How dumb was this lighting decision

[Allenpro]

I am a fan of the 35-40 true watts per sq ft and a bare min of 450 PPFD at the outside corners and 1100 or so ,max in the center of the canopy. From experience a SF 2000 doesnt realy cover a 2 X 4 canopy even with a light mover. I use mine for seedlings in a 2 X 2 X 4 tent and its mounted to the top of the tent.. Works great with the dimmer and I did a SCROG in there with it and it came out ok

[Allenpro]

I started out cheap and then upgraded about 10X before I bought lights to do what I want and now I have a closet full of LED's with probably 2-3X the $ invested in them as oppoised to buying the good ones on the 2nd round, Lights have changed a lot over the years too,

[Bluey]

I did the same. When I started out I bought 14 blue lights around 405nm 12 watts, 6 deep red & far red lights 30W from China, 6 or 7 150W highway lights & 5 or 6 80W food lights for a total of 30 odd different lights in the one space.....lol. But they worked well for about a 1lb a plant after 135 days. The light racking was a bit rough too.

I learnt that saving money on lighting by doing it yourself was far from ideal, but it was fun.

[Gingerbeard]

The only reason I have a badass light is because of a Covid stimulus check.
My first was a pieced together 'bank' of 3, 18" t5's in the 1'x2' side of my 2'x3' perpetual grow tent. Got me a few weeks of good fem veg until my very first actual grow worthy LED.

[CheeseOnToast]

I've been offered a mars hydro 192 used for $55 locally. I'm not about to just storm out and get it, so carrying out a bit of research. Any and all advice welcomed

[Bluey]

Just NO. Noisy, Old, LED life done, I think it might even have a cooling fan.

Go watch some YouTube videos over at Migro or another reputable reviewer, there are plenty that are not, and learn what works well.

I learnt quickly that every dollar saved when it comes to buying grow lights and setting them up is another dollar spent in the long run. I had my own setup I built but in the end ditched it for proper grow lights.

Wait for specials and use codes to save money.

[Smallgrow]

Second what Bluey said about Migro or Dr. Coco, they both do plenty of reviews of budget lights that you can trust, google them

[Bluey]

Yes. And download a light meter phone app and calibrate it to your ight in a tent...use either of those sites for the nubers