LED Recommendations Wanted

Alchemist420

Alchemist420

New Member
Good afternoon 420Mag Friends!!!

I am looking for LED recommendations from EXPERIENCED LED growers on here.

Here is the criteria I am looking at for LED Lights

Light Budget: $300 US per each grow space
Each Grow Space: 7.5' Ceiling and at least 3.5' X 3.5' up to possibly 4' X 4' space
Stage: Flower

* Prefer low heat generating options to keep venting/cooling to a minimum
** Not looking for a DIY solution at this time

1st I want to say please do not comment "Search the Forums" or any generic comment along those lines.
I have searched the forums and read many threads about LED and many grow journals using LED, and continue to do so. I have learned alot but it just makes the options and decisions that much harder. So I posted this new thread for an honest discussion and recommendations for my spefic space and goals.

I am going to be building out a new grow room, and want to go LED. I would like to get into an affordable yet quality LED lights. Later I will consider upgrading to premium / high end LED Lights. For now I just want to get my foot in the door with LED for my new grow spaces

The Plan:
I have a 5' foot X 10' foot space that I am framing out and making my grow room.
I will have 2 Flower spaces and a single Seed/Clone/Veg space. I plan on LED for both Flower space, and use my existing T5's for the Seed/Clone/Veg space (Possibly upgrade to LED in the future)

Looking for lots of Recommendations and information please
 
JuanCarlos said:
Your budget is very limiting. With your requirements I would go with 4 Mars Hydro 300s or 2 600s.
Click to expand...

Thank you JaunCarlos. That is my budget for Each grow space not the total light budget. Yes it is limiting but that is what the budget is for now.

I do not see 300s or 600s on MarsHydro's site. I have looked at their website several times, and specifically the Mars II 700 and Reflector 192 models

Can you tell me details why specifically you recommend the models you listed ?

Thank you!
 
They are on eBay or Alibaba, make sure the seller is Mars Hydro.

Why did I specifically recommend them? Because that's going to be the most light you can afford on your budget for each grow space and they have a decent track record for reliability. Many members here have used them with good results. Anything else you can afford at that price point is a crap shoot.
 
I can recommend the Mars Hydro 48X5 Reflector - I have one in my veg tent (2.5 X 2 ft) and have used it in flower - It is a fantastic light for the money.

3 of them would light your space for the budget, or 4 times the light for the same money - Reflector 192

:goodluck:
 
Hey Richard, Thank you I appreciate your recommendation. Exactly the kind of comment I was looking for. 1st hand knowledge and recommendation.
I have already been considering the Reflector 192 and it is currently just above my budget, but within reason enough I could possibly spend the extra $20-$30 each.

I am really just trying to get all the options together that are at least decent and reliable and then make a choice.
best way for me to do that is this thread and have people make recommendations.

I really am only looking for people with 1st hand experience with the lights they recommend, not just what they have read or heard. Those comments / recommendations are appreciated, but going to take them with a grain of salt.
 
The two posters here have given you recommendations that have been used hundreds of times on this forum. The reason they are recommending them is because they have both probably seen a ton of grows using these exact two lights. As a matter of fact, the recommendations are both Mars Hydro products. This forum actually has a thread specifically for Mars Hydro where people post about using their Mars Hydro lights and what their thoughts and results are. Your budget is pretty clear cut that you will be using a budget light. When it comes to budget lights Mars Hydro is about the best thing going. JuanCarlos suggested the old style lights. I run two in my veg tent. Running 33.75 watts per square foot I have no problem keeping temps under control. In my bloom tent I run 37.5 watts per square foot of HID light and have to use AC to cool the room.

It's not rocket science, your choices are very limited at your price point. Mars Hydro is about the only thing you can afford that will give you decent watts per square foot. I understand wanting recommendations, but I would never discount a recommendation just because you THINK someone hasn't used a certain light. Richard has first hand experience and you are assuming that JuanCarlos doesn't. As he is not affiliated with Mars Hydro (at least not that I can tell), I would take his recommendation to heart, because I think it would be safe to bet that he has more Mars Hydro experience than you assume.
 
Look for something that uses COB leds , these are the best, they come with a price tag, but they are the most efficent leds on the market

Sent from my SM-G900F using 420 Magazine Mobile App
 
You can't cover as many sq. feet as you want on that small of a total budget using leds that fit your budget.... It's up to you to set the budget for the lights and grow room..... we can't do that for you.. Watt for watt, leds are only slightly cooler than hid lights.... You still have to deal with the heat...
One good led light is more than your total budget... On your budget, fluorescents in the veg, 600 hps 12/12 or 400 hps switchable hid ballast.... You can always expand to fill the grow space you built...
 
Alchemist420 said:
Good afternoon 420Mag Friends!!!

I am looking for LED recommendations from EXPERIENCED LED growers on here.

Here is the criteria I am looking at for LED Lights

Light Budget: $300 US per each grow space
Each Grow Space: 7.5' Ceiling and at least 3.5' X 3.5' up to possibly 4' X 4' space
Stage: Flower

* Prefer low heat generating options to keep venting/cooling to a minimum
** Not looking for a DIY solution at this time

1st I want to say please do not comment "Search the Forums" or any generic comment along those lines.
I have searched the forums and read many threads about LED and many grow journals using LED, and continue to do so. I have learned alot but it just makes the options and decisions that much harder. So I posted this new thread for an honest discussion and recommendations for my spefic space and goals.

I am going to be building out a new grow room, and want to go LED. I would like to get into an affordable yet quality LED lights. Later I will consider upgrading to premium / high end LED Lights. For now I just want to get my foot in the door with LED for my new grow spaces

The Plan:
I have a 5' foot X 10' foot space that I am framing out and making my grow room.
I will have 2 Flower spaces and a single Seed/Clone/Veg space. I plan on LED for both Flower space, and use my existing T5's for the Seed/Clone/Veg space (Possibly upgrade to LED in the future)

Looking for lots of Recommendations and information please
Click to expand...

Alchemist420 said:
Hey Richard, Thank you I appreciate your recommendation. Exactly the kind of comment I was looking for. 1st hand knowledge and recommendation.
I have already been considering the Reflector 192 and it is currently just above my budget, but within reason enough I could possibly spend the extra $20-$30 each.

I am really just trying to get all the options together that are at least decent and reliable and then make a choice.
best way for me to do that is this thread and have people make recommendations.

I really am only looking for people with 1st hand experience with the lights they recommend, not just what they have read or heard. Those comments / recommendations are appreciated, but going to take them with a grain of salt.
Click to expand...

I personally grow with Mars-hydro lights and am presently using 3 Mars lights in my present grow (one Mars II 900 and two Mars Reflectors 144) and just got the other 2 Mars light (Mars II 900's) I ordered a few days ago and will be opening those up this weekend. You are more then welcome to click on my current grow link to see my results so you can confirm I do actually use Mars lights.

I know you are all gung-ho and want to get started growing but in all honesty, since you said in your post you were looking for an honest discussion, your plan is setting yourself up for failure. You say you are going to have two flowering rooms that are either 3.5x3.5 or possibly 4x4 each and you plan to spend $300 dollars per area on lighting. I hate to break this to you, but there is no LED light that only costs $300 that can get that kind of coverage. That unfortunately is a FACT. LED Manufacturers will claim they can but the facts are the actually footprint will be smaller. The one thing as an indoor grower that we can do to produce bigger yields and better quality MJ is our lights. You can have the best ventilation system on the planet and feed your plants the best nutrients available and if your lights are not adequate your yields and quality will suffer greatly.
So what am I trying to say? It is this, your plan is going to FAIL, you will grow a few fluffy buds and you will get discouraged and either sell all of your grow gear or learn fro your failure. What I suggest is you skip that step and do your 1st grow with adequate lighting to get a descent harvest. So how will you be able to do that on your budget? quit simple, you are suggesting a budget of $300 per grow area, which you will have 2 of. Two flowering rooms. That is a $600 budget for lighting. Instead of buying two $300 LEDs for TWO flowering rooms might I suggest you spend $600 on two LED lights for ONE flowering room. You can buy a Mars II 700 for $290.99 and 2 Mars II 700 will grow some top quality buds in a 4x4 area and you will be using just a smidgen over 600 watts of power for the 4x4 area. Then as your budget allows it, you buy a few more lights and start utilizing your other 4x4 flower area.

Well thats just my 2 cents on your post, though I do hope it makes you think a little before you move forward. You can start growing and grow successful perhaps not on the scale you would prefer, but a small success will always be better then a large failure in my book.

Best of luck with your grows.
 
heliman said:
I think OlderGrower has the correct or best answer. I'm in the exact same situation. Trying to cover a 4x4 area on a budget. You can't properly cover that area for $300… trust me I've been looking and looking at everything under the sun. OlderGrower nailed it!
Click to expand...

Well technically he could run HPS and get the coverage with a 600 watt HPS with a lower out front expense but then he will have to deal with the heat the lamps produces. The major difference between a LED and a HPS light is (as far as heat is concerned) the HPS creates it's light by super heating a gas to produce the light where as the LED does not. 600 watts of energy burned to produce light will create the same amount of heat no matter if it is LED or HPS, where the difference is it the heat generated by the gas to produce the light. That has to be added into the equation and since LED's do not super heat gas to produce their light, they create less over all heat. Now the LED manufactures will claim as much as 40 to 50% less heat which I have to call a BS on, but in reality it is more like 10 to 15% which is still a fairly significant amount of heat. Yes I know the die hard HID guys will say you can get around that by using a air cooled hood to extract the heat produced by the super-heated gas in the lamps but keep this in mind, when you air cool a HID lamp to lower the heat in your grow space you are cooling the lamp which in turn reduces the efficiency of the lamp by as high as 7% because the lamp can not generate as high of heat in the gas because your cooling it. Remember, it is the heat of the gas which produces the light, take away the heat and you take away some of the light. That is one of the main reasons Gavita lights do not use air cooled hoods and do not recommend them for their lights.
 
1st I want to thank everyone that has already contributed to this thread.
2nd I also know that in this public forum we are limited to the Sponsors of 420, and I would love to support a Sponsor.
I also understand there are other options outside of the 420mag Sponsors and have been researching them also.
Now I will respond to each one of your comments in the order they were received.

BrixNewb said:
Your budget is pretty clear cut that you will be using a budget light. When it comes to budget lights Mars Hydro is about the best thing going. JuanCarlos suggested the old style lights. I run two in my veg tent. Running 33.75 watts per square foot I have no problem keeping temps under control. In my bloom tent I run 37.5 watts per square foot of HID light and have to use AC to cool the room.
Click to expand...

BrixNewb I appreciate the time to comment on my thread. There was information in your comment i appreciate, which I quoted above.

The rest of it I honestly find condescending slightly offensive in your tone / choice of wording. I stated in my initial post / request that I had already search the forum and read many threads. Yes I am aware of the MarsHydro thread and have made my way through a large portion of it before posting this new thread

I also can appreciate you trying to defend a fellow member from a perceived attack, but there was not attack directed on JuanCarlos. If you look at the comments you will see that I thanked JuanCarlos for his comments, before you posted to this thread and started defending him against an attack that was not there.

Again, thank you for your time and the useful information and welcome any additional useful information. I will continue to interact with everyone on this thread as long as it is civil / polite and is useful information and discussion. Anything else will just be ignored from this point.

415friendly said:
Why LED?

If I had that grow space, I would be jumping all over a CMH.
Click to expand...

Thank you 415friendly, I have been recommended CMH by my local hydro shop. It may be a consideration in the future, but I really am interested in LED technology and want focus on that.

JuanCarlos said:
CMH doesn't fit into his budget.
Click to expand...

Thank you again JuanCarlos for taking the time to comment.
Yes you are correct CMH does not fit in my budget and I really am only interested in focusing on LED and not looking to be persuaded to go HID
Thank you again for taking the time to comment on my thread.

Dr Fish said:
You can't cover as many sq. feet as you want on that small of a total budget using leds that fit your budget.... It's up to you to set the budget for the lights and grow room..... we can't do that for you.. Watt for watt, leds are only slightly cooler than hid lights.... You still have to deal with the heat...
One good led light is more than your total budget... On your budget, fluorescents in the veg, 600 hps 12/12 or 400 hps switchable hid ballast.... You can always expand to fill the grow space you built...
Click to expand...

Dr Fish, thank you for your comment. I appreciate your input that I can not cover the area sufficiently with LED I would like to within the budget I am setting. I also have the option of using my existing T5 lights for one new space and temporarily and use the entire budget for lights of the other new space until I can invest in upgrading the second.

I am not sure why you needed to make the comment about setting my budget for me.
I am also not looking to be persuaded to go HID instead of LED. I honestly asked for recommendation / discussion on what my LED options are for the space and budget I have set.

Again I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

spiritsmoker said:
Look for something that uses COB leds , these are the best, they come with a price tag, but they are the most efficent leds on the market
Click to expand...

Thank you spiritsmoker, I have been recommeded some COB options via PM from other members, and they are a possible consideration. If you have more specifics on this recommendation I am interested and appreciate in additional information / recommendations you would like to add.

OlderGrower said:
I personally grow with Mars-hydro lights and am presently using 3 Mars lights in my present grow (one Mars II 900 and two Mars Reflectors 144) and just got the other 2 Mars light (Mars II 900's) I ordered a few days ago and will be opening those up this weekend. You are more then welcome to click on my current grow link to see my results so you can confirm I do actually use Mars lights.

I know you are all gung-ho and want to get started growing but in all honesty, since you said in your post you were looking for an honest discussion, your plan is setting yourself up for failure. You say you are going to have two flowering rooms that are either 3.5x3.5 or possibly 4x4 each and you plan to spend $300 dollars per area on lighting. I hate to break this to you, but there is no LED light that only costs $300 that can get that kind of coverage. That unfortunately is a FACT. LED Manufacturers will claim they can but the facts are the actually footprint will be smaller. The one thing as an indoor grower that we can do to produce bigger yields and better quality MJ is our lights. You can have the best ventilation system on the planet and feed your plants the best nutrients available and if your lights are not adequate your yields and quality will suffer greatly.
So what am I trying to say? It is this, your plan is going to FAIL, you will grow a few fluffy buds and you will get discouraged and either sell all of your grow gear or learn fro your failure. What I suggest is you skip that step and do your 1st grow with adequate lighting to get a descent harvest. So how will you be able to do that on your budget? quit simple, you are suggesting a budget of $300 per grow area, which you will have 2 of. Two flowering rooms. That is a $600 budget for lighting. Instead of buying two $300 LEDs for TWO flowering rooms might I suggest you spend $600 on two LED lights for ONE flowering room. You can buy a Mars II 700 for $290.99 and 2 Mars II 700 will grow some top quality buds in a 4x4 area and you will be using just a smidgen over 600 watts of power for the 4x4 area. Then as your budget allows it, you buy a few more lights and start utilizing your other 4x4 flower area.

Well thats just my 2 cents on your post, though I do hope it makes you think a little before you move forward. You can start growing and grow successful perhaps not on the scale you would prefer, but a small success will always be better then a large failure in my book.

Best of luck with your grows.
Click to expand...

Thank you OlderGrower, I do appreciate you taking the time to comment on my thread and provide your experience with the MarsHydro models and your opinions/recommendations on my current options are within the criteria I have set.

1st I am already currently growing and will continue to do so with what I already have. I also had several successful indoor grows back years ago. So this is not my 1st grow, but I am just currently learning all the new information and tech that has come along since then.

I am looking at expanding by building out a grow room, which I just started actually, to replace the Tent and Closet grows I currently have.
At this point you have made a good recommendation of focusing all light budget and spending the full $600 on just one space. This is an option I am considering as I can take the 2 - 4ft 8 bulb T5 lights I currently have and using them in the second flower space temporarily until I can invest in new LED lights for the second space.

As for your recommendation on the Mars II 700 these are one of the lights I am already considering. Thank you for taking the time to comment and share your recommendations and opinions.

heliman said:
I think OlderGrower has the correct or best answer. I'm in the exact same situation. Trying to cover a 4x4 area on a budget. You can't properly cover that area for $300... trust me I've been looking and looking at everything under the sun. OlderGrower nailed it!
Click to expand...

Thank you heliman for taking the time to comment. Yes OlderGrower is correct in pointing out the limitations and what options there are.
Thank you again and best of luck with your 4X4 and looking forward to a grow journal from you when you get your LED running.
 
OlderGrower said:
I personally grow with Mars-hydro lights and am presently using 3 Mars lights in my present grow (one Mars II 900 and two Mars Reflectors 144) and just got the other 2 Mars light (Mars II 900's) I ordered a few days ago and will be opening those up this weekend. You are more then welcome to click on my current grow link to see my results so you can confirm I do actually use Mars lights.

I know you are all gung-ho and want to get started growing but in all honesty, since you said in your post you were looking for an honest discussion, your plan is setting yourself up for failure. You say you are going to have two flowering rooms that are either 3.5x3.5 or possibly 4x4 each and you plan to spend $300 dollars per area on lighting. I hate to break this to you, but there is no LED light that only costs $300 that can get that kind of coverage. That unfortunately is a FACT. LED Manufacturers will claim they can but the facts are the actually footprint will be smaller. The one thing as an indoor grower that we can do to produce bigger yields and better quality MJ is our lights. You can have the best ventilation system on the planet and feed your plants the best nutrients available and if your lights are not adequate your yields and quality will suffer greatly.
So what am I trying to say? It is this, your plan is going to FAIL, you will grow a few fluffy buds and you will get discouraged and either sell all of your grow gear or learn fro your failure. What I suggest is you skip that step and do your 1st grow with adequate lighting to get a descent harvest. So how will you be able to do that on your budget? quit simple, you are suggesting a budget of $300 per grow area, which you will have 2 of. Two flowering rooms. That is a $600 budget for lighting. Instead of buying two $300 LEDs for TWO flowering rooms might I suggest you spend $600 on two LED lights for ONE flowering room. You can buy a Mars II 700 for $290.99 and 2 Mars II 700 will grow some top quality buds in a 4x4 area and you will be using just a smidgen over 600 watts of power for the 4x4 area. Then as your budget allows it, you buy a few more lights and start utilizing your other 4x4 flower area.

Well thats just my 2 cents on your post, though I do hope it makes you think a little before you move forward. You can start growing and grow successful perhaps not on the scale you would prefer, but a small success will always be better then a large failure in my book.

Best of luck with your grows.
Click to expand...
Thanks for a very detailed thread on best way to approach LED set up on a limited budget :))
 
Check out our Mars reflector 192, it is fantastic for 3.5x3.5 to 4x4 area. And most importantly it is cheap and also can grow great result, and take advantage of our Black Friday sales to save 10% . Won't let you down! :green_heart:
160.png

29345254_10157317871629447_1991174516_n.jpg

Reflector Mars.jpg
 

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