Rate the 3 best lights and companies and why

I am currently researching LED grow lights, Google is hopeless no matter what I type it's just full of paid ads even the ones that seem legit are just ads.
I'm not a DiY guy so I'm going to have to spend cash I'm really hoping you folks with experience in this area can help and assist me in sorting the pretenders from the real players in the light game
Cheers

One that I've found that's interesting is Fluence Spider, commercial growers seem to be adopting these lights or is this just more marketing?

Fluence Spidr is great.
You can do cheaper (Fluence is a professional company though), but it's great.

Also while they have given their spectrum a fancy name it just seems like a combination of white 4000K LEDs and high CRI 2700/3000K LEDs.
Their earlier lights were blurple, so I guess they prefer white.

It works, and it will work really well.
Since it's a lot of SMDs spread over bars there are no obvious hotspots, very even spread.

If you are willing to pay the money, they're a good company who won't disappoint you.

Timber grow lights has their own frame now so no diy and a lot cheaper than fluence.

They only changed to white + AFTER I contacted Nick at BML and told him if he made a white based led that it would work for both veg and flower. We collaborated. I ran a thread on RIU that you might find. I got a bunch of shit from butt hurt trolls

There are issues/problems with their design in that all the 2700/3000 line up across each bar, like a Venetian blind effect, meaning the warm spectrum is not dispersed throughout the light. But if you want mine at a good price PM me

The lines of reds are not visible in the pictrues

I would say go quantum if your budget affords it, you won't find a cooler possibly ran light anywhere for the same price so you can fit more wattage into the grow room.. Probably wouldn't need AC ever

What are the dimensions and limitations of your space?

Hard to recommend anything when we don't know if you're growing in a shoebox or a warehouse

In no particular oder, my top LED lights / companies are:

Apache Tech. High quality build. Fantastic light with excellent, proven results.

NextLight, Fluence. Excellent quality, light weight. Great lights to run close to the canopy with awesome results.

Pacific Light Concepts. Very nice COB based lights that are proven to have outstanding results.

Heliospectra, California Lightworks. Perfect for experimenting with spectrums and known for delivering great results.

LSGC / Vividgro. Not as well documented but they are a well known and respected company based on legit r&d.

You're going to get a lot of different opinions with a topic like this. This is just mine. For me, what it comes down to is quality components, craftsmanship / safety, reputation, customer service / warranty, and the results. I feel like this list is a good summary of lights / companies that strike a good balance among these characteristics.

Hope this helps.

PEACE.

Amare

^ noooo he said the best, not average.

nogod_ said:

What are the dimensions and limitations of your space?

Hard to recommend anything when we don't know if you're growing in a shoebox or a warehouse

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4×4 tent

Thanks for all the replies, I'm a outdoor grower but im buying/building a dual occupancy but the garage is under the house and the space runs the full length of the house so plenty of room and I'll build a wall and have separate electrical system. I just want the best quality and don't mind spending the cash to get it as I see it as a investment. Thanks so much again for the replies

PetFlora said:

They only changed to white + AFTER I contacted Nick at BML and told him if he made a white based led that it would work for both veg and flower. We collaborated. I ran a thread on RIU that you might find. I got a bunch of shit from butt hurt trolls

There are issues/problems with their design in that all the 2700/3000 line up across each bar, like a Venetian blind effect, meaning the warm spectrum is not dispersed throughout the light. But if you want mine at a good price PM me

The lines of reds are not visible in the pictrues

View attachment 3876029 View attachment 3876030

Click to expand...

Nice setup

frica said:

Fluence Spidr is great.
You can do cheaper (Fluence is a professional company though), but it's great.

Also while they have given their spectrum a fancy name it just seems like a combination of white 4000K LEDs and high CRI 2700/3000K LEDs.
Their earlier lights were blurple, so I guess they prefer white.

It works, and it will work really well.
Since it's a lot of SMDs spread over bars there are no obvious hotspots, very even spread.

If you are willing to pay the money, they're a good company who won't disappoint you.

Click to expand...

pretty sure they are 4000K white + 630 mono (might be 660)

Northern Grow Lights - Stephen and Robin - their QB Boards
Timber Grow Lights - Framework COBs

Timber Grow Lights -highest quality components, most-flexible configuration options, best customer service

Next light Mini -Cool design, super-efficient

Apache Tech AT600 -Probably the highest end of the high-end lights...Get one IF you can afford it!

Northern Grow Lights/Johnson Grow Lights Quantum Boards -in anticipation of a finished line of QB light fixtures -hopefully affordable!

tstick said:

Timber Grow Lights -highest quality components, most-flexible configuration options, best customer service

Next light Mini -Cool design, super-efficient

Apache Tech AT600 -Probably the highest end of the high-end lights...Get one IF you can afford it!

Northern Grow Lights/Johnson Grow Lights Quantum Boards -in anticipation of a finished line of QB light fixtures -hopefully affordable!

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Thank you

Best light is a conundrum in that how much extra are you willing to pay over next best? My physics professor used to say as long as you're in the ball park that's close enough. I think this is especially true for lighting cannabis

I often use the example that high performance normally aspirated engines these days put out some serious horsepower, but some people want MORE, even though more costs considerably more for questionable gain to the average driver. So, while I fully appreciate companies like Quantum (perfectly even distribution of smd across the entire canopy ), Timber and Northern Grow Lights, I do like the fact that Amare goes that extra mile by surrounding their CoBs with key blues and reds to enhance an already fine CoB spectrum (they also have similar models to QBs multidiode panels with individual lenses).

For my purposes, the beauty of Amare is, it doesn't cost that much more (relative I know), PLUS, they come with a generous warranty. That said, if I was penny pinching, I could see myself going with Quantum first as they are virtually plug and play. This is why I chose to work with BML as the SPYDR does essentially the same thing, evenly spreading the diodes across the canopy

hth

PetFlora said:

Best light is a conundrum in that how much extra are you willing to pay over next best?

I often use the example that high performance normally aspirated engines these days put out some serious horsepower, but some people want MORE, even though more costs considerably more for questionable gain to the average driver. So, while I fully appreciate companies like Quantum (perfectly even distribution of smd ), Timber and Northern Grow Lights, I do like the fact that Amare goes that extra mile by surrounding their CoBs with key blues and reds to enhance an already fine spectrum (they also have similar to QBs multidiode models with individual lenses). The beauty of Amare is, it doesn't cost that much more (relative I know), PLUS, they come with a generous warranty. That said, if I was penny pinching, I could see myself going with Quantum first (literally plug and play), the others close behind

hth

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Thank you for the advice

The Best 3 to me are:

Amare: because they are true full spectrum which has recently been discovered through testing to be what cannabis thrives best under, having the highest DLI of all lights tested. Great service & warranty. Some of the Top components used & always upgrading when possible. Tons of documented grows & happy customers. Plus they offer several fixtures @ different wattages & dimensions to suit your grow. Oh, & no matter what their price says on the sight, they're actually more like $2 a watt, making them pretty affordable for what they are. Most Photosynthetically efficient led available IMO. I own these.

SunCloak: I doubt any other light can exceed this one in GPW & G/sq'. It's just amazing. It utilizes the whole plant 3-Dimensionally, ungulfing the plants in surrounding light. Great service. Owner is eager to make sure you're happy. Recently started offering much more then what's on the site through working w/ me on the best options for growing Cannabis. Site Should be updated soon. IP rated & can safely get wet if one needs to spray their plants. Passively cooled, very little heat.
Very efficient in design & technology. Expensive yet is inline w/ other good companies by yielding at least double the initial purchase cost off the first run easily.
I own these.

Fluence Bioengineering: Always liked them since they were BML but never used one. Great spectrum, components, & very professional. Even light distribution & ran passive. They now have a few options in fixtures. I like the Spyder X Plus & Vypers.
They mix 27k, 5K, w/ added 660 & offer 2 spectrums. They are the original efficient led fixture & one of the first to share their umol/Joule using the Shpere to determine their efficiency.