Mars-Hydro - Formerly TopLedGrowLight - Customer Service Review

[DoctorGonzo]

So it seems none of the Chinese lights are really very reliable

If you look on Amazon, there's lots of Chinese-branded electronics, and at far less cost than brand names. Thing is, most of them are poorly designed, constructed, and engineered, resulting in an early demise, compared to name brand products that are manufactured in China, to spec, by OEMs like Sharp or Beats.
MPow and TaoTronics are two that come to mind. They're okay out of the box, but suffer from poor quality control and bad hardware job lots (like Bluetooth receivers) which often result in product failure. These two companies, via Amazon, give 18 month no questions asked warranties & ship replacements hassle free, often without requiring return of defective products because they know they manufacture products with a high defect rate but are trying to build their brands at any(!!) cost.
I don't know Mars Hydro's exact business model, but it's very clear that their manufacturing standards & hardware lots come up at less than say, a company like Hortilux would tolerate. Bad soldering and chips that are sub-par are poor manufacturing standards and corner cutting bulk hardware purchases, personified.
If Mars wants to be anything other than a cut rate lighting supplier, they need to raise their quality controls, and if they need to raise their prices to allow for bullet proof warranties & build quality that equals the finest in the market then that's what they should do. Or, they can do what they're doing now, and stay as entry level, inexpensive lighting that people use to get their feet wet before they move on to professional grade equipment.
When you buy an $80 light based on emerging technology that seems like a bargain compared to what's standard in the industry, you always, in the end, get only what you pay for.
Mars has pretty nice customer service on this forum, which certainly helps, but what they really need to achieve, from what I can see, is a product that's more consistently high performing or at least performs equal to their ad copy claims.


-Doc



"The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it." -Thompson

 

[Cranky]

I feel your pain. I bought a 700 early 11/15 and ran 2 grows of autoflower's. I started the second grow with 5 weeks left on the first so the light was on a total of 24 weeks for 18 hours a day. If my math is right that's 3024 hours and then put the tent and light away for the summer. Set it all up again 2 weeks ago, plugged the light in before I hung it and have 30 leds not working. I knew I had a couple out when I put it away but nothing like this. The light has 24 blue led's, 21 are burned out plus 9 others. Mars service is in the process of sending me 30 led's and 30 diodes. They offered me the option of sending to have repaired but like you I'm not spending any more money on this light. I read the warranty before I bought the light so that is what it is. Other than the fact that this light is only going to last a very small fraction of it's advertised 50000 hour lifespan my complaint would be the service procedure. Because they are a China based company all emails I have received have come between 10pm and 3am so it can take 24 hours just to answer a yes or no question. From what I understand they have a couple places to send lights for repair in the states but could really use a service rep to handle warranty claims. I'm sure there are plenty.

 

[Mars Hydro]

The Mars II sereis install with lens,it may have lens problem.As the chip tech upgraded fast,which the lens tech can not catch up with,the special spectrum cause darkening lens.We are always keeping upgrade the lens tech and the driver.
Now we have:Mars Pro II series.EPISTAR to help us solve this problem, they install the leds in Taiwan without lens, so that our Mars Pro will not have this problem

 

[Mars Hydro]

yeah, We know the Lens problem is a headache, so we take the LENS off on the Mars Pro II series, and solve this problem completely, we do not use, I do not believe it will break.

the Mars II series, I also asked the engineer,Boss, we also tested other brand, if they use the same LEDs, same Lens, the LENs will break, the time will depend on the temperature of the room . you know the LED is very sensitive to high temperature. We wanted to stop making the Mars II , but most growers want us to keep going on those great products, for the great price and great result. the grow result, I do believe you have seen on the internet, it is really great .

So here I really want to tell Mars Hydro customers, if you do not want to meet Mars II products anymore, go to our Mars Pro II series, no LED Lens problem any more. we promise. This product begin to sell since the winter of 2015, after one and half year, we did not get any information about the burnt of Lens.

If anyone of you have an idea how to solve the Mars II lens problem, we would like to accept it within our ability. The Mars II LEDs burn out problem caused by the intensive power of LED chips, the Lens cannot bear it , so the Lens start to blown after several months use. We know it is hard for growers to repair, so we have several repair center near to our warehouse. why we can only provide the warranty stated on the website. you know this light you bought is 300USD, we cover shipment, parts, repair fee all the time, no expire time. how can we make money, if we can not make money, how our company live? Actually, we can provide CREE LEDs with Meanwell driver, too expensive, I know customers can not accept the high price, how can we do ? it is really hard for us to make an decision. we improved the LEDs in Mars Pro II series, this is the best thing we can do to keep at a reasonable price.

Waiting for suggestions from your guys.

I had used it less than a year at the time, but have had the light 13 or 14 months. So I guess we are back to where we started. WIth me being forced to pay $100 for a $300 light that didnt make it past 2 grows? Thats not good business practice. I spent over $400 with you all for a tent and a lgiht. Both were tore up before 2nd grow was done. And because its been over a year im just screwed. Im very disappointed with your company right now. I honestly cant recommend them anymore do to the lack of warranty and lack of quality lights that arent going to break. And I know Im not alone in feeling screwed. So maybe instead of having a "we will not break" attitude you should listen more to your customers.

 

[sleepless]

We will upload more videos this week on youtube to help people learn how to repair themselves if they do not want to ship out to our repair center and want to repair themselves. hope it helps.
I think you need to pay a lot to get the light repaired after warranty if you buy from a local store, right? after warranty, usually, our labor is only 30~50USD per light, but if your light went to terrible badly, a lot dust, drop water in, and other badly broken, they will charge three times repair fee. why we charge so low service price, because we are finding Chinese people to help us. and their repair work is great !!!! we are very happy with their service, good and fast,

Just 50 USD to repair a light that;

A ) wasn't what I ordered from day 1 and mars did nothing

B) didn't make it through one veg cycle.

Either way I'll never buy that crap again.

Mine makes a great veg light now that I tore it apart and built my own.

 

[sleepless]

I managed to fix my light on my own, but it was a complete accident so maybe someone can tell me what the actual problem was.

I found a multimeter and was testing for current across all the diodes +/- on the problem region, with the power plugged in!

When testing one of the diodes the entire region lit up, and surprisingly everything stayed lit after I stopped touching it with the probe.

I guess it must have just been a bad connection, or the solder is failing, and I managed to jiggle the circuit into working again just by touching it...

I'm going to try resoldering the diode and hopefully that will permanently fix the problem. Strange thing is that I thought 1 bad diode wasn't supposed to affect the rest of the LEDs?

I also have a few LEDs that are legitimately burned out, and some where the bubble has melted but the diode still works. I guess I just need to order some new diodes and safety circuits and the light should be nearly good as new!

EDIT: And an update on the Morsen lights, the 800w (tested to draw 240w) arrived with 10 dead diodes, and the free replacement arrived with 8 dead diodes. Both lights had multiple regions completely fail within a week... They refunded $100 of the $160 cost and let me keep the lights. I managed to repair them on my own

So it seems none of the Chinese lights are really very reliable, but the Mars Hydro II is definitely the best of the lot! At least the Mars light survived through a full hot summer, but the construction of the light is FAR superior. The other Chinese light feels like a toy in comparison!

Get a new light.

It's a boat anchor

 

[sleepless]

Mars solution according to Sara - buy the expensive one

Yeah right.

I bought the mars ii you told me was great and I got 40 days of veg and zero warranty.

This forum loses credibility just by having Mars as a sponsor in my eyes.

 

[Thunderbrain]

I didn't read this thread backwards, so I don't know when you bought it or why no warranty, but if you paid with a credit card (in the US, at least), most card companies will double the manufacturers warranty. If it's out of warranty, or they won't repair it under warranty, start a dispute with your card company and let them fight it out for you.

 

[ItsNatural]

The Mars II sereis install with lens,it may have lens problem.As the chip tech upgraded fast,which the lens tech can not catch up with,the special spectrum cause darkening lens.We are always keeping upgrade the lens tech and the driver.
Now we have:Mars Pro II series.EPISTAR to help us solve this problem, they install the leds in Taiwan without lens, so that our Mars Pro will not have this problem

So what your saying is everyone that bought a Mars 2 series is screwed. You all rushed it out, sold it, realized they were cheap and prone to tear up, and fixed the problem while leaving everyone that bought the cheap one screwed. Because we all now know your warranty doesnt pay for anything. This statement alone shows whats wrong with your company. You all are thinking short term. "how can we make the most money now" instead of long term, which is " how can we make the most money in the next 20 years. The difference is caring about your customer. The 1st way is putting out cheap lights that you know are going to tear up within a year and not taking care of or satisfying your customers. The other way is putting out quality lights that you know will last and having a solid warranty because of it. Making sure that you get repeat customers. Instead of the noobs that are trying to get their feet wet. Take me for example. I would have been a lifetime customer. So instead of just getting the over $400 that you got. I would have upgraded my light and tent with you all within the next year or so. Buying a more expensive mars light with more wattage. So instead of $400 you could have got $2000, and then 5 to 6 years from that another $1200 to $1500. PLUS the referrals. Thats a BIGGIE. That was prolly worth a few thousand AT LEAST. So $1000s you have lost just from me. And from looking at this thread alone. I would say Im not the only one. How anyone can read your above post and not see that your company is all about the quick buck, is beyond me.

The Mars II LEDs burn out problem caused by the intensive power of LED chips, the Lens cannot bear it , so the Lens start to blown after several months use. We know it is hard for growers to repair, so we have several repair center near to our warehouse. why we can only provide the warranty stated on the website. you know this light you bought is 300USD, we cover shipment, parts, repair fee all the time, no expire time. how can we make money, if we can not make money, how our company live? Actually, we can provide CREE LEDs with Meanwell driver, too expensive, I know customers can not accept the high price, how can we do ? it is really hard for us to make an decision. we improved the LEDs in Mars Pro II series, this is the best thing we can do to keep at a reasonable price.

The first part of this statement proves you have NO quality control. How does this happen if you are checking new to market lights to make sure there arent any defects. Sounds like you made a light, never checked to see if it worked, then sold a bunch of them. And then when customers started needing repairs. Im sure you pointed toward your warranty and they were forced to pay $100s to get fixed. Although from the sounds of it, it doesnt sound like you all really know how to fix the problem. Which means 100s if not 1000s of people were sold a defective light that you have no intentions in reimbursing.

Now how do you make money if you pay for shipping labor and parts like a real warranty does. Its simple. DONT put out cheap lights that are going to break after 2 grows. OR just cover the shipping, parts, and labor for repair. And although it sucks to have a light tear up in the middle of a grow, It would still be worth buying because you can get it fixed. Its NOT WORTH buying if I have to pay 1/3rd of what the light cost to fix it. Im not trying to be rude or just negative but you can look at just this thread, and see that you have a problem. With your lights AND customer service. We all arent just making things up. And notice you STILL never said a word about my tent that the stitching came apart after a few weeks. Its ok though. I will just take my money and referrals somewhere else.

 

[Icemud]

If anyone of you have an idea how to solve the Mars II lens problem, we would like to accept it within our ability.

Most likely the failure is cause by using poor encapsulation materials or by poor standards of quality control at the encapsulation stage. What material is used on your encapsulation? My guess would be epoxy.

Its very possible that the encapsulation material itself is of poor quality, or one of the other components in the Mars II light such as the PCB board materials, or the solder is off gassing causing a breakdown of the chemical bonds in the epoxy itself. It could be an adhesive or glue that is used on the Mars II which is interacting with the encapsulation.

Have you always had the same company do encapsulations for your chips? are they done in house? Who did you use for encapsulation when you were Top LED, and why did you change since then? Most likely that is your problem.

 

[Cranky]

We follow strict development guidelines and quality standards and we fully stand behind our products. If you ever do have and issue with your unit we will resolve it quickly with our unbeatable customer service. We offer a 2 year extensive warranty on every grow light we carry. Buy with confidence, buy Mars Hydro.

 

[MyDogSpot]

yeah, We know the Lens problem is a headache, so we take the LENS off on the Mars Pro II series, and solve this problem completely, we do not use, I do not believe it will break.

the Mars II series, I also asked the engineer,Boss, we also tested other brand, if they use the same LEDs, same Lens, the LENs will break, the time will depend on the temperature of the room . you know the LED is very sensitive to high temperature. We wanted to stop making the Mars II , but most growers want us to keep going on those great products, for the great price and great result. the grow result, I do believe you have seen on the internet, it is really great .

So here I really want to tell Mars Hydro customers, if you do not want to meet Mars II products anymore, go to our Mars Pro II series, no LED Lens problem any more. we promise. This product begin to sell since the winter of 2015, after one and half year, we did not get any information about the burnt of Lens.

If anyone of you have an idea how to solve the Mars II lens problem, we would like to accept it within our ability. The Mars II LEDs burn out problem caused by the intensive power of LED chips, the Lens cannot bear it , so the Lens start to blown after several months use. We know it is hard for growers to repair, so we have several repair center near to our warehouse. why we can only provide the warranty stated on the website. you know this light you bought is 300USD, we cover shipment, parts, repair fee all the time, no expire time. how can we make money, if we can not make money, how our company live? Actually, we can provide CREE LEDs with Meanwell driver, too expensive, I know customers can not accept the high price, how can we do ? it is really hard for us to make an decision. we improved the LEDs in Mars Pro II series, this is the best thing we can do to keep at a reasonable price.

Waiting for suggestions from your guys.

Uh huh.
Good timing posting this as I JUST bought a Mars II 1200, on Amazon paid with a credit card
And I just received the email with the return and refund info.
Saved by the bell.


Indoors - 600W MH - GSC & Blueberry

LED GSC & Hash plant

 

[Mars Hydro]

You mean the light did not last one veg cycle? and we did not provide warranty? have you emailed us? As I said, We do what we promised in our warranty policy. if we did not do what we promised in our warranty, show me the evidence, I will ask our warranty department and they will get punished.

Just 50 USD to repair a light that;

A ) wasn't what I ordered from day 1 and mars did nothing

B) didn't make it through one veg cycle.

Either way I'll never buy that crap again.

Mine makes a great veg light now that I tore it apart and built my own.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Get a new light.

It's a boat anchor

all the things will broken, the time will depend on how you protect them. we also have customers used our light several years and no problem. but someone use three months broken for the heat problem,dust and sulfur problem and other unnatural problem.

As we said, We keep making this Mars II series product, because a lot people only want them even I told them there is will have a LENs problem if they do not use well, but they insist they want to buy because there has a lot great grow result pictures, they trust their eyes but not our words.

We do really hope customers can listen to us and buy the Mars Pro II series, we have CREE and Epistar chips, and we also have 80LED , 120LED , 160LED and 320LED, many choice. No Lens problem any more, and you will not need warranty anymore. a bit high price, you will not get into warranty problem, we do not need to ask you ship back to our repair center to help you . this is good to both of us.

 

[Weavel]

Just stopped in to say i bought 2 mars 300 a year ago, on both units the same 4 leds burned, contacted customer service they responded within a few hours, arranged replacement parts, received parts 4 days later, took 15 minutes to repair.

Great service, even with me buying just a cheap ass light.

I have recommend them to others.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Mars solution according to Sara - buy the expensive one

Yeah right.

I bought the mars ii you told me was great and I got 40 days of veg and zero warranty.

This forum loses credibility just by having Mars as a sponsor in my eyes.

if you grow 40 days broken caused by our problem, show me the evidence, I ship you a new light immediately .

 

[Mars Hydro]

Just stopped in to say i bought 2 mars 300 a year ago, on both units the same 4 leds burned, contacted customer service they responded within a few hours, arranged replacement parts, received parts 4 days later, took 15 minutes to repair.

Great service, even with me buying just a cheap ass light.

I have recommend them to others.

Thank you Weavel, next time, I hope you can buy our Mars Pro II series, no LEDs burn out problem, We will not let you down .

 

[Mars Hydro]

yeah, This is a solutions too . Welcome our customers pay with their credit card. when place order on our website, go to paypal payment, you can pay with your credit card. when you found anything wrong with our company, you can open case, your bank will help you, and Paypal will talk with bank to see if we need to refund you money. that's a very fair solution.

I didn't read this thread backwards, so I don't know when you bought it or why no warranty, but if you paid with a credit card (in the US, at least), most card companies will double the manufacturers warranty. If it's out of warranty, or they won't repair it under warranty, start a dispute with your card company and let them fight it out for you.

 

[nev47]

wish i could say the same weavel got 2, 300s with leds burn out and got to pay for them to be replaced just over a year old

 

[MyDogSpot]

I'm am thinking of actually giving mars-hydro one more try.
I've worked in product development of electronic devices for numerous years. Also worked hand in hand with overseas manufacturing. So I do understand their plight.
However as a customer in North America, we have certain demands and a quality that we have come to expect when we buy products. Especially expensive electronic equipment.
So I bought their tent. Meh.
Led Glasses not bad
Mars II 1200 (happy until I start hearing there is a known problem with blowing leds... hmmm
So returning the led but I may try a mars II pro.
Im still deciding and looking at the options.


Indoors - 600W MH - GSC & Blueberry

LED GSC & Hash plant