No, finns are defo better than no fins. What i suggest is the combination of running the leds softer (which in itself is a boon to efficiency and lower operating temps, longer life, and also means higher diode count: better spread) and using local components for sinking. I made the numbers relative to where i live and found that the best deals was to get only boards/strips from china and driver/alusheet from digikey/local.
Driver: the main thing that can break if you run your boards soft as the even china leds tend to last long if you keep temps and wattage low; meanwell hlgs come with 7 years warranty, its very unreasonable to think that you would get service from china 5 years down the line. Get it from somewhere where you can get service easily, ideally where the supplier can be reached without having to pay for shipping. Shipping to china is going to be as expensive as new driver, which means youre sorta buying a driver without an actionable warranty. And they kinda know that. How much are you really saving on that china driver, maybe 20$? So youre betting 20$ or so that your driver wont have a problem during 7 years?
Sinking: we tried this both with fotop boards and 4 qbs per sheet: something around 40x14", 1/8" thick alu sheet has enough dissipation for 250w more than comfortably, id even go as far as 300w. The alu sheet is only slightly warm, i can keep my hand on it all day. Basicly, alusheet with 2" of lip around the board and a few inches between boards is all you need, especially if you can get some minor airmovement on it. BUT THIS IS ALL BASED AROUND RUNNING THE BOARDS SOFT. like around nominal, 60w per qb. The fotops run fine with no sink at nominal 150w, but they are pricey to ship and less flexible in size (3x1').
Running your boards at 60w instead of 120w is also about 10% efficiency boost, more or less the difference between top bin and mid bin, or lm561c and lm301b. Hlg is about twice the price of china, depending on shipping, taxes, where youre located etc.
So youll hit (more or less) the same points as hlg with more or less the same price if you go the baba route but with twice the amount of diodes.
But youll have twice as many boards (better spread) less temps in the diode and you can design something that works for your space. And the extra realestate on your alusheet can be used for strips for red sup, far red and what not.
All of this has been stated a few times by myself and others back in the thread.
But then again it might not be true for every case as i had to buy bulk for some very large cannopies which means shipping worked out different. Also it was over a year ago.
I suggest everyone, instead of browsing alibaba pages justt get in touch with sales reps, get a feel for them and get all prices (boards only/kits/strips etc) and compare to see what works for your situation. Imo The 240 kits would be better suited to 150-200w and a 3x2 foot print.
Another way to go about this is to work out how much you feel you can pay per watt and take it from there. When all your doing is chasing that last buck in saving its usually when end up stiffed. When hlg had their v1s at 29$ i reced them left right and centre.
Bah, im rambling on, too long in lock down.
