I think it's a little hypocrite to pretend my reference frame is limited to what people pretend I know and have done and seen in the past decades, yet refer me to gg's grows again or this subforum at RIU... Anyway, have you seen what gorilla glue looks like under HPS? See the monthly contest at the farm... or the frostiest bud thread at riu. It's genetics... It does look attractive and gg did a great job, but, some frosty well grown GG doesn't somehow blind
me when making comparisons. If it worked like that we'd all be growing T5 like
@RM3.
The buds/colas look great but seem rather small (calyx count) at the top which means the bottom isn't thicker either. If he would have said those were grown under 400w hps or T5 I would have believed it too. You compare to one of the best LED growers you've seen so it seems only fair that I compare to the best hps growers. Others go as far as to think they know where my knowledge and experience ends yet flat out think the reality is limited to what they have or have never seen... too stupid.
No, plants do not just care about photons only. It (an optimal light recipe based) differs a lot per species and type of plant and even amongst cannabis strains. The possibilities of LED go far beyond trying to beat HPS efficiency, which has always been inevitable. The goal of professionals is to replace HPS while maintaining the same quality and yield, and where possible improve both (the promise of led right). That requires considering
many additional factors and goes a lot further than ppf and using white cobs. Stop making me promote led.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photomorphogenesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photobiology
Weird to see a LED user argue that LED would be a better choice because a HID reflector is so expensive. The selection of reflectors I can choose from is (or was...) perhaps a little larger than yours but that comparison seems highly biased again.
I can buy almost 2x a 315w set for that $420 and while they may not live up to your standards of a high quality reflector, that's two of them, compared to the 300watt LED unit... While many LED growers will be replacing more expensive cobs and drivers with more efficient ones to beat those 2 CMH before the bulbs are up for replacement. Or obviously just get 1x cmh and have plenty left to replace bulbs for years... I don't care about the cost 'that' much, but your argument is invalid.
As gg said, they should cost about the same. Yes... but let's not do that by going for the most expensive version of the HID.