Considering throwing my hat in the DIY LED ring.

Hey guys,

So, I'm pretty new to growing indoors and growing cannabis but I've always enjoyed gardening, so this whole new journey has been a lot of fun. Learning about indoor growing and lighting in particular has lead me to believe that there is a need for more suppliers for the DIY LED market. HLG is ALWAYS out of stock, RapidLED is out of stock fairly often but not too bad. It just seems like supply can't keep up with demand.

Now with that being said, I'm always looking for new ways to invest my money, and I think the DIY LED grow light market is ia good place. In my current business I buy about 10 tons of aluminum directly from the mill each month, so I am in no short supply of aluminum for substrates lol. I'm just looking for a good PCB manufacturer, both in the US and in China. I know HLG markets their QB's as being made in the US, but I've bought from many Chinese manufactures before and I feel that they are no different than manufacturers in the US, there are good ones that make good quality products and bad ones that cut corners and make junk. TBH I've had a harder time with US manufacturers. I feel that Manufacturing used to be the backbone of this country but now that most of it has moved to China the quality just isn't there anymore. Of course that depends on the industry but I digress.

So I'd like to get your guy's thoughts on this. Would you guys like to see another DIY LED supplier? If so what is important to you? Is made in the US an absolute must? or are you okay with Chinese? Let me know what you guys are looking for.

The one space in the market that seems to have the most room for growth (and I'm no expert, so this is just a layman's opinion) is in pre-built, strip-based, retail fixtures. Fluence and Suncloak are the only ones I know of that offer those (if anyone knows of any others, please do tell), and they both seem overly expensive. If someone were to release a mid-power based strip-style fixture, ready to go out of the box, and affordable for your average home grower, I imagine it could be popular. Strips are gaining ground here on RiU because a lot of people believe the light spread is superior, but there are still plenty of folks who don't feel confident to tackle a DIY project.

But I know you're asking about DIY, so... I don't think there's much room for another player there. But like I said, I'm a layman, so I really don't know what I'm talking about!