FranJan
Well-Known Member
Well another year is closing and I think it's about time to close out this year with a little look back at the gear that got us here and a hopefully somewhat civil discussion on what panels people should be buying and recommending to noobs in the year 2015.
Personally I thought it was a great year for LED growing as a real drop-in 1000 watt HPS replacement emerged with the AT600. I thought Area's RW line really improved on last year's XGS line and proved that monos shouldn't be ignored completely. And even with Han's new panels, Cali-LW's monster SS880 and RapidLED's Onyx line giving people legitimate and varied choices in 2014 it really was the COB scene to me that pushed the art of LED based MMJ growing foward and probably pushed some HPS growers toward LEDs or at least showed that COBs and LEDs are becoming a legitimate way of growing grade-A MMJ.
Some other stories I thought were interesting was watching Advanced finally realize even older CREE LED tech kicks the snot out of the latest and greatest that comes out of Communist China's state sanctioned factories. And speaking of China, their new rules and standards for the LED industry are going to be implemented shortly. It was smart of them to finally realize that their industry was getting a bad reputation for shyster LED companies and factories turning out shit with undertrained overworked staff, along with managers and owners more interested in stealing money. And of course it was nice of CREE to finally realize that, yes people do grow plants with LEDs and finally released a 650-670nm LED, the 650-670nm XLamp XP-E LED?
So what are we going to recommend to people besides the holy trinity of Hans, AT and A51? I think Plantphotonics should belong here too but it is hard to recommend to people in North/South America. HelioSpectra's latest panel should be included too but until enough people see some grows it sits on the bubble along with Advanced and Onyx. CREE bulbs are out for all but the smallest grows when a Vero can be built solderlessly for so cheap. And Illumitex's NeoSol DS is the Disapointment of the Year to me, easily beating out BML and a few other companies full of promises but not results.
Have I missed someone or something you like? Or hate? C'mon speak up.
Personally I thought it was a great year for LED growing as a real drop-in 1000 watt HPS replacement emerged with the AT600. I thought Area's RW line really improved on last year's XGS line and proved that monos shouldn't be ignored completely. And even with Han's new panels, Cali-LW's monster SS880 and RapidLED's Onyx line giving people legitimate and varied choices in 2014 it really was the COB scene to me that pushed the art of LED based MMJ growing foward and probably pushed some HPS growers toward LEDs or at least showed that COBs and LEDs are becoming a legitimate way of growing grade-A MMJ.
Some other stories I thought were interesting was watching Advanced finally realize even older CREE LED tech kicks the snot out of the latest and greatest that comes out of Communist China's state sanctioned factories. And speaking of China, their new rules and standards for the LED industry are going to be implemented shortly. It was smart of them to finally realize that their industry was getting a bad reputation for shyster LED companies and factories turning out shit with undertrained overworked staff, along with managers and owners more interested in stealing money. And of course it was nice of CREE to finally realize that, yes people do grow plants with LEDs and finally released a 650-670nm LED, the 650-670nm XLamp XP-E LED?
So what are we going to recommend to people besides the holy trinity of Hans, AT and A51? I think Plantphotonics should belong here too but it is hard to recommend to people in North/South America. HelioSpectra's latest panel should be included too but until enough people see some grows it sits on the bubble along with Advanced and Onyx. CREE bulbs are out for all but the smallest grows when a Vero can be built solderlessly for so cheap. And Illumitex's NeoSol DS is the Disapointment of the Year to me, easily beating out BML and a few other companies full of promises but not results.
Have I missed someone or something you like? Or hate? C'mon speak up.
