Looking to buy marshydro LEDs ?help

Fenderman84 said:

The room itself is 12x10 but i doubt i will ever make all 120ft^2 usable. If for no other reason, the electric bill alone will cost more per month than i pay in hockey league fees all year.

Honestly i recently saw a 10x6x6.8 tent that had me curious. I see tasty makes some pretty long lights in the $500 range. I was thinking of maybe a tent that size with maybe three sets of those lights staggared in the tent in almost an [-_-] setup. Then i can have 3 different strains in flower and 1 or 2 different strains going in veg.

Of course at that point I'll need creative ways to use the crop. And this is all just a day dream for now. I honestly expect to have my set up pretty nailed down by this time next year and then start my reasearch on soiless grows.

Ultimately i do have a day job so this will remain a hobby for me. With that said i only have so much money at a time to invest i to my hobbies. So right now, i guess my ideal 3rd light would be something around 600w. I feel with a 600w set up i should be perfectly capable of growing a respectful yield... Or i don't have the skill required to grow. For me, i would like to pick up this 3rd light at a cost of roughly $200 shipped.

At $200 and this being a hobby, i wont feel lik im sinking too much money into the hobby but as it stands right now im already over $300 into something knowing i have to spend more. And spending $500 before i have a usable gram is a bit racking to someone who isnt even sure if they can grow a proper plant.

Or in other words... I view $500 as
A new pair of hockey skates
A new goalie mask
A new lens for my camera
Some bdsm equipment
A full beer making stil
A nice acoustic electric guitar
A really nice baby stroller
An std free hooker for a couple hours

There are plenty on here who will quickly trash a low end light or a set up they feel is below par. In reality 500 is an amount i dont sneeze at when you look at start up cost on a venture youre still unsure of. Its easy to tell others to start with a $800 light, just like its easy for me to tell an 18 year old to go out and buy a lexus because he will thank me later. The more established you are the easier it is to justify bigger and more expensive set ups.


If it wasnt for people like az2000 here giving helping knowledge and advice, i would probably have grown disgusted with those on here looking for a witch hunt.

With all that said.im not trying to justify mars beyond the fact that its what i purchased without knowing better and its what im going to use till i can render the mars units obsolete in my grow cycles. Yes there is better out there. Sure you can show me a cfl thread with higher yields than mars. Good for that person... I hope they enjoy the hobby as much as i have so far

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az2000 said:

Has anyone independently confirmed those PAR readings?

Based on the BS which permeates the LED market (HydroGrowLED claiming to use Osrams when they don't, California Lightworks's "adjusted PAR", and SpectrumKing calling COBs a "myth"), and Platinum's demonstrated willingness to hijack a reputable company's reputation.... it seems reasonable to be suspicious of epi-whatever diodes outperforming COBs.



That doesn't necessarily prove epi-whatever diodes outperform COB. Not to be insensitive, but it sounds like the special olympics. Sketchy, name-ripoff Platinum won. You have a lot to be proud of.

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Bella923 said:

so you think the califonia ss880 is no good

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az2000 said:

My impression was that it's an overpriced epi-whatever light primarily because they didn't say what diodes they use. I.e., if the diodes were something to brag about, I'm sure they would have bragged about it (considering the way they fabricated some PAR numbers, and they're pretty heavily marketing oriented). But, unlike the other high-markup epi-whatever fixtures, they did put some creativity into their case (at least). I.e., it's not a direct rebrand of an epi-whatever light.

However, I thought I read a few months ago that they CLW began using Osram diodes in their new lights. That kind of proves the point that they would have mentioned the diodes in the past (if they were anything worth mentioning).

$2,100 for 650w seems pretty steep considering the alternatives. Over $3 per watt when more efficient COBs are available for $2 (with longer warranty). For that kind of money, a 2-year warranty sounds like a disposable light.

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Bella923 said:

all these names, they're like another language to me..what kind of light do you use...

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az2000 said:

I know. It's a big learning curve -- and a great deal of predatory sellers. I use Area51 for larger space. Cree lightbulbs for a small space.

Your CLW should work well. I think you said you had some T5HO to supplement with if you find it's insufficient in mid/late flower.

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Bella923 said:

you have a link for area51 heard few people say stuff about them and i found one site but it said it was sold out

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az2000 said:

See this post: https://www.rollitup.org/t/area-51-led-information-and-discussion.856984/page-48#post-12181002

You're not in a hurry to buy, are you? Tasty, Johnson, Gogreenleds are often recommended by the knowledgeable people here.

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az2000 said:

Just to avoid the kind of confusion which has flourished lately, more power or more light?

You can get more light through distributed sources of light (not a monolithic fixture), and more efficient sources of light. More power from incandescent bulbs -- not necessarily usable light.

That's what quickly turns into "see the videos, they're producing pounds!" (without discriminating the power being used to do it) -- and then people complaining about elitism when power vs light becomes a topic.

Good point about heat being beneficial in some cases. Epi-whatevers have that quality.

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THE KONASSURE said:

I did'nt expect anyone would think it would mean to waste more power,

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az2000 said:

Mars Hydro growers tend to think in terms of "adding another light." When you see 90w/sq ft grows (on an autoflower, no less!) and referred to as "results, not rhetoric" it makes me want to define terms.

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THE KONASSURE said:

Hmm auto`s are tricky you have to gauge them as some are so tiny you`ll never get over 7 grams off them no matter what you do

but the bigger ones I normally use around 100w per plant, don`t often see an auto get over 100 grams but some people can get them well over 300 grams, I normally see them using 300w to 600w per plant when getting that kinda yield with autos

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HockeyBeard said:

I'll never really understand why people still grow ruderalis strains.

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az2000 said:

Mars Hydro growers tend to think in terms of "adding another light." When you see 90w/sq ft grows (on an autoflower, no less!) and referred to as "results, not rhetoric" it makes me want to define terms.

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SamsonsRiddle said:

i am in no way a mars fan, but have one i've been using mostly because i can't afford to buy an a51 or even diy my own at this point. however, i am in my 3rd week of flower in a 2x2x6 tent (my plant is approximately 2 feet tall because of scrog) with the old old style mars 100x3 and have a couple questions.

1 - how far away can i get this piece of shit from her without bleaching her (if bleaching is even possible?) I removed the glass, btw because it kept fogging up and it actually runs cooler without it.
2 - do you recommend any led's for additional lighting to finish out this cycle with a halfway decent yield?

And don't worry, if i use this mars 100x3 again, it will be with the old drivers/fans/heatsink/case running 4 x CXA or CXB3590 or 3070 @ 72(77)v version

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az2000 said:

My impression was that it's an overpriced epi-whatever light primarily because they didn't say what diodes they use. I.e., if the diodes were something to brag about, I'm sure they would have bragged about it (considering the way they fabricated some PAR numbers, and they're pretty heavily marketing oriented). But, unlike the other high-markup epi-whatever fixtures, they did put some creativity into their case (at least). I.e., it's not a direct rebrand of an epi-whatever light.

However, I thought I read a few months ago that they CLW began using Osram diodes in their new lights. That kind of proves the point that they would have mentioned the diodes in the past (if they were anything worth mentioning).

$2,100 for 650w seems pretty steep considering the alternatives. Over $3 per watt when more efficient COBs are available for $2 (with longer warranty). For that kind of money, a 2-year warranty sounds like a disposable light.

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Zulunature said:

I'd say you can hang it within 8" ... if I can run the so called 400W Mars that close in flower then no problem with the 300W you have....
the only problem will be light spread from only 8" won't be very good...


When it comes to upgrade time you may want to research how many cobs will actually run on the drivers from that light, and light spread will be an issue packing 4 cobs into those fixtures isn't worth it in my view, maybe 2 per light.

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PSUAGRO. said:

it was Lumigrow that exaggerated their par #s

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