Lookin at Apollo Horticulture, need reviews from you guys

Hey i'm looking to get 2-600w HPS lights from apollo horticulture.

http://www.amazon.ca/Apollo-Horticulture-GLK600GW19-Digital-Dimmable/dp/B004L3AQ1U/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A1ZKRWR52L6WM4

Anybody use these before? I've read mixed feelings about them, I'd like to know if its a good choice or bad?
Either way I am looking for 2-600w lights, and the price is a major factor, but at same time quality. I don't want to buy these and they blow in no time and im stuck.

IF you say their no good, you got anything similar in price that you find is better to compare it to?

Thankss

i have Apollo 600 watt but I got the air cooled tube hood instead. much easier to control the heat that way. so far no complaints with mine. quiet and cool on the ballast end. im gonna buy an extra bulb just in case tho

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apollo-Horticulture-400w-600w-1000w-Watt-HPS-MH-Grow-Light-System-HPS-Bulb-Only-/180933709019?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item2a207d4cdb
I've got this one works great well over a year..I change out bulb every 3 months

justin21 said:

Hey i'm looking to get 2-600w HPS lights from apollo horticulture.

http://www.amazon.ca/Apollo-Horticulture-GLK600GW19-Digital-Dimmable/dp/B004L3AQ1U/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A1ZKRWR52L6WM4

Anybody use these before? I've read mixed feelings about them, I'd like to know if its a good choice or bad?
Either way I am looking for 2-600w lights, and the price is a major factor, but at same time quality. I don't want to buy these and they blow in no time and im stuck.

IF you say their no good, you got anything similar in price that you find is better to compare it to?

Thankss

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like the person said about the cooltubes .........great most are 6 inch so u can hook up a 6 inch fan and a 6 inch carbon filter controll the heat ejection hot used air and control the smell

Apollo are fairly good .......the only rule with them is always use them on 100% ...........dimming them causes damage to the lightbulbs and alters the lightwaves the bulbs emmit (the bulbs are not designed to dim they are made to go to full power and last for a set period of time) when u dim it u are only allowing part of the energy to get to the bulb it is not at 100% it keeps tring to get there so it does damage to the filment and shortens the life of the bulb greatly .....the lightwaves it is given off also alter it is designed to function correctly at 100% the lower power the filment is not getting to the correct temps /str /power passing tho it so the light is little off ( u will see this when u fire the bulbs up just turn it on see what it looks like and watch it for 5 mins u will see it shift tho gettting to 100%)

good to know for the dimmable thing, if i got different better bulbs would they last longer if i dim them? just curious i've never had a dimmable balast and was actually thinkin of possibly using the feature. is it better to use a 400w bulb in the 600w balast? and dim it to 400w. or better to use a 600w bulb and dim it to 400w

justin21 said:

good to know for the dimmable thing, if i got different better bulbs would they last longer if i dim them? just curious i've never had a dimmable balast and was actually thinkin of possibly using the feature. is it better to use a 400w bulb in the 600w balast? and dim it to 400w. or better to use a 600w bulb and dim it to 400w

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as far as i know they do not make a dimmable grow bulb

ok the apollo system is done in % not in watts.........so if u own a 600w at 100% it is 600w at 75% it is 450w 50% it is 300w
you can use 400w at 75% the extra 50 watts will burn out the bulbs little faster but will maintain lumen output for longer

crash course on bulbs
most bulbs are designed for a 20,000 hours at about 10/12k hours the bulbs start to lose some of there output (lumen power) so most pro growers/shops keep track of these hours and change out the bulbs to keep everything at peak power ........some ballast offer a boost option the system will send a extra 10-15% power into the bulb to recover those lost lumens but this reduces the life by some u get to use the bulb until it dies tho

the bulb watts ..........this tells us how much room u have to work with and grow ..... outside that room the light is to defused to be any good (all the info is for great plants u can add 1x1 on all measurements but those area will make fluffier buds )
400w is 3x3
600w is 4x4
1000w is 5x5
that watt bulb will work on those areas the plant will be nice and happy have enough light to do dense buds ......the only thing u need to watch is the distance from the tops of the plants (they do all kinds of higher math on watt to square foot and what the returns should be)

i use ipower,ultra sun, plantmax, all work great.. i never tried apollo because of the reviews,maybe ill give them a shot...anybody use their 400 or 600 mh bulbs? the reviews are ok on the mh ,, better than the reviews on their hps bulbs???

diamonddav said:

i have Apollo 600 watt but I got the air cooled tube hood instead. much easier to control the heat that way. so far no complaints with mine. quiet and cool on the ballast end. im gonna buy an extra bulb just in case tho

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waiting on my Apollo 600w....do you think I can get away with just a fan blowing on it?

Ive owned an Apollo 1000w for 3 years. Used on HPS and MH. fires both great. i only use this ballast for veg now but it still works just fine. To be honest i have less trouble with it than the lumatek right next to it (very rarely fails to fire MH)

how about the apollo bulbs? mh,hps? i have good dig,dim ballasts,,i wonder how the apollo hps and mh bulbs are? red reviews some say the mh is ok but to get a different hps bulb...

I use their mh bulbs and eye horti lux hps bulbs. I never had any problems with the hps except one shattered during operation but it was quickly replaced by the company

lonzo212 said:

waiting on my Apollo 600w....do you think I can get away with just a fan blowing on it?

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Good luck. I've been trying that for a year and although it worked alright, my plants definitely had heat stress and I had to keep the light another foot away than I would prefer. Not to mention run it at %75 or %50 when it gets hot out... if you have perfect control of your exaust temps and intake then should be fine.