About to order lights, which one should I get?

ok, so im about to order a 400W HPS grow light. should i get this one from htg supply:

http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47929

or this one from insidesun.com:

http://www.insidesun.com/ecc584ec06d4630abdc6908519b10cb2.item

htg's with s/h is 138$
is's with s/h is 130$

however the inside sun's light kit says it is a refurbished ballast and housing.

htg's is a 4-sided reflector which you can turn into a batwing reflector...the inside sun's is a batwing reflector.

pretty much the same one however i dont know about it being refurbished. will it take more electricity? it just seems like its a used ballast...i think htg would be a brand new setup. dnt wanna get ripped off

i want the cheapest one however i'm leaning toward htg supply

im pretty sure they will both arrive at the same time....hopefully within a week i need em asap

any input? anyone order from insidesun or htg? what shouldi get?

I'd suggest neither unless this is going into a cabinet or tiny closet grow. 600's aren't that much more money but the yield is sooo much better.

Anyway the used ballast is no big deal, same thing as the new one as long as the warranty is the same... Mag ballasts last for many years.

its a 42" tall x 38" deep and 43" wide space. it is a bottom half of a closet

i cant put anything more than a 400 in there, let alone my funds. i have no more than 150$ which will nicely cover shipping, more soil, ductwork, and an inline fan.

i am going to attach some 4" ducting and a 4" inline fan to the batwing reflector, i will find a way, i plan on using alum. tape or something. some sort of rigged up shit. i have to. i cant afford the actual ac lights and therefore am going to ghetto rig my shit. itll work though, probably just as well. anyways, i have to get a 400, i dunno which one to get. if i can find ducting and a 4" inline fan for the same price at lowes as at htg supply (40$ total - 25' of ducting) i am gonna go with inside sun.com

i wish i could juse use a couple 1000watters but hey we dont live in a perfect world. ya know if it was up to me my whole house would be devoted to growing. i live in IL so you know how that goes. not legal at all. so anyways i just dont know which one to get, the HTG seems to be a better quality but the insidesun is cheaper. i just dunno, i was wondering if anyone has ordered from either site...

I would buy new. For the price difference, it just isn't worth dealing with someone elses problems. I've bought "refurbished" stuff before and its almost always been crap. Save the money somewhere else till you get more to do the things you want to do.

If you're that short on cash you could just buy a 400w high bay or low bay (warehouse hps lights, they perform the same though) used on ebay for under $100 shipped easily, and get a cooltube off ebay they're like $60 or something and still be under your $150. I know some people don't like used, but there are a fair number of new ones posted also.
http://cgi.ebay.com/400-Watt-HPS-Metal-Halide-Light-Cool-Tube-Reflector_W0QQitemZ280321407472QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item280321407472&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50


http://cgi.ebay.com/400-Watt-Grow-Light-System-w-Bulbs_W0QQitemZ140312013975QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item140312013975&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-400W-High-Pressure-Sodium-High-Bay-Light-Fixtures_W0QQitemZ110372202265QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item110372202265&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:2|294:50


They go a lot cheaper than lights in grow cases and you'd just be remoting it with the cooltube anyway. I tossed that one horticultural light link in there just because, it fits your budget and comes with bulbs too and looked like a vented hood. The idea is shop around some more...

If you end up wanting to go the high bay/cooltube route, then talk to a couple sellers of hps high bays and see who will ship you just the ballast portion without the big ass reflector. Half the time they don't even need a screwdriver to take it off. If they do that the shipping can go down to $15 compared to $50 with that huge ass thing you don't need anyway. That means with a little shopping you could get 400w hps ballast shipped to your door as low as $50. I can. I just bought 10 1000w hps high bays for $50ea including shipping and they were brand spanking new.



Just my opinion...

stephen94 said:

i wish i could juse use a couple 1000watters but hey we dont live in a perfect world. ya know if it was up to me my whole house would be devoted to growing. i live in IL so you know how that goes. not legal at all. so anyways i just dont know which one to get, the HTG seems to be a better quality but the insidesun is cheaper. i just dunno, i was wondering if anyone has ordered from either site...

Click to expand...

Do like I did move from Illinois to Hawaii. What part are you in? I lived in lake county for the last 20 years

central ill. the bloomington-champaign-decatur-peoria area

If those are the only two options you will pick from by all means buy the HTGS light. I have done business with both and InsideSun has a nasty habit of sending you the wrong light, a lower grade one, and then when you ask about it they give you an excuse and will not exchange it. When I ran two 250-watt lights, both two 250-watt MH and two 250-watt HPS, InsideSun sent me two with the plain chrome reflector when I had ordered and paid for the white reflector. When I emailed and then called I was first told that the white reflectors were out of stock. I mentioned that I emailed roughly an hour before placing my order and after receiving a reply saying the white reflectors were in stock I ordered. I said I wanted to exchange it and was told there was no difference. I said there was a difference in price and if they would not exchange the lights I wanted a partial refund. They said no.

I would never purchase from InsideSun ever again.

If I were you I would consider spending a bit more and going with the 400-watt HPS/MH so you will have both a MH for veg and an HPS for flower. But that is just me. The link below will show you which light I am talking about.


http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47981


Something to keep in mind is that very many people try to save a few bucks, or more, on their lighting and later realize they made an error and then upgrade and in the end it costs them more than if they just spent a small amount more on their initial purchase and ended up with a light that they would be satisfied for years.

doctorD said:

Do like I did move from Illinois to Hawaii. What part are you in? I lived in lake county for the last 20 years

Click to expand...

I lived in DuPage County, only two blocks from Cook County, for 32 years.


I don't miss it.

i got a 600w digital kit from htgs, bulb blew in first 2 weeks & they sent another free, problem free since

i would suggest a better hood & fan, it's going to be harder than u think to keep it cool, cheap inline fans are very ineffective, they're great for boosting ducting airflow not for creating it.

do it once, do it right if u can! gl man!

yea, i think ill go with HTG. i planned on getting the 4-sided reflector you can take off and turn into a batwing. i was going to attach dutcting with alum tape to the batwing reflector (prob 4") and attach an inline fan to it. that way i have air cooled lights. my space is small. 38"x42"x43" tall. i will ghetto rig my batwing reflector and therefore have ac lights. i have to. otherwise my plants will burn. the reason i wont get a hps/mh is because i want to get a seperate clonebox with like 2 125W (act. watt) CFL for cloning. i want to have a perpetual grow and cant do that with one light. if i want a mh ill just get a conversion bulb. i just cant do clones with one light that im flowering with. unless i move the light and clones to another spot and do 6 more hrs of light. i guess that would work...what do u guys think? after this harvest i plan on selling some and building a clonebox and getting some good genetics prob some kc brains or hopefully something better depending on my funds. right now i am hoping to have enough to get the ducting and an inline fan for an extra 40 bucks along with my light. im pretty sure ill get the 138 for the 400W HPS but i have to get ducting and a couple bags of soil too. thats gonna be like 60 more bucks. i just really hope i can come up on 200 bucks in a week or so. its my bday, so i should get it. bday on the 13th. thats when ill order lights. so hopefully all goes well. this strain im growing right now is unknown and is decent genetics, but def. no dank. hopefully i can produce some decent bud from it though. ya know you never know what you get. right now i have 5 plants growing and one is kind of unhealthy. but the other 4 look good. im just hoping for atleast 2 females out of them and a good harvest with the 400w, hoping to get atleast a half p or more which should be possible with 400W of hps light. what u guys think?

bricktop is exactley right about the trying to save money and regreating it later thing. Spend your money right in the beginning and it will make you money. If you can only afford one light, get a digital ballast. They run both mh and hps bulbs. With this you will get a good veg and a good bud. Plus they are brighter and cheaper to run. just something to think about.

sun system makes a great hood and ive had great luck with the lumetek ballasts. You also said you were going to order lights. You might be better off finding a grow shop in your area instead of the internet. Pay a little more for the anninimity of cash.

It's true in most things. My uncle always said "buy cheep...buy twice" Now you can add the cost of the crappy thing on top of the good one have you get in the end cuz the first one sucks. Now you can see its much smarter to wait if you have to and buy it right.