My Frustrating Journey to Find the Right LED Grow Light...

RickyBobby26

Well-Known Member
This post is very long, and it eventually asks "which should I buy", and it's not my intention to make anyone mad. So feel free to quit reading now if you're put off by such posts. Otherwise, I need and appreciate your help.

I seriously need an LED grow light to replace my 600-watt HPS in a 3'8" x 3'8" x 8' grow closet. I don't have the tech skills to build my own. But I have the money to buy a good light. I can spend up to $1500 (the less the better). But there seems to be no web sites dedicated to comprehensive, independent, unbiased reviews of LED grow lights.

I've been looking, researching, and reading for months. The only thing I'm sure of is that most companies exaggerate their claims, and I can't tell the difference between those that do, and those that don't.

I'm not interested in startup companies - only proven companies with many satisfied customers. And I’m not necessarily looking to increase my 600-watt HPS yields - just to replicate them with less consumed power and significantly less generated heat (my yields are very good).

I spoke to a Black Dog LED rep yesterday who wanted to sell me a Phytomax 600 for $1600. He said it would replace my 600-watt HPS, but would consume about as much power and generate about as much heat as said 600-watt HPS. Oh yeah? Then WHAT’S THE FUCKING POINT? Yet one web site that claimed to "independently review LED grow lights" rated the Black Dog Phytomax as the #1 LED grow light for 2016.

I’ve googled “Best LED Grow Lights”, and a thousand variants, and I get no consistent results. Most every so-called “review site” gives a very different “Top 5” or “Top 10” list. Very different. I found one web site that had a “Best LED Grow Lights” article for 2015, and another for 2016, and the two lists had almost no grow lights in common. That much variance from one year to the next from the SAME reviewers? No fucking way.

This smacks of “Good Reviews for Hire” that are little more than (un)veiled advertisements. The idiots kinda give it away when they conclude their “unbiased” review with something to the effect of “Let the XXX LED grow light improve your growing TODAY!”, and provide a direct sales link.

What I’d like is to find a “Consumer-Reports-like” web site that gives independent, accurate, unbiased (i.e. unpaid) reviews of modern LED grow lights.

Or get some recommendations here. Rollitup happens to be the most active LED commenting site I've found. So I'd appreciate ANY suggestions based upon the criteria listed in my post.

Thanks, or apologies, whichever is appropriate for your response.
 

dandyrandy

Well-Known Member
Several on here. Can't go wrong with any of the builders here. Or look at grow journals. I built my own.
 

Purpsmagurps

Well-Known Member
well given you pack about 87k lumens in a 600W hid I would hardly call worth it spending a grand on 2 t3s that only pack 64k lumens at 408W, you only shave off 250 wats tops. run your lights in off peak and watch your bills go down!
 

BOBBY_G

Well-Known Member
I’ve googled “Best LED Grow Lights”, and a thousand variants, and I get no consistent results. Most every so-called “review site” gives a very different “Top 5” or “Top 10” list. Very different. I found one web site that had a “Best LED Grow Lights” article for 2015, and another for 2016, and the two lists had almost no grow lights in common. That much variance from one year to the next from the SAME reviewers? No fucking way.

This smacks of “Good Reviews for Hire” that are little more than (un)veiled advertisements. The idiots kinda give it away when they conclude their “unbiased” review with something to the effect of “Let the XXX LED grow light improve your growing TODAY!”, and provide a direct sales link.

What I’d like is to find a “Consumer-Reports-like” web site that gives independent, accurate, unbiased (i.e. unpaid) reviews of modern LED grow lights.
the recs people are making here for you are all the same full-spectrum tech (cree and vero cobs) by solid members

northerngrowlights.com
pacificlightingconcepts.com
johnsongrowlights.com
tastyled.com
timbergrowlights.com
cutter.com.au

take your pick. any of these would work well at ~30 watts per square foot
 

Purpsmagurps

Well-Known Member
Platinum p4 xml2 https://platinumgrowlights.com/products/p4-xml2
500 bucks draws 232 watts replaces a 600W
Platinum p9 xml2 https://platinumgrowlights.com/products/p9-xml2
1000 bucks, sucks up 555 watts replaces a 1kw hid. look at their scaling compared to the builders and their cost and power consumption.
I bought their p600 and I'm not shilling, they are great lights and come with a 5 year.

EDIT
the 12 band spectrum brings out pheno traits you wont see with white / red cobs, UV to IR
 

PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
Platinum p4 xml2 https://platinumgrowlights.com/products/p4-xml2
500 bucks draws 232 watts replaces a 600W
Platinum p9 xml2 https://platinumgrowlights.com/products/p9-xml2
1000 bucks, sucks up 555 watts replaces a 1kw hid. look at their scaling compared to the builders and their cost and power consumption.
I bought their p600 and I'm not shilling, they are great lights and come with a 5 year.

EDIT
the 12 band spectrum brings out pheno traits you wont see with white / red cobs, UV to IR
ewww yuck looks like generic Chinese disposable blurples.
 

Atulip

Well-Known Member
What is that thing, a few Cree chips surrounded by 3w whatever chips....

Claims like this with no actually data are usually a sign of junk.

"the highest PAR per watt of any other LED grow light"
 

Rahz

Well-Known Member
well given you pack about 87k lumens in a 600W hid I would hardly call worth it spending a grand on 2 t3s that only pack 64k lumens at 408W, you only shave off 250 wats tops. run your lights in off peak and watch your bills go down!
Comparing lumens isn't exactly the fair way to do it.

600w DE = 1.7umol/w = 1020 PPF
372w (2xT3-1750) 2.45umol/w = 911 PPF
450w (2xT3-2100) 2.3umol/w = 1035 PPF
 

ThaiBaby1

Well-Known Member
This post is very long, and it eventually asks "which should I buy", and it's not my intention to make anyone mad. So feel free to quit reading now if you're put off by such posts. Otherwise, I need and appreciate your help.

I seriously need an LED grow light to replace my 600-watt HPS in a 3'8" x 3'8" x 8' grow closet. I don't have the tech skills to build my own. But I have the money to buy a good light. I can spend up to $1500 (the less the better). But there seems to be no web sites dedicated to comprehensive, independent, unbiased reviews of LED grow lights.

I've been looking, researching, and reading for months. The only thing I'm sure of is that most companies exaggerate their claims, and I can't tell the difference between those that do, and those that don't.

I'm not interested in startup companies - only proven companies with many satisfied customers. And I’m not necessarily looking to increase my 600-watt HPS yields - just to replicate them with less consumed power and significantly less generated heat (my yields are very good).

I spoke to a Black Dog LED rep yesterday who wanted to sell me a Phytomax 600 for $1600. He said it would replace my 600-watt HPS, but would consume about as much power and generate about as much heat as said 600-watt HPS. Oh yeah? Then WHAT’S THE FUCKING POINT? Yet one web site that claimed to "independently review LED grow lights" rated the Black Dog Phytomax as the #1 LED grow light for 2016.

I’ve googled “Best LED Grow Lights”, and a thousand variants, and I get no consistent results. Most every so-called “review site” gives a very different “Top 5” or “Top 10” list. Very different. I found one web site that had a “Best LED Grow Lights” article for 2015, and another for 2016, and the two lists had almost no grow lights in common. That much variance from one year to the next from the SAME reviewers? No fucking way.

This smacks of “Good Reviews for Hire” that are little more than (un)veiled advertisements. The idiots kinda give it away when they conclude their “unbiased” review with something to the effect of “Let the XXX LED grow light improve your growing TODAY!”, and provide a direct sales link.

What I’d like is to find a “Consumer-Reports-like” web site that gives independent, accurate, unbiased (i.e. unpaid) reviews of modern LED grow lights.

Or get some recommendations here. Rollitup happens to be the most active LED commenting site I've found. So I'd appreciate ANY suggestions based upon the criteria listed in my post.

Thanks, or apologies, whichever is appropriate for your response.
Nice light, good quality, excellent customer and tech support https://northerngrowlights.com/products/photon-180cd-led-grow-light-1
 

Purpsmagurps

Well-Known Member
They live par test and i have one of their lights, have fun paying 500 bucks for a widespread glass lense for a 4x4 most of your light is dispersed, the secondary lensing on the 3w chips focus the footprint downward, not out. Thats why my par is higher than those t3s. I have a p600 and i dont even have any cree chips on my series and you can still see my purple overtake 2 600w hids on either side. Pics coming
 

Purpsmagurps

Well-Known Member
I'm all about cree chips and diy dont take me wrong, I just dont think you should be spending 500 bucks on 2 chips, I saw a diy build that had 8 that replaced well over 1kw for like 600 bucks and drew like 400W
 
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