MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guarantee

[Bandit420]

High All!!
I'm here again to show off another relatively new product that is of high quality.
The Melon Head reflector made by Advanced Nutrients!
A reflector made by a nute company?? And not just any nute company but the ever notorious AN!! Holy ----!
I should also mention that word on the street says that AN also has a badass digital ballast available called....Badass Ballast! But that's for another review!

What we have here is a reflector that is very similar to the Silver Star.
A lot of growers call the Silver Star the Cadillac of reflectors. If that's the case then the MelonHead is the Mercedes Benz.
Encasing the 8"x18" tempered glass cool tube is a 22"x22" hi quality aluminum reflector. The inside of the reflector is highly polished aluminum reflector material.
Out of the box these reflectors scream quality. Quality materials and workmanship show up on all points of this beast. The aluminum used makes them super light weight which makes them ez to hang and move if needed.
AN claims that light will be evenly dispersed eliminating hot spots and sweet spots of lighting in the garden. The entire lighted area should be a sweet spot with these reflectors. AN also claims that this is one of if not the coolest running reflectors available because of the massive 8" cool tube.
I think the biggest thing that caught my eye with this reflector is a 100% lifetime money back guarantee made by Big Mike & AN! I dont know about y'all but to me that's putting your money where your mouth is and standing behind a product. You dont see that very often if at all in the indoor gardening industry.

A guarantee like that makes me want to hug Big Mike!!



Right now my bloom cab is in week six with the current crop so hopefully in about 3-4 weeks I can get these Melon Heads in there to make some hay!
Stay Tuned!

BTW- If anybody else is using these feel free to post the goods, the bads, & the uglies of your experience using them! And if you have any questions feel free to ask!!

 

[The303Stoner]

Re: MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guara

looks great kinda like a mini wing shape Haven't seen them around here

 

[zanza]

Re: MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guara

looks interesting

 

[TorturedSoul]

Re: MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guara

I don't care for the cool-tube through the reflector. That's just my opinion, of course. But it seems that some portion of the light will pass through the glass multiple times - the portion that shines upwards into the reflector and back into some part of the tube (and then again through the glass as it exits downwards). Obviously, that reflected light is not as strong as that which shines directly onto the plants from the bulb. But then again, it's light that you're paying for in the form of your electric bill whether a usable amount of it reaches your plants or not.

With a traditional sealed air-cooled reflector, you've got a flat sheet of glass that none of the light has to pass through more than once. Which would seem - all other things being equal - to pass more net light.

On the positive side: I like the restrike-bend directly above the light, which will cut down on the amount of light that does have to pass through the glass tube (but not eliminate the problem all together). And with the tube being sealed from the rest of the reflector, the gaps around the ends shouldn't be an issue.

On the face of it, it probably does make for a more efficient cooling setup. How much is somewhat debatable because there are insulated wraps available for most air-cooled reflectors to help prevent heat from radiating through the top/sides of the hood. Of course, they are an additional expense, so...

It definitely looks interesting and should provide a better footprint than a cool-tube with an attached "wing." If you decide to run a grow journal using these, please add a link to this thread so we can check them out in action.

 

[Bandit420]

Re: MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guara

Great post TS!!
Here's a bit of background on my bloom cab's lighting.
The MelonHeads will be my third choice of reflectors in four years. I hoping they'll be my last lol.
I've used Hydrofarm Daystars & Hydrofarm Cool Tubes.
The Daystars were great reflectors but they were very difficult to keep cool even with heat shields. I live in a very warm climate. Yesterday Dec 4th, the outside temps were at 80+! Summer averages are in the low hundys.
I use large volumes of fresh air to cool the lights as well as another fresh air line to pump air into the cab.
With the Daystars the air would not evacuate fast enough so the reflector would heat up and keep the temps in the cab at about 90.
I moved to Cool Tubes and finally got control of the heat but I lost coverage.
I installed a mover to try to make up for the lost coverage but I feel like there is still room for improvement so i started looking at reflectors that incorporated cool tube tech with standard reflectors.
I originally wanted the AirStream all aluminum reflectors from Hydro Innovations but the release of the product to the general public has been delayed.
My next choice was the SilverStar from Hydrotech. Then I saw the MelonHeads which are very similar to the SilverStar but they cost $40 less and come with a lifetime guarantee so the choice became clear.

As for usable light I'm the last person that can offer anything scientific or be able to post meter readings, usable light info, or comparison charts.
All I can offer as far as usable data will be from how my garden reacts to the change.
I doubt I'll see a major increase in yields but I do believe that I'll see better plants in the corners of the cab where the cool tubes lack in coverage.
The light bouncing around in the reflector is intriguing. I would think that effect would create a very bright focal point of light for the plants but there could also be a lack of canopy penetrating downward light.
I think I can get around the possible lack of penetration by growing plants that are no taller than 30", IDK yet.
Right now my cool tubes have light escaping in nearly all directions. They have a flashlight effect on the wall of the cab and there is also light escaping between the built in reflector and the wings. IMO Hydrofarm really needs to redesign those wings to not only fit better on the tube but maybe reshape and enlarge them.

Here's a couple pics of the cool tube set up that the MelonHeads will replace

The Melonheads will be installed the same way as these cool tubes. Each one will only have a 430 watt Son Agro Hortilux bulb. The mover will still be used so of course the coverage will be a bit better than if they were stationary.
Sorry I cant do a scientific grow where these reflectors will run without any grower enhancements to get them to perform better. I cant do a cool tube vs MelonHead comparison grow either. Like my cooltubes, I'll be doing anything to get the most out of the MelonHeads and my comparisons will be made against previous crop yields.

Right now out of the box I only have two negatives on the MelonHeads.
The first is the cool tube in them. I would rather see Pyrex glass over tempered glass but that would also add weight to the reflectors. However the tube is 8" in diameter. I'll be curious to see if an 8" tempered tube can be as cool or cooler than a 6" Pyrex tube using the same blower.
I'll also need a 8" to 6" duct adapter to match them up to my 6" exaust blower.
The other negative which could also be a positive for some is that the cord is not an all system cord but one that fits Sun System ballast type plugs. My ballasts are Hydrofarm so I had to buy the SS to HF cord adapters.


By the second week of January i should have the MelonHeads installed and the bloom cab restocked w/ 12 OG Kush clones. Hopefully they'll grow to be well, melon heads!!

Here's the link to my journal now if you want to check out what I've been up to so far. The next grow will be the same except for the change in reflectors and the crop will be all OG Kush instead of three different strains.
Sensi and The Bandit - A Grapegod, OG Kush & Mutant LA Woman Journal

 

[bud brother]

Re: MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guara

Hi bandit followed you over here .Wont you lose a lot of the cooling capacity by running a six in. fan with a reducer on the shade ? I'd get the 8 in . And fan speed controller to really see the true potential of the cooling capacity.

 

[Bandit420]

Re: MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guara

Hi bandit followed you over here .Wont you lose a lot of the cooling capacity by running a six in. fan with a reducer on the shade ? I'd get the 8 in . And fan speed controller to really see the true potential of the cooling capacity.

I hear ya BC. Since I already have the sixer in there I'll go with it for now but yeah if it does not suck the hot air out fast enough I will upgrade to an 8". I figure for right now it's more cost effective to try the adapter for $8 before I upgrade the blower.
I'm sure the reducer will have some restricting effect but not too much since the distance from the entry point of the reflectors to the blower is only about 3' and I dont use a carbon filter. If i used a filter i would probably jack it up to a 10" blower lol!

 

[Bandit420]

Re: MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guara

Ok so here's the update on this review....

A bit of reconfiguring of my bloom cab has been made. The six inch inline fan has been replaced by an 8" CAP Valueline inline fan and the leds have been removed in favor of t5ho supplemental lighting on the sides of the MelonHeads.

The light exaust fan is on a themostat so it's not running every minute the lights are on.
I'm also in the process of adding a CO2 tank system to run the room on a closed air system. The lights will have a dedicated air line from outside going into the MelonHeads and exausted back to the outside.

Right now the garden is in week four of bloom.

What I can say about these MelonHeads right now is that there is no way AN will need to give me my $ back!
They run very cool which is really nice! After about 3 hours of lights on they'll warm up enough to trigger the thermostat into kicking on the exaust blower. It runs for about 5 minutes cooling the lights down and then shuts off. It continues that cycle running about 5 minutes every 20 minutes.
The light broadcast is very impressive! They easily cover the entire growing space with optimum lighting...No sweet spots because the entire footprint is a sweet spot! The broadcast is so great I can fit up to three more 30" plants in the bloom cab compared to the Cool Tube set up. And the cool tubes were on a mover! These MelonHeads dont move and they dont need to move!
There is no comparison to the old cool tube set up I was running. From operating temps to light broadcast the MHs are so superior it's not even funny. If the Melonheads met the cool tubes in a dark alley the MHs would leave the CTs busted up and crying!

I'll update this again right before harvest but if anybody would like to check out the entire grow, just click on the link in my sig

 

[Growzo]

Re: MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guara

I've used "tube through the reflectors" before. They get REALLY hot. I couldn't touch the top of the reflector, it was so hot. This looks like a knock off of the Silver Star reflector from Canada with the addition of the tube.

 

[Bandit420]

Re: MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guara

I've used "tube through the reflectors" before. They get REALLY hot. I couldn't touch the top of the reflector, it was so hot. This looks like a knock off of the Silver Star reflector from Canada with the addition of the tube.

Sounds like you had a junk reflector or did'nt use a big enough blower to exaust the heat.
My Buddy runs a SilverStar from Hydrotech too. There are a few differences, mainly size, but the design and the use of aluminum in the construction is very similar.
All I can tell you about temps in my cab is that it never gets over 80 degrees and all of my lights are cool to the touch. There's a warm spot under the bulb and that's it. I also have them installed properly with their own air circuit from outside going into the reflectors and then exausted back to the outside with over 700 cfm of cool down power.

 

[Stonercool]

Re: MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guara

Wait...seriously? I didn't know that An had a reflector? Dude, I need to catch up with the times. Thanks for the review here. Really helpful stuff and I'm in the market for something like melonhead.

And while ive never used the 100% money back guarnantee, i think that's a great idea. Makes me feel like I dont have to take a risk on something that I'm spending money on.

 

[Bandit420]

Re: MelonHead by Advanced Nutrients-The Reflector w/ a 100% Money Back Lifetime Guara

Wait...seriously? I didn't know that An had a reflector? Dude, I need to catch up with the times. Thanks for the review here. Really helpful stuff and I'm in the market for something like melonhead.

And while ive never used the 100% money back guarnantee, i think that's a great idea. Makes me feel like I dont have to take a risk on something that I'm spending money on.

lol I tripped out when I saw they were from AN too!
AN also has a digital electronic ballast called The Bad Ass available.
It all makes me wonder what else is on the AN to do list....
Maybe their own line of tents & hydro systems made for cannabis??? Who knows with those guys!!