Once and for all.. L.E.D or H.I.D ??!

talking results only / (plant performance) lol not about output or bulb replacement or wattage usage etc purely on quality of growth and bud delopment.

lol once and for all?

this thread wont solve that riddle bro.

HID has been responsible for growing DANK for years and years and years, generations even lol

Led tech is catching up and also grows DANK.

i think the main pros and cons come from the things you dont want answered lol

I'm lovin my CMH

NoviceKing said:

purely on quality of growth and bud delopment.

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Those being the only criteria, the answer is, a resounding yes.

I will take the Sun for the win

Chip Green said:

Those being the only criteria, the answer is, a resounding yes.

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i actually laughed

I can buy 1000 true watts of light for $170. That includes a sealed hood, ballast, timer, and both an MH and HPS bulb. I'll stick with that for now. I'm not against LED's but I'm not paying five times more to get the same results as I get from HID. I also don't jump on the bandwagon and buy the latest and greatest smartphone as soon as they come out. I have a friend that just got the latest Samsung Galaxy. I still have an S3. I think they're up to #9 now. My friend said I needed to upgrade. I asked him why. He couldn't give me an answer. I feel the same way about LED's. I haven't seen any reason to spend so much more to get the same results. When the prices come down and are reasonable I'll likely move in that direction. But only when and if my HID equipment fails.

Depends on the plants. Different plants will respond to different lights/spectrums in different ways. There's no way to accurately say that LED is "better" than HID or visa-versa.

Most of the genetics that you can buy from the commercial market were grown under HID lighting. I would think that if you changed the lighting for such genetics, then it might take another generation under the new lighting to start to see changes/differences.

What's "better" about LED is that it's much more efficient in terms of electrical usage.

I imagine it depends on how much of the 730 nm band is served. HPS is good at this but LED is potentially tunable. The 730 nm band is important to setting and developing the flowers.

Seems many more growers are going from HID to LED, specificly COBs and Quantum Boards, than the othe way around.

tstick said:

What's "better" about LED is that it's much more efficient in terms of electrical usage.

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Which isn't a concern for me because I live in a state with cheap power. If I lived in say Hawaii where the power costs three times more I'd likely be rocking some LED's right now.

hillbill said:

Seems many more growers are going from HID to LED, specificly COBs and Quantum Boards, than the othe way around.

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Not really. Just because some cannabis growers are starting to use LED's doesn't mean there is a big industry movement towards them. Large greenhouses and other grows are still purchasing and using HID lighting on a large scale. Cannabis growers also pay $25 for a bottle of diluted calcium nitrate with the word "Grow" on the fancy label. HID's are not going away anytime soon.

Whereas led users will cite some vast spectrum but then only put forward some slim numbers both hid cmh and flouro have a much wider fuller and broader spectrums and so would assume hid would be the better of the two, certainly led is light years behind cmh and flouro spectrums, still if you sell by ppfd led does initially look good but weve had years of that hype and broscience.

Hope this more independant view helps, most bought their lights assuning they were the best and arent about to back down which makes for one hec of a lot of trolls and little accurate science

Kingrow1 said:

Whereas led users will cite some vast spectrum but then only put forward some slim numbers both hid cmh and flouro have a much wider fuller and broader spectrums and so would assume hid would be the better of the two, certainly led is light years behind cmh and flouro spectrums, still if you sell by ppfd led does initially look good but weve had years of that hype and broscience.

Hope this more independant view helps, most bought their lights assuning they were the best and arent about to back down which makes for one hec of a lot of trolls and little accurate science

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Most of the data they refer to comes from LED grow light suppliers and isn't backed up by any real scientific data. LED grow light providers can make all the claims they want. That doesn't mean they are true. They're in business to make money and by looking at what they charge they're doing a good job of it.

xtsho said:

Most of the data they refer to comes from LED grow light suppliers and isn't backed up by any real scientific data. LED grow light providers can make all the claims they want. That doesn't mean they are true. They're in business to make money and by looking at what they charge they're doing a good job of it.

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Leds exsposed a toxic corner of the market and site...

I just simply didnt want to be that fool and now we have new gen cmh so thank god i waited just a little longer.....

Kingrow1 said:

Leds exsposed a toxic corner of the market and site...

I just simply didnt want to be that fool and now we have new gen cmh so thank god i waited just a little longer.....

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And the prices for CMH have been dropping significantly. You don't need to spend $800. You can get 630 watts for under $300.

They all have there place in the grow room ,if your a shoe box grower led is your best option,if heat is not a problem you have many choices,but if money is not an issue led wins I would think, I’ve been growing a very long time always been big bulb grower ,I find myself with QBs covering my room now lmao I’m happy

NoviceKing said:

talking results only / (plant performance) lol not about output or bulb replacement or wattage usage etc purely on quality of growth and bud delopment.

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I've seen CFL's put out fire, but at what cost (electricity/efficiency/time/lumens/initial startup etc)? Of the things that seperate each lighting source and makes each unique, I wouldnt consider quality of the bud to be one of them really. You'll likely never get a straight and accurate answer to your question without talking about the other topics you want omitted from the answer.

If investment was not an issue I'd use a mix of Cob type fixtures and cmh in decent hoods.

If money was a bit of an issue but you'd rather buy in the right direction, I'd go with cmh in cheap hoods, upgrading with cob tech/better hoods as you go along (reverse if in a warm climate).

If money was an issue, I'd go with 600w hps unit/s in cheap hoods.

If I was in a micro small space then I'd go cob tech.

None of the other light techs are worth it imo, including the more fancy hps set-ups. But ofc this opinion only applies to the small time grower if money isn't an object.