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.
