New Lighting Products/Tech? I'm Out Of The Loop. Fill Me In.
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Hooda Thunkit
Well-Known Member
A company called Sundopt makes lights on contract for several well known and regarded "budget" fixture companies. They have a US warehouse at least and maybe Canadian. 720 watt lights for less than $400.
Medicgrow has great lights for excellent prices.
Just saw the Mogobe octopus 300w light for $169 on Amazon.
Soooooo many others. Cocoforcannabis has great reviews of several less expensive models.
Seen a grower on here rock a Samaphon (spelling?) brand bar light next to a comparable MarsHydro, and it definitely held its own.
The Updayday thread is fun. Love the concept of their lights, and that they are a HID ballast company that pivoted their products to led when the writing was on the wall, but not sure the quality is quite there yet. If they can improve reliability, I think they could have one of the most compelling budget offerings.
Thanks for sharing some info on some of these other companies. I've never heard of any of them, except marshydro.
About the Sundopt company making lights for several "brands" of sellers, it wouldn't surprise me if all of the "budget" led brands were actually made by a very small/much smaller group of companies, and then they just choose a name (or a string of letters of or words) and have it silk-screened or printed on the fixture/board/etc. That's the case is many if not all industries. Eg: Alot of car manufacturer will sell you an oil filter with their "brand" and logo on it. But they do not make oil filters. They're made by one of the companies that does manufacture oil filters, and then they have them wrapped with their logo and charge more.
I think there's so many things that would need to be considered when trying to actually compare two or more "brands" of light or specific model of light, for sure. Just saying "Shmopyacktu" makes an 800W light for $300 doesn't really mean too much - but if it does a good job growing quality crops of whatever's in the garden, then that is perhaps the easiest, laymen;s terms...way to asses if it's worth it, I guess? It's "fair enough" at least.
Price, components (diodes, drivers, terminations/connectors, reflective material - if any, etc. etc.), features, certifications, warranty, lab reports, reputation/history of the company (and the light; how long has it been around, maybe), warranty coverage and length, customer service, and probably more, should probably be taken into account to properly "compare" things.
But with more and more well known, reputable companies making leds lights, and their prices getting better and better (I'm told), I don't know any reason someone would go with a "Gudbuynowpls" brand over say a growerschoice other than price alone?
I think it's been addressed before (by multiple companies, and by led knowledgeable people here and elsewhere who know way more technical details than me) that sometimes the claims regarding diodes or output (for example) alone compared to the price is a red flag that highly suggests some level of...bullshit. I don't know from experience though, never bought anything from these companies.
I just remembered, Solventlessbakeandvape on youtube was using led lights from a brand called "Scyence", I think. Tunable spectrum and some other features. I wonder if many other have tried these. You don't hear of them often. But they're kind of interesting, like a bar style fixture, at least the models I saw him using (a while ago).
Hooda Thunkit
Well-Known Member
Scyence makes some very interesting lights with super cool bells and backup cameras , but for all the Bezinjamins.
Hyphotonflux makes a similar light (in concept, anyway) for about 40% less than the Scyence Raging Kush. The Updayday would represent the lower end of the pricing/performance scale for a similarly spectrally adjustable light.
One thing that has become apparent with the rapid proliferation of less expensive lights is that lesser known component brands have the potential to compete directly with the industry standards. Substituting Sanan or Bridgelux diodes for Samsung not only brings the price down, it also allows for nearly twice the number of diodes for better coverage and, potentially longer component life.
Basically, in this market, there's something for everyone at pretty much any price point without sacrificing too much performance.
Hyphotonflux makes a similar light (in concept, anyway) for about 40% less than the Scyence Raging Kush. The Updayday would represent the lower end of the pricing/performance scale for a similarly spectrally adjustable light.
One thing that has become apparent with the rapid proliferation of less expensive lights is that lesser known component brands have the potential to compete directly with the industry standards. Substituting Sanan or Bridgelux diodes for Samsung not only brings the price down, it also allows for nearly twice the number of diodes for better coverage and, potentially longer component life.
Basically, in this market, there's something for everyone at pretty much any price point without sacrificing too much performance.
Howard Kushman
Well-Known Member
I’m sure I will get blasted on this forum for even mentioning it….. but the updayday s7000 from amazon is like 375.00 and it fits a 4x4 tent perfectly. They recommend it in a 5x5 but still. Its 700w and has dimming as well as adjustable spectrums for veg and flower. It even has the tricome setting for finishing. I couldn’t be happier with mine.
Howard Kushman
Well-Known Member
Here is what it looks like
Attachments
Thanks for sharing, man.
You didn't join just for this..did you?
Howard Kushman
Well-Known Member
No. Lol. I have a grow journal going. That the reason I signed up.
@DoubleAtotheRON canadian site with GC ROE light(s): https://indoorfarmer.ca/collections/growers-choice
On sale; $200 off.
I'm a little surprised/skeptical of the output numbers given by the one review on the E420.
If I wanted to get four diablo qbs (and heatsinks) and a 600w meanwell driver, the boards+sinks would cost me something like $160-200 each(!) (I can't remember how much they were when I last bought some, and don't quote me on this, I'm guessing). A 600H meanwell would be around $350-360. So close to $1000 cad. Mad. And that doesn't include all the other 'bits' (most of which I have; connectors, wire, frame material, etc.).
Growers Choice E420 would be $800. Open box, plug, play. It's somewhat tempting.
Edit (this is unlikely a fair comparison, for a couple reasons, feel free to list yours. diablo, even older diablo model, and the GC ROE 'boards/leds' probably aren't a fair comparison, and the GC is only 420w. If I used a 480H meanwell it would knock off maybe $100 or so. But no way of knowing what the spread and intensities would be - not for me anyway).
On sale; $200 off.
I'm a little surprised/skeptical of the output numbers given by the one review on the E420.
If I wanted to get four diablo qbs (and heatsinks) and a 600w meanwell driver, the boards+sinks would cost me something like $160-200 each(!) (I can't remember how much they were when I last bought some, and don't quote me on this, I'm guessing). A 600H meanwell would be around $350-360. So close to $1000 cad. Mad. And that doesn't include all the other 'bits' (most of which I have; connectors, wire, frame material, etc.).
Growers Choice E420 would be $800. Open box, plug, play. It's somewhat tempting.
Edit (this is unlikely a fair comparison, for a couple reasons, feel free to list yours. diablo, even older diablo model, and the GC ROE 'boards/leds' probably aren't a fair comparison, and the GC is only 420w. If I used a 480H meanwell it would knock off maybe $100 or so. But no way of knowing what the spread and intensities would be - not for me anyway).
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tstick
Well-Known Member
Here is an option that is probably a legit light:
www.apachetechinc.com
ATV Series – Apache Tech Inc
www.apachetechinc.com
Oh, cool. That's the light that greengenesgarden is testing out right now, I think. Nice one. Thanks.Here is an option that is probably a legit light:
ATV Series – Apache Tech Inc
tstick
Well-Known Member
He was working with those guys awhile back as I recall. I guess this light is the result. Looks like a good one and ApacheTech has been around forever. All their other lights seem like old technology, though.
I'm not sure if it's been mentioned in this thread already somewhere, but CMH fixtures have almost always gotten rave reviews from the people who have them. I've come close to getting one, myself. I know there re a variety of options ranging from pretty cheap to fairly expensive....but maybe there will be some sales coming up on 4/20.
I ended up with an Up Day Day light on a fluke deal...haven't tried it, yet but it's supposed to do a lot of things. The switches on it seem cheap and the circuitry seems complicated. I'll give it a fair chance in the coming months.
DoubleAtotheRON
Well-Known Member
IDK.. I've had really good luck in my personal 4x8 tent with 2 ROI 420's. I've actually had to turn them down a bit at times.
Yea. And I think the bars in his current/most recent vids are apachetech. I remember him saying he had something new lighting wise for the garden, and that's what it was - said he was testing it out for them or something. I don't remember if it's the same model, but I only see one bar style on their site, so I assume it's the same one.
Me too.
Nice. Sounds good.
Thanks.
MEB4856931
New Member
The brand is Samphon, I have one of their 480w lights(I paid $300) and a Mars Hydro FC-E4800($360). No issues with either one and I can't tell a difference between plants grown with one or the other. You can buy their less fancy 480w model for $270 right now on Amazon. Product link
Hooda Thunkit
Well-Known Member
That's awesome! Looks similar in layout to medicgrow's smart 8, but fewer watts.
