LED Light Comparisons Kind vs Blackdog

I've been doing research into LED lights. I'm going this route now so I'm not interested in hearing about using HPS.

I have a mid-sized budget and I don't want to go over $2000 for the light.

That being said, I have been drawn to two LED lights but do not know enough about LEDs to do proper comparisons and it's been difficult in finding side by side comparisons of the following two LEDs:

Kind K5-XL1000 http://kindledgrowlights.com/product/led-grow-light-fixtures-k5-xl1000/ $1695
Blackdog Platinum XL-U 750w https://www.blackdogled.com/products/universal-series/platinum-xl-u-11.html $1999

Can anyone tell me which one is better for a 4' x 4' space? If there are other comparable lights in this price range I'd be interested in hearing about them as well.

From what I've seen, the Kind has many more options and can use less power because of only running the spectrums needed during growth. The Blackdog seems to be much brighter, having all 5w LEDs, but runs all lights for the whole grow.

Thanks for any feedback.

After a lot of reading I'm going to go with A51's. I'm either going to run 4 x RW150's or 2 x RW150's and 2 x RW75's.

This is for a 4' x 4' area

Any advice on whether I would benefit from spending the extra money and run all RW150's

I'd go with the a51 rw150s, I have 2 they're great. The kind and black star use inferior diodes.

deadgro said:

I'd go with the a51 rw150s, I have 2 they're great. The kind and black star use inferior diodes.

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Yeah, it took a ton of reading to figure out what LEDs are good quality and which are just cheap Chinese models. I'm glad I did all the research.

I'm going to get 4 RW150's. Still comes out cheaper than the Kind 1000 and much cheaper than the Blackdog.

Thanks

It was this thread that really convinced me...

https://www.rollitup.org/t/kind-led-grow-700-watts-710-cheese-first-time-grow.855289/page-6

Yeah Bought K5 750 and its workin great, And 2 RW150 and there workin great also. My problem with the KIND isn't performance! Its footprint. They claim 4x4 ,but its really 2ft 6in x 3ft 6in , I wont buy another because they are overpriced. I am buying 600 watts of Area51 as soon as there updated units are released. I want 4 AT200 but I am still 12-18 months away from that! If anyone has the $ buy The AT200!BUY em I have never used it. My opinion of coarse. The optics on the KIND seem to bleach under 20 inches. I wish I had bought The L600 2 years ago! I wanna see the upgrade From L to K series. The heatsink is nothing like A51 but it runs cool. I like the UV n IR n 3 watt n 5 watt diodes. We will see how they do against each other in 4 1/2 weeks

Ask Greengenes if he still has a code for AT, or find where he linked it last......and Pick up the 660, it might be had for $2k and isn't even in competition with the lights you listed......

I would understand how LED's work in the 1st place emitting light, before I blow $2g's, guessing at a light....Both of which are WAY Below standards for that pricing. Period.

Efficiency, AC/DC circuitry, Passive/ Active Cooling and the datasheets of the Diodes....[wait, can you find those for EITHER Kind or Blackdog?.....]

When you break it down, light for light, the Kind and Blackdog, have both been shown to be Inadequate to obsolete in several of those categories.....the blackdog doesn't even have heatsinks for K sake.....move along....

I need 4 200 s, I like to space fixtures.I am only gonna have 1700 and the 4 AT are 3600 or so. So its gonna 600 watts of A51 for the next run! This tech is addicting! Cant wait to spend another 2 grand! Who knows I just might buy 2 AT200 for the next one the more I think about it! I change my mind daily!

Apache Tech hasn't shown me anything that supports their higher prices for the same product as Area 51.

JimmyIndica said:

Yeah Bought K5 750 and its workin great, And 2 RW150 and there workin great also. My problem with the KIND isn't performance! Its footprint. They claim 4x4 ,but its really 2ft 6in x 3ft 6in , I wont buy another because they are overpriced. I am buying 600 watts of Area51 as soon as there updated units are released. I want 4 AT200 but I am still 12-18 months away from that! If anyone has the $ buy The AT200!BUY em I have never used it. My opinion of coarse. The optics on the KIND seem to bleach under 20 inches. I wish I had bought The L600 2 years ago! I wanna see the upgrade From L to K series. The heatsink is nothing like A51 but it runs cool. I like the UV n IR n 3 watt n 5 watt diodes. We will see how they do against each other in 4 1/2 weeks

Click to expand...

So the a51's don't emit IR or UV, right? Do you know how much different the UV actually makes? I know you really only use it for the last few weeks of flower. I guess if it makes a significant difference I can just get some T8 UV's and hang them in there as well.

I can definitely see the footprint difference with the Kind. That's kind of lame how they exaggerate their specs. Makes you wonder what else they exaggerated.