in regards to Phillips, i can say that i researched their participation in the Phoebus Cartel. the following are copied from wiki sources:
As of 2012 Philips is the largest manufacturer of lighting in the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips)
The Phoebus cartel was a cartel of, among others, Osram, Philips and General Electric [SUP][1][/SUP] from December 23, 1924 until 1939 that existed to control the manufacture and sale of light bulbs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel)
i feel that it is plainly obvious that they owe their current position as the leading lighting manufacturer in the world to their century old plot to profit off of what is called "planned obsolescence". (
Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence[SUP][1][/SUP] in industrial design is a policy of planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain period of time.[SUP][1][/SUP]Planned obsolescence has potential benefits for a producer because to obtain continuing use of the product the consumer is under pressure to purchase again, whether from the same manufacturer (a replacement part or a newer model), or from a competitor which might also rely on planned obsolescence)
as such, i did look into that cycloptics reflector technology; and since it is designed around the "
Philips Elite Agro 315W ceramic metal halide lamp", i immediately scoffed at it: it is still based on a a technology that functions according to a policy of
planned obsolescence
as far as i am concerned, what is going on with european lighting and cannabis cultivation is old hat. they're all sucking off the Phillips teat. and the growing scene there is a mess with grows fully contaminated with Mosaic Virus, and people that think that semi-albino variegations of cannabis are desirable - they have issues that are almost unheard of here in the states, and they seem to love how they messed up plants look.
when you say that you ran two 400w IG lamps, you didn't say they were 420PARs, so i presume you were using the other line up, the Pro Series 400. that provides a different spectrum than the PAR series lamps. i'm not surprised that they didn't perform better in bloom; they're veg only in my book. on the other hand, the 420PARs are a beast in bloom. you will see shortly, i am setting up the rooms and plants now. i'm flipping some tonight and you will see them transition here. in two months, you will see the results of the PAR lamps. btw, i pulled 8 ounces (dry & cured proper nugs - popcorn, larf and trim not counted) off of a single plant that was under the 420PAR - and that one suffered a light failure (it was a full spectrum solutions EFDL that failed) a month or so into bloom and had to go a week under a 200w veg EFDL while the 420PAR was shipping to me. i'm sure that you saw that post previous in this thread.
anyways, i live in potland, i mean Portland, Oregon. by many international accounts, this place right here is the new and current cannabis mecca. with street prices, according to some of my friends of top shelf organic meds, top buds by the ounce fetching a mighty 150-200$... PER OUNCE, year-round, from many sources. seems like perfectly indoor grown, organic, medical grade greatness is par for the course up here. and when i show my grows to other growers up here, and show them the lights i use, they get really excited... i know that i have already referred 2 friends to Inda-Gro for their purchases, and i have a friend in the seattle area that mentioned that he wanted to replace all 6k of his HPS watts with PRO420PARs, watt for watt. and these guys have been growing for decades each. the old school growers, even the commercial ones are stuck in the old school. period. they use MH and HPS because thats what they have been using. necessity is the mother of invention, and the step mother to innovation. if those guys have no at hand reason to change, or to even research if there's something better, they won't. my friends thought they knew everything they needed to know about their grows, until they saw it for themselves what these lamps do.
as far as me putting down the methods employed by others, i'm not sure where i did that. others can do what they want, so long as it has no impact on my supply. i will admit tho, that i can be a bit opinionated about large power operations here in the PNW, as i hate the fact that we use hydro power, and that is all at the expense of salmon runs.
also, you closing statement made no sense. we can all agree that there "probably" isn't anyone anywhere that can grow an ounce with a maglight, much less that would waste the time and effort trying. however, i reserve the right, should i ever be proven wrong in that, to congratulate them on that accomplishment. i would then ask them how many batteries they went thru in all that time, and what they did with the spent ones. only then would i put them down.
cheers.
)..