Dream led light for a 4x4x6 ft area

[Smoklahoma]

I need new lights! 😪 If you could have any led light you wanted which one would you get? Been looking at the
Timber COBs and Gavita bar lights? Prefer a little overkill. Running CO2 also.

[echdk3]

How about the Black Dog PhytoMAX-2 600? The two more powerful models are probably too much for 4x4.

https://www.blackdogled.com//products-led/led-grow-lights/phytomax2-600.html

[PLreef]

Roi-i e680

https://hydrobuilder.com/growers-choice-roi-680-led-grow-light.html

[FunkyButtLovin]

I agree with this 100%

When I was done researching and crunching numbers about 3-4 months ago, this is the light I settled on. This is about all the performance you'll ever be able to use in a 4x4 and was the best value in it's class. You could spend more but I do not think you'd get much more in terms of performance, especially for a 4x4.

[PLreef]

I'm saving up for it now. Hopefully I can order it in the next few weeks

[PLreef]

I did it. I got the 680 coming next week. I blame this thread.

[MeEasy]

Photontek X 600w PRO
ELECTRIC SKY 300V³

[golfnrl]

When I get my grow room reno complete I'll be adding a new 4x4x7'11" tent. I bought the Grow-it-LED Excalibur with the Casambi wifi controller. Can't wait to use it. I wanted a bar light and this one checked all the right boxes, including performance and price. I really like the company's values and the customer support is better than good. https://grow-it-led.com/shop/grow-li...r-king-series/

[PLreef]

Pretty sweet looking light. Ill have to put some thought into this one.

[GreenAlchemist]

Mars hydro SP 6500 is pretty nuts, even their previous model SP 3000 is awesome. Anything though with the Samsung lm301B or lm301H is well worth the money.

[echdk3]

When comparing LED specifications, don’t forget to note whether it has active cooling (onboard fans), or “passive” which is a deceptive way of saying “no onboard cooling at all”, i.e. rely on the air around the LEDs, meaning it’s on you to provide a strong breeze directly on your lights from external sources.

Lights with “passive” cooling tend to run hotter, which results in less efficiency and decreased lifespan.

[bboyfromwayback]

Two ES300’s

[Farmbuck]

ViparSpectra XS series....

https://www.viparspectra.com/collections/xs-series/products/xs-series-xs4000

[dilvish]

Like I always say, do your homework when it comes to lights. The vast majority of sellers are from China and have little or no safety testing. Most of them claim safety testing using the "CE" certification but many of them are fake and that certification is not recognized by most government safety authorities so it's "buyer beware"

Ironically the vast majority of sellers on sites like Amazon sell lights that are not safety certified and actually violate Amazon's own rules regarding the sale of electrical items. Unfortunately amazon doesn't police it so these sellers get away with it.

I guess what I am trying to say is if you are going to be running a grow light for 18 or more hours a day, make sure it has proper safety certification. The 3 most widely recognized are UL, CSA and ETL.

From my own experience, ViparSpectra makes a few excellent models that are properly safety tested and certified by Underwriter Labs USA (UL). this is the one I got

https://www.viparspectra.com/collections/reflector-series/products/reflector-series-r900

[echdk3]

Exactly! CE is just a claim by the manufacturer, which is useless. To ensure you’re buying safe products, you really should look for either UL or ETL certification.

[YYCannabis]

Hmm...depends on whose “dream” you’re asking about.

Like a lot of new growers, I ran to Amazon and bought a blurple LED light to get me started. Unlike a lot of growers, I then sunk hundreds of hours researching LED lights and light spectrum. I realized that the “cheap” options available were of questionable quality and reliability, so i decided to build my own lights for a 4x4 tent. I know exactly what quality (top bin) LED emitters i was getting and a full spectral chart. I know that at 100% power I am getting 600 watts from my LEDs. The wattage ratings on the Amazon and other Chinese blurple lights is totally misleading the consumer as to exactly how much wattage is actually being projected onto the plants.

Many many growers here have used a vast swath of brand names and watts. The best advice i can give you is to buy the best lights you can afford. Lights are food, and the quality of food/photons you feed your plants is not something to cheap-out on. 👍

Cheers
YYC

[Smoklahoma]

Thanks for everyone's replies. Looks like some real nice choices. I screwed up last time and bought these nextlight core at the advise of the pro at the grow shop. Wasted $1400 on lights that are way to small. This go round wanted to hear from all you real growers what my best options would be. Got about 6 to 7 weeks to decide something, definitely doing some research this time. I like the big bar lights, but don't think have enough room with ventilation and stuff.

[RetiredGuy]

Don’t feel bad, I bought a complete system from what I thought was a reliable vendor. Once I decided to start growing I was in too much of a hurry to do in depth research. The system I bought had a burple. My first grow had a fairly low yield. Now that I have researched lighting I suspect the light was one of the culprits( my lack of defoliation didn’t help either!). I hope my next grow improves as the light had been swapped to a Mars Hydro SP3000. I am looking forward to seeing what it can do.

[Smoklahoma]

Been eyeballing those mars. Fits my space, seems like good output. Looking for something that will plug into my trolmaster.

[RetiredGuy]

There are a lot of good reviews on YouTube. Several with PPFD measurements. I was reassured because the measurements were similar from several different people.

[MeEasy]

Hey Smoklahoma check out cocoforcannabis.com the homepage has good info on how to shop for LEDs. They do alot of reviews on all kinds of stuff to. But there's alot of companies they don't review so their lists of top equipment is incomplete. I'm guessing that if the company doesn't give them free stuff they don't review it. But the information is very valuable

[Drekthar]

HLG 550 or 650 wont disappoint!
Im running the SLim 600 and so far after 2-3 grows it hasnt done any better the the HLG550 i previously used but i hope to do better with it as I will be running it much closer to the canopy then previous grows.
Like everyone else says there are many choices.

[gbauto]

Agreed.
Based on my own experience. a minimum of 500 watts of lm301 diodes is what you're going to need.
I'd personally go with a 650 if you're using co2 enrichment.