LED Grow Light Recommendations
- Thread starter sharok
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Hudsonvalley82
Well-Known Member
LED 500W Blackstar LED, thats what I have. About to buy another 240W for my veg...http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=blackstar+LED&_sacat=See-All-Categories
Personally thought I recommend using both HID and LED together, you will end up with better results than using either separately. For a 4x4 area, if you really want to juice it up for some diesel plants, get a 400W metal halide (for the UV). Put a 240W - 300W flowering LED next to it and you should be reeling in some nice buds from some big plants. Check out my signature HID + LED = best of both worlds. 700W HID+LED, thats damn near 90W a plant, with a bitching spectrum of super blues and UV from the MH and the precise red spectrum from the LED. You could also go with a 400W HPS with one of the 180W ufos on either side, those 180 watt ufos have UV leds with them, which rocks. IMHO a photon at a certain wavelength is a photon at a certain wavelength. A lot of people get super expensive LEDs and bring in an average HID yield, which is great considering the electricity saved. I am looking to bring in good buds, at good yields, therefore I am putting my money on both HID and LED at once, each kind of lighting has its disadvantages. I love my LED, I also love my HID. I am about to rearrange my grow room after my second harvest to have a series of 250W HPS followed my 240W Blackstar LEDs for a total of 980 Watts for my flowering room.
Also as a warning, people are generally belligerent regarding this topic (LEDs), either they hate them and want everyone to know, or they love them and their brand is the best ever and hate everyone else. beware...
Im not saying that Blackstar is the best at anything, but I haven't used anything else, and my plants are looking good, so of course I would recommend them. Again, IMO, a photon with a certain wavelength, is a photon at a certain wavelength, one brand is slightly more efficient that another brand, but I haven't seem huge differences in anyones journals amongst LED grows.
If you want to go all LED, you will need a minimum of 500W for that area for proper coverage in order to not lose any bud density. If you want to go all HID, toss a 1000W in there. Don't go half assed on the watts. Again, thats just me.
Personally thought I recommend using both HID and LED together, you will end up with better results than using either separately. For a 4x4 area, if you really want to juice it up for some diesel plants, get a 400W metal halide (for the UV). Put a 240W - 300W flowering LED next to it and you should be reeling in some nice buds from some big plants. Check out my signature HID + LED = best of both worlds. 700W HID+LED, thats damn near 90W a plant, with a bitching spectrum of super blues and UV from the MH and the precise red spectrum from the LED. You could also go with a 400W HPS with one of the 180W ufos on either side, those 180 watt ufos have UV leds with them, which rocks. IMHO a photon at a certain wavelength is a photon at a certain wavelength. A lot of people get super expensive LEDs and bring in an average HID yield, which is great considering the electricity saved. I am looking to bring in good buds, at good yields, therefore I am putting my money on both HID and LED at once, each kind of lighting has its disadvantages. I love my LED, I also love my HID. I am about to rearrange my grow room after my second harvest to have a series of 250W HPS followed my 240W Blackstar LEDs for a total of 980 Watts for my flowering room.
Also as a warning, people are generally belligerent regarding this topic (LEDs), either they hate them and want everyone to know, or they love them and their brand is the best ever and hate everyone else. beware...
Im not saying that Blackstar is the best at anything, but I haven't used anything else, and my plants are looking good, so of course I would recommend them. Again, IMO, a photon with a certain wavelength, is a photon at a certain wavelength, one brand is slightly more efficient that another brand, but I haven't seem huge differences in anyones journals amongst LED grows.
If you want to go all LED, you will need a minimum of 500W for that area for proper coverage in order to not lose any bud density. If you want to go all HID, toss a 1000W in there. Don't go half assed on the watts. Again, thats just me.
ink the world
Well-Known Member
I have a perpetual grow, I use a 400 watt HPS for flowering and am getting ready to add lighting. Thinking Im gonna go w/ adding LED, I dont wanna buy another air cooled hood, fans and all that. LED supplementation to the HPS should do well Im thinking. Glad youre happy w/ the Blackstar, its one of the ones Im considering.
http://www.GreenGiverLights.com
These are the best made LED lights I have found. True 3W LED's all made from the newest and best materials.
I would also agree though with the above posts.
These are the best made LED lights I have found. True 3W LED's all made from the newest and best materials.
I would also agree though with the above posts.
Hudsonvalley82
Well-Known Member
Agreed, that warning is from experience, I like the blackstars b/c it is cheap and effective. A lot of companies claim they are the best, and charge you accordingly. None of them are, so why pay for it? As long as it works then whatever. I have seen a ton of LED grows with lights ranging from 150 bucks to 1000 bucks and see no difference at all in the yields. Hence my stance. If you are on the fence then HID with LED is a sure bet IMHO, but rest assured that stand alone LED will work just fine as well. I just need as close as a guarantee I can get to bring in some bucks from this first grow, therefore my decision to use both HID and LED. I can tell you this, you can put lettuce under my setup and it will grow trichromes. Weed loves the UV leds. I can actually notice a difference in the tric development between the plants closer and further from the LED. (thats why I rotate them every two days to spread the love).
ClosetSafe
Active Member
^ What he said. Black Stars are what, BLACK. That's so sick. Almost reason enough right there. They are a great CHINESE MADE LED. I hate how in their videos they attempt to bash "Made in CHina LEDs"... they only bash themselves... almost turns me off of buying their stuff... but w/e
But if you are someone concerned about things like price and brands:
Their prices are extremely competitive.
They sell 100w for the price you would pay for 50w.
They have had multiple generations of products so you can even snag up last years model on discount.
And all LED's are made by a brand known as CREE.
My only problem is that they pretend like they get them, when THEY MAKE THEM. You wouldn't catch it from watching the videos, but if you go to the website of the manufacturer of the black star, the exact same phone number is listed for the manufacturer as the retail business Gotham Hydro.... Also they claim that their stuff is 100% made in USA...... then what the hell is this BS
Manufacturer Direct
Come visit us in China or New York!
North America:
Lighthouse Hydro
57a Lafayette Ave
Suite 4
Suffern, New York 10901
USA
845-504-5723 (9am-10pm EST)
Asia:
Lighthouse Shangkong LTD.
NO. 105 China South International
Materials City, Pinghu, ShenZhen
CHINA
Vonage - 845-290-9656 (10pm-6am EST)
GROW BIG.... or GO HOME!
John M Stockmeyer
CEO - Lighthouse Shangkong Hydro
But if you are someone concerned about things like price and brands:
Their prices are extremely competitive.
They sell 100w for the price you would pay for 50w.
They have had multiple generations of products so you can even snag up last years model on discount.
And all LED's are made by a brand known as CREE.
My only problem is that they pretend like they get them, when THEY MAKE THEM. You wouldn't catch it from watching the videos, but if you go to the website of the manufacturer of the black star, the exact same phone number is listed for the manufacturer as the retail business Gotham Hydro.... Also they claim that their stuff is 100% made in USA...... then what the hell is this BS
Manufacturer Direct
Come visit us in China or New York!
North America:
Lighthouse Hydro
57a Lafayette Ave
Suite 4
Suffern, New York 10901
USA
845-504-5723 (9am-10pm EST)
Asia:
Lighthouse Shangkong LTD.
NO. 105 China South International
Materials City, Pinghu, ShenZhen
CHINA
Vonage - 845-290-9656 (10pm-6am EST)
GROW BIG.... or GO HOME!
John M Stockmeyer
CEO - Lighthouse Shangkong Hydro
Hudsonvalley82
Well-Known Member
Yeah, they are chinese made...so is everything though, chinese made never bothered me, I never understood that about the chinese bashing either...I have family in NY, and visited them around my birthday, decided to stop by gotham hydro and see for myself what they are like, and yes, they are shipped from china to Suffern, NY, then shipped from there. But still, thats what I bought and I like it, bright as hell, the people there are more than happy to show you anything and answer any questions (which it is rare to find brick and mortar locations for LED retailers, I know Haight has one in San Fran). Hard to find a LED (or hid for that matter) light not made in china. It's one of those things I suppose, almost every company claims to be "designed" in the US, uses "American Components", or like lighthouse, is an American company that manufacturers in China.
It's all the same to me, China makes my TV, my cars electronics, my IPOD, my laptop, my clothes, and who knows what else. Definitely is weird how Lighthouse bashes it though.
ClosetSafe
Active Member
Word Bro, everything is made there. I'm just offended as a consumer to have watched their videos and put up with the Chinese Manufacturer Bashing only to find out to visit their manufacturing plant, you have to go to CHINA...
It's messed up bro. But the honest truth is everything is made in china. Even the stuff claiming to have been made in america.
Hudsonvalley82
Well-Known Member
Indeed, I can def feel that, although I am in sales i can appreciate the great risk the business is going through in entering the LED grow light market (which is finicky to say the least), I can feel your initial distrust. I can also feel the amazing pressure as a seller who just dump a shit load of cash into an investment. Pressures which make people get a little "creative" in trying to set themselves apart from some dude(tte) in an apartment in Bejing. Truthfully, honesty is the best sales policy, but take away the poetic flexibility from marketing, and your dead. Please don't mistake this as an endorsement of him saying that on the vid, I just love playing both sides of the field. (insert sexual orientation jokes here)
HamishAlexander
Member
They don't pretend it. They only say that they use USA made diods, and lamps are assembled in china.
ClosetSafe
Active Member
So they expect people to believe that they make the DIODE here in the USA, ship those over to CHINA, where the panels that were made in China, get the Cree LED's put in....
I realize Gotham's claim is that it "SHIPS FROM THE USA"...... But if you watch their video's they act as if lighthouse hydro is a different company or entity at all. It isn't Nobody else distributes blackstar... so Gotham can be proud as they want about being a Lighthouse Hydro distributor. They just can't treat everyone like a bunch of sheeple.
I'm sorry for attacking them and you. You clearly represent them.... with your only reason for joining this site happening to be posting in this thread. But you deserve to be made an asshole. even if i have to make one out of myself.
MedicHerbalist
Member
Guys - will you just listen to yourselves! Other countries make quality products and some of them better quality than America (the US can hardly sell any cars in Europe). No-one likes to mention it coz its not very polite - but the bottom line is that the USA does not have a monopoly on either technology or quality of product/service. When you dis the products of other countries please remember that this is not exclusively an American thread. (And you wonder why foreigners get antsy and anti-American!!!) Let your MJ expand your geography as well as your minds. The civilised world does not stop at the Mexican and Canadian borders. Please consider that there may be great LED's that are neither made or designed in America.