Buying lights
- Thread starter N51
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dertmagert
Well-Known Member
400 Watt Systems
$119.95 HTGSupply 400 watt High Pressure Sodium Grow Light In
HTGSupply.com
Our 400 Watt HTG Supply grow light Systems Include:
- HTG Supply 400 Watt Magnetic Ballast
- Your Choice of Reflector/Hood
- Your Choice of Bulbs/Lamps
$119.95 HTGSupply 400 watt High Pressure Sodium Grow Light In
HTGSupply.com
FilthyFletch
Mr I Can Do That For Half
Avoid htg they sell junk and old equiptment... Maryland Hydroponics has excellent digital switchable 600 watt setups for $119 or 400 watt digi switchables for $99 but they sell out the 400s fast so might not be on the site if outta stock..or you can go to insidesun.com and get good deals
dertmagert
Well-Known Member
really?
thats good to know...
i have not personally bought anything from HTGsupply .. i got my 430 hps for free from a friend.. but i was looking at them for expansion... ill keep this in mind.. thanks
panhead
Well-Known Member
There is nothing wrong with the quality of these lights or the lumen output,or the bulbs or the build quality for that matter,i own quite a few of these exact lights,some are on 24/7 & others are on 12/12,all work as they should with zero problems.400 Watt Systems
Our 400 Watt HTG Supply grow light Systems Include:
Customize the system with your choice of bulbs and reflectors.
- HTG Supply 400 Watt Magnetic Ballast
- Your Choice of Reflector/Hood
- Your Choice of Bulbs/Lamps
$119.95 HTGSupply 400 watt High Pressure Sodium Grow Light In
HTGSupply.com
I own 6 complete light systems from HTG & 4 complete light systems from sunlight supply,both brand systems are of the same nature/wattage,heres my take from my experience on the differences between the 2 different systems,a review if you will.
REVIEW.
HTG magnetic ballast build quality = excellent.
Sunlight mag ballast build quality =excellent.
HTG ballast noise level/hum = very low,inaudible from 5 feet away.
Sunlight ballast noise/hum = very low,louder than HTG but still acceptable.
HTG socket/cords & plugs = all very high quality.
Sunlight socket,cords & plugs = all very high quality.
HTG ballast design = top flight with much thought put into isolating components effected by heat,the heat sinks are seperate from ballast components.
Sunlight supply ballast design = very good but more effort should have been focused on heat transfer to critical components.
HTG reflector build quality = very low but acceptable,the hoods are made from thin high polished stainless steel.
Sunlight supply reflector build quality = extremely high & durrable.
HTG reflector flexibility for putting light exactly where its needed = extremely effecient,the batwing design & the thin stainless steel make it easy to flex the batwing to allow a more even spread of the light to the outer areas without loosing too much penetration,the light can also be focused in a very tight area.
Sunlight supply reflector flexibility = terrible,the box design makes spreading the light evenly nearly impossible without raising the light,the light output is extremely focused on a tight area with zero abilty for users to adjust the light spread.
HTG reflector heat transfer to the canopy = excellent,the bat wing design allows for heat to escape quickly,the thin metal used to make the reflector also aids in heat transfer,much of the heat generated is dissapated from the reflector to above the top of the reflector & by not using the end caps for the reflector allows a positive air flow to move cool room air over the bulb & reflector area, without needing to run seperate cooling for the light.
Sunlight supply reflector heat transfer = terrible,the box design gives a focused heat that is impossible to deal with using room air circulation,the box design is 2 layers of metal thick,the outer layer is extremely thick & the inner layer is the reflector,this 2 layer design allows for heat to build up between layers of the metal,it also allows massive heat build up at the light & temperatures that reach critical levels at the canopy,seperate & costly cooling fans & ventilation are a must with these systems.
HTG customer service = excellent,i made one phone call,told them what i wanted,gave them my credit card info & that was it,the next morning i had a shipping notification in my email along with a tracking number,i also received positive ebay feedback before i received the merchandise & before i left them feedback.
I was so impressed with my first ebay transaction with htg over the phone that i went outside of ebay & called them & ordered more lights,this time with no protection of paypal or ebay feedback,the customer service level was the same only this time they gave me a greatly discounted shipping cost for ordering multiple systems at one time.
Out of all the light systems i bought from HTG i did have one problem with a bulb,it did not work & was visably damaged,either in shipping or straight from the manufacturer, the filament became disconnected,i made one simple phone call which was answered very quickly,explained myself & the bad bulb,the person i spoke with gave me no shit & apologized for the bulb then sent me a new one for free.
Sunlight supply customer service = excellent & fast,on an equal level as HTG.
NEGATIVE PRESS.
Lets look at the negative press that HTG is getting on this site.
The claims of low quality,junk parts or old equipment seem to be comming mostly from the same people over & over again,not once do they explain why, only saying that "others" have had problems, or that they wouldnt reccomend buying from them,then they give the name of another supplier to buy from,any negative review that does not come with an explaination of first hand knowledge from ownership should be highly suspect,especially when a negative comment is followed by a link to another retailer.
Other negative comments in threads about the quality of HTG gear are based on what hydro store owners tell their in person customers,ive read several people bad mouth HTG gear based on what their hydro store owner/salesman told them,to me that's a non issue,salesmen always tout what they dont sell as junk & what they do sell as being a superior product.
Other negative reviews come from gossip,a friend of a friend or this guy i know,sometimes people like to post stuff they've heard just so they can join the thread,this info is irrelevant & should be treated as such,not only with HTG but with any issue where money is at stake.
I have seen where HTG owners have had complaints based on ownership but like i said,the majority of negative comments i see are spread by a small group who tell of "others" problems then reccomend their favorite supply.
My personal thoughts on HTG & Sunlight supply,from ownership.
Both manufacturers make excellent equipment with neither manufacturer having the perfect design,saving a few bucks here & there isnt a big issue with me when i buy,i can afford either light system if i so choose,if i decide to expand my set up's i will not buy from Sunlight Supply again,i will only buy from HTG,in my rooms their equipment is way more flexible & in the long run much cheaper.
I also suspect that the magnetic ballast design that HTG uses will far outlast the design of the Sunlight magnetic ballasts,i have no hard proof one way or the other but i do know quite a bit about electronics,the number one enemy of any electronic component is heat build up,the design that HTG uses is clearly superior due to the heat sink being seperated from components.
Summary.
Every component i spoke of i personally own,my comments are from ownership & are based on magnetic ballast systems only,at no time are my comments about HTG or Sunlight Supply magnetic gear directed twords Digital Ballast systems,my personal experience is only with magnetic systems.
OneCanSam
Well-Known Member
I'm with you on this one, and no disprespect to Filthy Fletch but IMHO his remarks are a bit on the facetious side , HTG has been very good to me and I've spent plenty of my hard earned money with them, matter of fact their customer support is also top shelf. They ALWAYS ship quick, many times same day processing, friendly support and not one of the products I've bought has been anything less than very good quality, excellent service, fast shipping and never a defective product, spent about six or seven hundred dollars with them in the last month or so, and will continue to be a HTG customer.
I'm an engineer, while this doesn't make me a growing maven, I like to think I know crap from quality. I may be a noob here, but I'm not an uneducated buyer. The only problem I've ever had with them is whether to buy on eBay or their retail site, sometimes the price with shipping varies between their Ebay sales and their online site, for security, I generally try to avoid Ebay as I don't trust them in terms of if private auctions are actually shielding buyers from the man
Sure their may be better products sold competitively by other vendors, but calling HTG products junk, is a bit of a stretch of the imagination. But to each their own, everyone's entitled to their opinion
PS, Before anyone buys ANYTHING from any vendor, one should ALWAYS go to Resellerratings.com to research the vendor, you'd think that is HTG was selling 'crap' the resellerrating would reflect this, but at the moment their rating is a perfect 10 out of 10 (but not many people have left a rating, only one lol, BUT, i'm sure if they were slinging crap items more people would leave them a negative eval. But I do understand why people may be hesitant to leave a Resellerrating for these type of items. If I left them a rating, I'd give them a good one... So instead of doing it there, I'll simply toss a few comments out here to rebutt the 'crap' designation given to them in this thread
FilthyFletch
Mr I Can Do That For Half
HTG has been screwing up the last year pretty bad and alot of people on this forum have been the vicitms..Tony never answers emails just phone calls if you catch him. The bulbs he was sending with the digital units werent lasting more then a week ..ask fdd about his..a guy on this site order that same light and it came missing the ignitor inside and both cordsets fell out as they were not even attached inside.. The grobrite bulbs give off 10000 less lumnes then claimmed and the sun huts he sells are old stock and the threads rip out...I mean if thats good quality by your terms then yeah htg is great but to me thats crap not to mention the few dozen people on here that posted he forgot to send stuff they paid for or got damaged goods from poor packing.. Your call though. I bought once awhile back and wont again.
OneCanSam
Well-Known Member
Did you try to rectify your problem with them? HGT sell thousands of items, Another thing is what was the outcome of the problems that others have had. Did they rectified the problems quickly, because a testament of a good vendor is how any problems are rectified. Every vendor has a problem now and again, vendors cannot control if the manufacturer has a defective item,(unless the product was theirs) the real value is how the vendor FIXES the problem. Even the best products made have problems now and again, one person that got a bad apple doesn't mean that you need to cut down the whole apple tree.
PS, Their packaging from my many experiences with them was excellent, in fact a few parcels were overpackaged with those air bubble packs for protection. I can't answer the part about them not returning messages, they've always returned my e-mails and I've never had a problem reaching them on the phone to change orders and such. Not trying to be a HGT cheerleader here, just trying to understand your concerns, as labeling the entire company and all their products 'junk' is a bit of a stretch of the imagination. Hey, that's what's good about competition, one can buy from whom they feel comfortable with, people should always research what they are buying and research the vendors ethics and customer support, myself, I've ordered many things from HTG and I've recieved quality merchandise, but as I said, they sell thousands of items. Maybe I've been lucky. But will continue to be a customer
To each their own my friend
panhead
Well-Known Member
Im glad you brought up the packaging,i freaked out over the packaging when my first HTG light arrived , i buy & sell ultra high end hifi equipment on ebay like Krell,Mcintosh,Mark Levinson,Classe ect,most of this stuff is like $5,000 cd players & $10,000 amplifiers ,the factory packaging is outstanding to avoid shipping damage & denied insurance claims from UPS & FED EX,this is the level of packing that i got from HTG,everything double box'ed & snugly fit,no bullshit packing peanuts with merchandise sliding all over.
I do alot of online business & shopping,i order most of what my family needs online when i find deals so im very well versed in good & bad packing,many main line manufacturers would do well to hold their selves to the level of packing that HTG uses.