is outright false advertising. This catches a lot of folks looking to move towards LED as the price points are so low compared to quality panels. I'm sure these panels have turned a lot of people off LED's, a shame as there are some top-tier brands/technologies that actually deliver on their promise/benefits.

mauricem00 said:

my mars hydro makes a great door stop LMAO. it did not work very well as a grow light HAHAHAHA

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ROFL

Regardless, let's take for example this light: http://store.heliospectra.com/collections/bestselling/products/lx602g . 2200EUR for 600W; a ridiculous amount of money for just one LED, but they say it can maintain 'uniform light distribution' for 2m x 2m, if hanged at 2m (6,5ft.), with around 800-1000 µmol/s (which from my knowledge should be enough with the right spectrum - which can be tailor made for individual requests). So my question: can this really replace 4xMars II 1600W (which are 750W)?, and can a better yield be obtained with one of this? Because in terms of price, 4xMars II 1600W are equivalent to one of this.

And thank you for your replies, it's really helpful to have someone to share my thoughts with.

Sebastian1234 said:

ROFL

Regardless, let's take for example this light: http://store.heliospectra.com/collections/bestselling/products/lx602g . 2200EUR for 600W; a ridiculous amount of money for just one LED, but they say it can maintain 'uniform light distribution' for 2m x 2m, if hanged at 2m (6,5ft.), with around 800-1000 µmol/s (which from my knowledge should be enough with the right spectrum - which can be tailor made for individual requests). So my question: can this really replace 4xMars II 1600W (which are 750W)?, and can a better yield be obtained with one of this? Because in terms of price, 4xMars II 1600W are equivalent to one of this.

And thank you for your replies, it's really helpful to have someone to share my thoughts with.

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it seems unlikely that this panel would cove 4 sq meters that only 14 watts per sq foot. most growers run 40 watts per square foot.even with CREE cxa3070s run very soft that would not produce enough light to grow well.(2100 lumens at 0.4 amps 14 watts) many are attracted to the cheap panels because they cannot afford the expensive ones and the price has dropped to an affordable level.after trying them we go back to our original grow lights and these collect dust in some corner. 1000 u moles translates to 5000 lumens. 0r 54000 lux. enough for 1 sq ft.it seems unlikely that any led grow light could cover 2 sq meters with only 600 watts of power and grow
anything.but exaggerated claims like these are one reasons leds have such a bad reputation. I am not an led hater.I actually use warm white led strip lights and light bulbs to supplement my 2g11 CFLs (PL-L55s) but the price for those "good" led lights is insane.

Sebastian1234 said:

Because in terms of price, 4xMars II 1600W are equivalent to one of this.

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If you're motivated to go cheap, I can recommend Apollo lights from seller "Thunder Lighting" on AliExpress. I got an Apollo 4 with custom spectrum for $150, free delivery. It grew very well. In a 4x4 tent with a Blackstar v2 180, Apollo 4, A51 RW-150 and XGS-190, I got:


The plants all received some light from adjacent lights. And, it's just one grow. The above doesn't prove anything definitive. But, that Apollo 4 did ok. The buds were actually denser than the other Big Bud under the XGS. (But, I let the XGS plant flower too long. Realized that when I harvested.).

Anyway, the custom spectrum I ordered was:


That spectrum is based upon Grow Northern's "rebel module." GN uses Phillips and Osram. The Apollo is epi-whatever. Not equivalent, especially with the whites. But, that's how I came up with that spectrum/ratio.

I don't know how long it will last, nor how the seller would handle a warranty claim. I definitely agree with everyone that investing in higher-quality lights is better. But, if for whatever reason, you want to start with less expensive lights (for example, to make some money to buy better lights later), that one will work. It's good for a 2x2 area, shorter plants. (Mine were 5' tall, but the penetration of the nearby A51s helped). There are Apollo 6s, 8s, etc. You don't have to do 4s. They will give you volume discounts.

Personally, I would go with TopLED/MarsHydro simply for the public support forum. I've seen a lot of grows online and the buds looked good. Not that you couldn't do better. But, they weren't bad. As far as why people didn't post their final dry weight it could be because new growers tend to buy these inexpensive lights. They're less likely to have a scale. I didn't have a scale until I'd grown 6 months.

Vipar (on eBay) is also recommended as a most-desirable of the least desirable choices. I personally doubt there's any significant difference between it, Mars or my Apollo.

az2000 said:

If you're motivated to go cheap, I can recommend Apollo lights from seller "Thunder Lighting" on AliExpress. I got an Apollo 4 with custom spectrum for $150, free delivery. It grew very well. In a 4x4 tent with a Blackstar v2 180, Apollo 4, A51 RW-150 and XGS-190, I got:

Orange Bud: 166g (+ 5g air bud) RW-150
Super Skunk: 138g (+ 5g air bud) Blackstar 180
Big Bud#1: 210g (+5g air bud) Apollo 4
Big Bud#2: 171g (+10g air bud) XGS-19​

The plants all received some light from adjacent lights. And, it's just one grow. The above doesn't prove anything definitive. But, that Apollo 4 did ok. The buds were actually denser than the other Big Bud under the XGS.

Anyway, the custom spectrum I ordered was:

7% 1x IR 730
60% 9x deep red 660
13% 2x blue 450
White avg 5116k
7% 1x white 3350k (3200-3500k)
13% 2x white 6000k (5500-6500k)​

That spectrum is based upon Grow Northern's "rebel module." GN uses Phillips and Osram. The Apollo is epi-whatever. Not equivalent, especially with the whites. But, that's how I came up with that spectrum/ratio.

I don't know how long it will last, nor how the seller would handle a warranty claim. I definitely agree with everyone that investing in higher-quality lights is better. But, if for whatever reason, you want to start with less expensive lights (for example, to make some money to buy better lights later), that one will work. It's good for a 2x2 area, shorter plants. (Mine were 5' tall, but the penetration of the nearby A51s helped). There are Apollo 6s, 8s, etc. You don't have to do 4s. They will give you volume discounts.

Personally, I would go with TopLED/MarsHydro simply for the public support forum. I've seen a lot of grows online and the buds looked good. Not that you couldn't do better. But, they weren't bad. As far as why people didn't post their final dry weight it could be because new growers tend to buy these inexpensive lights. They're less likely to have a scale. I didn't have a scale until I'd grown 6 months.

Vipar (on eBay) is also recommended as a most-desirable of the least desirable choices. I personally doubt there's any significant difference between it, Mars or my Apollo.

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many people in the MMJ movement grow for personal use not resale and are on a limited budget.like many others I grow medicine for my SO who struggles with cancer.I pay all growing expenses out of my own pocket and make no profit from my plants. I posted a picture of a grow light earlier that uses 2 2g11 55 watt CFLs and 30 feet of warm white 5360 led strip lights.I covers a 4 sq ft grow area (closet grow) and cost me a whopping $50 to build.it produces 14500 lumens and uses 155 watts of power. my last grow with it produced 116 grams dry weight.(WOS strawberry blue). I paid $90 for a 300 watt mars hydro on ebay (180 watt actual draw) and yield was only 60 grams with this light.IF you are a commercial grower you may be able to afford those $2000 lights but it seems on that scale MH/HPS maybe a better choice.leds are evolving and getting better but my have trouble with their bad reputation by time they become a cost effective alternative.

epicfail said:

@rockett899

What current are you driving them at? I would think for that tent you would need 2 more 3000k minimum, driven from 1050-1400mA. I would hang the 5000k in the middle and the 4x 3000k surrounding it like so.

View attachment 3290185​

As for how many plants, I never really get that question. That all depends on what style and strain(s) you grow. If you're doing a SCROG you can easily fill that space with 1 plant in a waterfarm with very little veg or you could do a 36 party cup SOG. Really just add some more light when you can afford it and pack that tent with as many plants as you can fit.

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Ahh dam i didnt see this response and already paid a fortune in shipping fees for the lights and only have the 3 cobs but i did also order 2 of these babies
60W Cree Epileds LED UV 430nm Blue 450nm 470nm Cyan 490nm Red 660nm White 7000K. Hope that's enough ..

mauricem00 said:

actually the makers of the mars lights used growers at another site as "beta testers" for their lights and discussed the design in that chat room. it seems all these companies use the same bridgelux diodes and many offer a similar mix of 430,460,630.660nm and cool whites (7000k) it seems the growers using high efficiency white leds ( Crees cxa 3070) are getting just as good of results as those using multiple band monochromatic lights.

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IMO - What's to discuss about that design? Do you know how many hundreds of companies make that "design"? And at any spectrum you want? And I doubt "everyone" uses Bridgelux. My favorite are the companies using 660nm Bridgelux diodes . And I assure you your damn lucky to get the spectrums you ask for. And IMHO COB users are destroying standard Chinese monos, especially on the electrical meter which most if not all budget panel makers and fanbois NEVER talk about. I'm sorry but I've been "Lost in Shenzhen" and I wasted ~$1000.00 to find out there are no bargains there and the money I saved on buying a LEDStar or a VIPAR was instantly lost on the electrical bill from inefficient poorly cooled LEDs, repairing them and buying new ones because the diodes failed and faded prematurely. Unless you're experimenting with LEDs, can trust the company and have realistic expectations, don't even bother with Asian budget stuff in 2014.

TOP LED is just a marketing front btw. Smoke Sara is a marketer for Christ sakes. Don't you know your Bill Hicks?

http://buyersguide.ledsmagazine.com/top-led-grow-light-80686.html

Top Led Grow Light
15 Building, NanGang Industrial Park, ShiYan, Baoan District ShenZhen 518108 China

Established in 2009, Top Led Grow Light is a LED company located in Shenzhen city, Guangdong province in southeast of China.
Year Founded: 2009
No. of Employees: 100
Key Personnel: Mktg Mgr: Sara Hu
Website: www.topledgrowlight.com

PSU is right. Don't buy a Mars II from some marketer peoples, get a CMH. Peace all!

(Sound of a frog hopping off a soapbox)

Hi all, does anyone have any journals with the Pro Grow X5-300 or other light from the same manu?

Also, I'm curious about the Growblu 240 x 3 500w (Apollo) as well. Thanks!

Peeped some youtube vids of each and they appear to rock it. And although the Growblu website says the footprint is 4 x 4 for the 240 x 3, I saw some impressive videos of the 240 x 3 with two units in a 4 x 4.

Thanks LED pros!

rockett899 said:

Ahh dam i didnt see this response and already paid a fortune in shipping fees for the lights and only have the 3 cobs but i did also order 2 of these babies
60W Cree Epileds LED UV 430nm Blue 450nm 470nm Cyan 490nm Red 660nm White 7000K. Hope that's enough ..

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that's a great looking COB but you may want to add some 630 and 660 NM lights to get a little more red in your spectrum. that COB only produces 14% red light

Shwagbag said:

Hi all, does anyone have any journals with the Pro Grow X5-300 or other light from the same manu?

Also, I'm curious about the Growblu 240 x 3 500w (Apollo) as well. Thanks!

Peeped some youtube vids of each and they appear to rock it. And although the Growblu website says the footprint is 4 x 4 for the 240 x 3, I saw some impressive videos of the 240 x 3 with two units in a 4 x 4.

Thanks LED pros!

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Can't recommend any panel with unknown diodes......I would save your hard earned cash for the usual led suspects

Good luck friend

Thanks man, any input on California Light Works? Peeping a pair of these as well. If anyone has any experience or feedback on these lights please share. Links below. Some other forums and YouTube channels are sharing great results. All lights come with a 3 year warranty. The growblu uses 3w and the other two are 5 w. Thanks again!

Growblu

Pro Grow X5-300

California Light works Solar Storm 440w

Shwagbag said:

Peeped some youtube vids of each and they appear to rock it. And although the Growblu website says the footprint is 4 x 4 for the 240 x 3, I saw some impressive videos of the 240 x 3 with two units in a 4 x 4.

Thanks LED pros!

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Dont know which growblu youtube videos you are watching....but i've seen a few current ones with blown out modules/ drivers (probably not uncommon) (medgrower1 and justintimetogrow) That just shouldnt be happening at all in my opinion...

Oneshot tested them. Hes at icmag forum. He seems to really like lumigtow and California light works. Both 5 w chips and 5 year/3 year warranty respectively. Huge aluminum heatsinks but I'm not sure of the source of the diodes.

Thanks for that info!

Edit - Actually Lumigrow may be 3 w chips.

I saw a video where medgrower repairs his growblu. Said his temps hit around 95 in his room as well when it happened. There were some other growers commenting on similar issues. The light performs better than most of the threads I've seen on riu so its appealing. Thanks for the heads up on durability concerns.

Medgrower1 on youtube uses both growblu and mars

Greengenes707 said:

Medgrower1 on youtube uses both growblu and mars

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Yep, he Ran a nice head to head with them too. I didn't watch but one of the follow up vids but it appeared that the growblu made some denser meds and a higher yield.

I'm starting to consider an led unit for one of my tents now. They seem to be relevant once and for all. I haven't really followed the tech for over a year to be honest, other than some of your journals. Sharing is caring!

What's the word on the DMs-XL-350 Diamond Series?

Shwagbag said:

What's the word on the DMs-XL-350 Diamond Series?

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Clw's stuff runs hot as they drive their emitters hard for the par#s.....

Lumi grow pro line isn't worth the $ their asking for them......

Dm xl 350 is overpriced Old tech + mystery red emitters.........my question to you is how much can you afford to pay and what are you trying to replace/yield?

Shwagbag said:

Oneshot tested them. Hes at icmag forum. He seems to really like lumigtow and California light works.

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While icmag's LED community is surely knowledgeable, as a percentage there seemed to be a lot of people using hype-based brands (secret spectrum, rebranded Chinese imports, etc.). HydroGrowLED and Lush Lighting pay for sponsorships. (Both have fairly bad reputations.).

PSUAGRO. said:

Clw's stuff runs hot as they drive their emitters hard for the par#s.....

Lumi grow pro line isn't worth the $ their asking for them......

Dm xl 350 is overpriced Old tech + mystery red emitters.........my question to you is how much can you afford to pay and what are you trying to replace/yield?

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Thanks Psuagro!

Have you ran a California Light Works? I've seen and read almost entirely good things and results from them. Have you read about people having heat issues with them? They appear to be well thought out for heat issues with massive aluminum heat sinks.

I'm curious why you think the Lumigrow Pro Line isn't worth the money. Could you please elaborate a bit?

I was operating under the assumption that the DS XML 350 was newer tech since it utilizes 10w cree bulbs. The main concern I have with 10w bulbs for grow lights is the thermal reduction/control. I'm not convinced that 10w bulbs have a place in grow lights yet, if ever. These lights also seem to be performing very well, but I have no idea regarding their durability, which I realize is as important as any other consideration with all expensive LED tech.

All three manu's have 3-5 year warranties, some with 90 day money back guarantees.

I am willing to pay $2k-ish for adequate light to power a 4 x 4. I feel I need to tinker with LED's in the event my state legalizes cannabis over the course of the next 2-3 state elections (I'm a legal medical grower currently). I don't think HID is a long term solution to commercial grow operations anymore

Don't get me wrong, I love the AT600 and all of the results I've seen (I peeped some of GG707's threads and vids in particular). But I don't think spending $5 grand on two lights is reasonable if I can get similar production/quality from something that will give me essentially an extra light for the same cost.

If I recall correctly GG707 uses (1) AT600 for each 4 x 4 space and it works spectacularly. But I'm basically just feeling you all out on these lights which I'm unfamiliar with due to hiatus to see if you guys have tried any of them and see if you have any positive experiences to share.

Short answer, for starters - I want to cover a 4 x 4 footprint with no more than 2 lights and get equal or superior performance and quality to a 600-1000w HPS. If I go with one light it needs to be able to push on if I get a partial hardware failure until parts arrive for repair.

My dilemma is that I may be able to get 1000w performance for $1600-1800.... But I don't want to spend that amount only to find I need to "double up" for my grow space. I know the AT600 is the sure bet, but its also going to take a long time to pay for itself for experimental 4 x 4 grows. A51 seems to always be sold out of the RW-150's and I'd need (4) of those to fit my space. It seems as if those are this forum's favorite manufacturers.

az2000 said:

While icmag's LED community is surely knowledgeable, as a percentage there seemed to be a lot of people using hype-based brands (secret spectrum, rebranded Chinese imports, etc.). HydroGrowLED and Lush Lighting pay for sponsorships. (Both have fairly bad reputations.).

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I'm not considering either of those. There just seems to be more LED activity in that forum. I'm not even a member, but most of the google searches I do for the brands I'm researching takes me there. I always search RIU first!