That fixture is pretty damn close to top of the line. They spared no expense with regards to what emitters they chose and what appears to be a solid build quality. If you were to buy the parts from rapidled and try to build it yourself you'd spend over $300 on the emitters alone.
I agree that 3x3 is an odd basket to load all your eggs in but it isnt intended for the american market and i imagine there are more than a few m^2 tents in the uk/eu
You never
lose PAR by raising the lamp if you have optics, you simply spread your photons over a larger area. You also dont magically lose efficiency if you need more firepower to effectively light your space. This light is as efficient with 1ct in a 3x3 as it is with 1100ct in a 10000sqft greenhouse or warehouse.
Either way it may not be what youre looking for (it isnt for me either) but its a pretty nice piece of lobsterback craftsmanship.
To be honest i dont understand why every light in the US market isnt a single modular 2x2 design that is easily daisy-chained and scalable.
Seems ok. There are a few things I don't like that LED companies do, like it's a small light. 4x4 4x8 4xanything is pretty normal space so when I see 3x3 I can't find a use for it in my space. The price is decent considering it's not top of the line, the fixture makes it look the best imo but again for me it simply wouldn't work. LED are not HPS, HPS are wildly inefficient for many reasons so building a LED like a HPS seems to me to be creating some of the same issues of HPS.
Focus the LEDs with lenses and you lose spread...
Raise the LEDs to widen the spread and you lose PAR
Lose the PAR you need more lights
Needing more lights costs even more money
More lights is more heat and more watts
More watts means you're less efficient
Less efficient and what's the point of going with LED?
A super thin profile light that covers a solid 2x4 is my goal. That should fit over any 4xanything grow while not eating up your vertical space with a giant fixture.
In all I'm sure like most lights it will grow better than most growers skill allows... But again the design seems random and not built for what I have come to know as the standard grow space.
Just my thoughts =D
