tstick do you know how EASY it is to build a COB based light? There's no trick. Figure out what emitters you want for your space, pick a driver, pick a piece of aluminum to stick them on and wire them up. You don't have to drill or solder. It's too easy. You could of built one in the time this thread has been running. Optic isn't anything special. They're not some horticulture company nor are most of the COB based grow panel companies in the game. They don't have some special ability compared to other COB based panels. Plus you can build it to fit your space. And if you really want you can buy cases like Optic's from Mouser or some Army surplus store.
Does an Optic panel really look that professional to you? It's always been a bit of a joke to me and when I see how they go about their business it just reinforces that opinion. Start a thread stating what size room you have and that you want to build a COB. You'll have a dozen answers in a few hours and after a good healthy bitchfest, you'll have your panel(s). Oh and doing it DIY will answer all those questions with a healthy "who the eff cares, I'm in control!".
Well, as far as"looking" professional, I would have to say that most of the cheap, Chinese Blurple lights LOOK the most professionally-built -from the outside, so I wasn't going by the looks so much. But I had been reading that the Optic lights were great because they were the most efficient and effective LED grow lights on the market. I kind of thought the looks of the "lunchbox" was kinda cool. It looks like a case for a set of socket wrenches to me! But, hey, what do I know?
I have an Area51 SGS 160 and a 40" X 40" X 78" space. In past grows, I got "okay" results….good enough. But I wanted to step up to a higher powered light and from the comments, the Optic was the way to go……BUT NOW?!?!?!
I'll give it a little while for the dust to settle, but if they don't have their stuff back up and running by next week, then maybe I will try and figure out how to go about building my own. I could probably do it…but I hate jumping into something like that without a lot of time to prepare and gather information….and I kind of need a light sooner rather than later.
