What is the best LED light on the market?

I am growing in 4x4 tent and currently using a 600 watt hps, but I am growing to like the LED's. I am looking to spent around 800.00 or so.

Thanks in advance and happy token!

i dunno man i use mh/hps and LEDS and you wont like the strength of the LEDs once you get them...they are great for veg but dont produce the raw power of the HID lighting... it takes alot longer to flower too...just my opinion...if you have the capability to use hps and dont have issues with anything as of now,(heat, venting, electrical) id stay with hps. i bought a 135 watt UFO just to sample in a 21x28 inch cabinet and i had to get a second one just cause it was so slow to flower. they are great but they dont have the best penetration or power

If you bought a 135watt ufo, that might be why you didnt like them (what make was it?)

I agree penetration can be limited, but when the plants are trained properly they still outperform hps. I find it doesnt take longer to flower.

The coverage is often just a bit smaller than advertised but you can actually get more yield per watts especially with few smaller lights as opposed to one big light. I grow for quality and I like to keep high watts per sq/ft with my leds but I replaced 2 400watts hps for 540 leds a while back and since then I upgraded some more and I like them. I grow 12/12 from seed, the same light will veg my plants like mad and grow great big frosty buds. You can see some great LED grown buds thorough my journal in my signature using mostly fero lights and area51.

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhee

the vid was made back in August, I got 12 oz, 12/12 from seed all different strains and I was using the 336x3 for the second half of the flowering period, so I started the grow with 200watts and slowly increased. I was pretty happy with the yield but the way I grow it's hard for me to keep track of how much I get per run since it's perpetual 12/12 from seeds and plants get moved around quite a bit.... I was able to keep track of this run because I had just bought the tent and everything was started at the same time.


The A51-240 is similar to what my fero 336x3 is, but it draws 450 watts as opposed to 540. I am confident that this 450watts light would replace your 600watts hps but it's a bit more than what you want to pay.

AdvancedLED lights are good.
and so are California Light Works.
i have seen them both and have grown with Advanced.
cali light works has a good promo on the 400w for $599

Enduro,

For a SoG where penetration is intentionally removed from the equation do you think LEDs are the way to go? If you're using 540w Led to outperform 800w HPS that'sa pretty good efficiency gain. Though I was hoping for more than a 100% gain, quality to me is very important. Your opinions and ideas are appreciated, I'm not worried about price, just quality products

You have to consider that my 800 watts hps was more like 850+ watts (I had old ballasts) I like to overkill with my lights, well, if gram per watt was a real concern, I believe you can grow very decent pot using 30 watts per sq/ft or even less with LEDs... I think that this is how you would get the best gpw (gram per watt)

So if I was trying to get the highest gpw I would buy many smaller units and try to spread the light, especially with a SoG setup.

I have not grown long enough with LEDs to be certain of what I am saying ... so take it with a grain of salt.

Like I said though my goal is to grow dank and I want to grow big buds (I got some pretty big coming up!!! got a month to go and a few of them are HUGE) and I like to be 45-60 watts per sq/ft. The AF600s are very well built, very heavy and they use quality components. In a SoG setup I am sure the light would cover the full 16 sq.ft. but I have mine over about 12 sq.ft. ... but if gpw more important, 4 smaller units would most likely out perform 1 big unit ... I like the convenience of one unit too... and after I bought my 2 af-600 I started to look at the prices again and I realised that price per watts was almost the same from small units to the big (except the AF600 is a different series... a step above, but all other lights from fero/area51 are almost the same price per watts, big or small) Afterward I thought I should have tried 1 af600 and 2 A51-135 instead of the 2 AF600 ... Anyway, now that its all set and done I am glad I got the big guns

The first thing you have to do is unlearn just about everything you thought you knew about Personal Use Indoor Lighting, especially in a 4 x 4 tent. Please check out my thread for proof. I am doing a DIY experiment, supplementing a 3 yo ufo 90 (RB 9:1). Although I am seeing awesome results, check out this link www.astirgrows.com Multiple small panels is where it's at. Google Astir for his thread on riu; it is extremely educational and enlightening

Thanks everyone! As of now I’m using a 6in cool tube and temps are not a problem, they have never been over 76 in the tent so I am lucky there. Maybe I will add a couple small LED’s and keep the 600 in there.
I am going to post some pics tonight of the 4 plants ingrowing 2 blueberry gum, 1 afghan Kush, 1 nL x big bud they are 23 days in to flowering. I will post the link to them here so I can get some input.

Thanks!!!

Apache tech' AT120 are the best out IMO. They have higher par reading at 1ft than any other lights and the only one who is close, runs twice the watts. I think it is funny when people get more watts worth of LED's to replace an HPS. I thought the whole point was to save electricity then heat second. Apache Tech only runs 150 watts and basically has the power/strength of a 600watt but just a little smaller footprint. Only LED I've tried that actually grow plants as big/quality/fast as an hps.
Advance lighting did a test grow to compare...
[video=youtube;fSlVMC1Jvec]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSlVMC1Jvec[/video]

I don't know what the absolute best led out right now is, but I would recommend apache tech, lumigrow, california lightworks, advanced led, or area51/fero. A few kessils might be a good choice to supplement the 600w hps if you decide to keep it going. There's also a few really good european leds out like plant photonics and hans'. I agree that with leds the goal should be max yield with min watts.Good luck!

I think PAR comparisons are the best way to find the best LED light that suits you. Price, quality, size, heat dissipation, will all be determining factors in the quest. At my moment in life I like Kessil. I wish I could get a lot more of them. The only thing I don't like about them is the shape of the light. They produce a quality light, the H150 runs a little hotter than the H350 because they implemented vapor cooling to it. They are the only LED light that uses the Dense Matrix platform, which I sort of understand but not really. I think they stack the LED chips on top of each other. They are part of a very large company called DiCon Fiberoptics, have a lot of money backing them, and they keep advancing. I see them as the future of LED's, but that is only my opinion. I like them, and there is an auction on Ebay that's selling them for a good price. Around $160 a piece for the H150's. I got a bid in, just because I'd like to pick up an extra one for cheap. Retail around $250. I prefer flat LED panels, I'm in a closet so room is minimal for me, height especially, if Haight Solid State would work on their lights, I would like them a lot more. They are flat and don't run very hot. I have one in a 16" x 16" as side lighting for one plant with the H350 on top. Temps are only around 80 degrees using 2 4" desk fans. Just my preference, hope it helps

puffenuff said:

I don't know what the absolute best led out right now is, but I would recommend apache tech, lumigrow, california lightworks, advanced led, or area51/fero. A few kessils might be a good choice to supplement the 600w hps if you decide to keep it going. There's also a few really good european leds out like plant photonics and hans'. I agree that with leds the goal should be max yield with min watts.Good luck!

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I agree that for a lot of people the main reason is to get higher yield for less watts... and that is also how I got into LEDs. Now I dont care so much, I have no clue what kind of gram per watt I will be getting over the winter because my gardens are so disorganised !!


My main goal now is to grow the frostiest/biggest buds... if I have to use a little more power for the yield that's fine but I think in the end you get pretty much what you put in...

^^ I agree with the point 'you get what you put in', but, that is knowledge about watts, not watts for watts sake.

Mj is like women, they respond to being finessed, not muscled

where is the best place to buy apache tech?

budzilla 480w if you can afford it

Other wise I had a cheaper one made in china Vanqled`s 300w 4 array led light around 360usd 2 of them maybe 3 will light your tent

They are working on a newer 500w version, just get the 300w with 90" len`s and 45mil chips they can do any light spectrum you want I asked for red to blue 5:1 no deep red no orange and no white but they could add them for a little extra they will add uv or IR too

They seam to be able to make the lights I will review them when I get them as on paper they are exactly what I want can`t be running 1000w of led anymore this will get me down to 600w.

here is the link to my grow update all advise is welcome and needed it think..lol

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/581924-my-first-grow-600-watt.html#post8247183

joe586 said:

where is the best place to buy apache tech?

Click to expand...

growershouse.com (better prices)
greners.com

thanks bro!

I love my 400 watt Solar Storm. I'm thinking of getting a larger tent and putting the lumigro pro 650 or a bunch of kessils next to the SS 400.