I'm spending a fortune trying to save money growing weed

IrkinBollikans

Well-Known Member
You guys got to like those LEDs to justify the purchase I think you guys are a litte bias or maybe you got splinters in the brain hugging trees

Good LEDs are priced way too high would just be stupid to burn a cheap LED that's not as efficient as hid.

I'm waiting
I agree that pre-built units can be pretty darn expensive. But DIY cuts cost significantly and pays for itself in one run if you grow for profit. Or really even if you don't. I sold my HIDs midway through flowering my first time with leds. I could see what was happening. I'm not trying to convert you, just saying, most who try it wont go back.
 

MICHI-CAN

Well-Known Member
You guys got to like those LEDs to justify the purchase I think you guys are a litte bias or maybe you got splinters in the brain hugging trees

Good LEDs are priced way too high would just be stupid to burn a cheap LED that's not as efficient as hid.

I'm waiting
HPS, MH, CFL, SMD and CREE COBS all in my collection. LED blows incandescent out of the water. And the top bin lights are expensive. Only marginally better than several knock offs. Being a personal use non profit grower I saved and finally ordered 2 350W V3 quantum boards. I am certain my plants will grow better. And worth the cost in energy savings and no heat issues.
 

TheDifferenceX

Well-Known Member
At first, it seems like an endless money pit.

It get's way better. I haven't bought any smoke in over 7 months. I took all my equipment down a few weeks ago and will leave it down for about 4 months. I have enough smoke to last me that long.

Trust me, it's worth it in the end.
 

IrkinBollikans

Well-Known Member
HPS, MH, CFL, SMD and CREE COBS all in my collection. LED blows incandescent out of the water. And the top bin lights are expensive. Only marginally better than several knock offs. Being a personal use non profit grower I saved and finally ordered 2 350W V3 quantum boards. I am certain my plants will grow better. And worth the cost in energy savings and no heat issues.
This exactly. After dropping on a qb120 for veg and a qb260 for flowering, I knew what was up. Now have 700w in a 4x4 and 230w for veg. The growth difference blew my mind haha
 

mauricem00

Well-Known Member
Summer growing, don't stuff a heater in a small box.

Your cooling your house anyway

Small heater in big room not so mush a problems

I don't know what cellar-dweller living in Mama's basement invented the tent. Real grow lights don't need no tent, heck you lose 5% of the energy everytime light reflects
without a tent 100% of that light was lost. i saw a significant improvement when I got a tent
 

TheDifferenceX

Well-Known Member
Last trip to Colorado, I wasn't that impressed at the dispensaries i went to. Sure, it was manicured and trimmed very nice (which is something i don't do anymore with my personal stash) but I still wasn't willing to pay $225/oz for a bunch of different strains.

Left with some edibles and wax, but actually bought ZERO flower. I prefer my own, homegrown buds.
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
You guys got to like those LEDs to justify the purchase I think you guys are a litte bias or maybe you got splinters in the brain hugging trees

Good LEDs are priced way too high would just be stupid to burn a cheap LED that's not as efficient as hid.

I'm waiting
I run two 1000W HPS hortilux lamps in my flower room and just added 2 quantum boards to beef things up. 1 board is 660W and the other is 450W. The 660W model I got off of Alibaba for $504 delivered. The other I got off Amazon from spider farmer for $625. The Alibaba unit is significantly more powerful and spreads over a much larger footprint for a lot less. The spider farmer unit is impressive, but lower wattage with less output. I first installed them in my 2 nursery tents. The 660W unit went into a 5'x5'x6.5' tent. The 450W unit went into a 3'x3'x6.5' clone tent. I ran them for about 2 weeks in those tents. I was unable to run the units at full power without burning the plants. These things are the real deal, and their output should not be underestimated. I had to dial them down to 50% to keep the plants happy. After that they took off nicely. The nodes are much tighter than what I'm use to seeing occur under the T5's I normally run in my nurseries. I never planned to keep them as nursery lights, but I couldn't resist the temptation to try them out while I completed my flower room remodel. In my opinion both lights are vastly over powered for a tent of any size. I would say a 300W quantum board is more than sufficient for a 5'x5'x6.5' for veg or flower. Anything more and you're just wasting your money for power you won't be able to use.

I wouldn't go so far as to say HPS is antiquated, but it's getting close. I have to buy a $170 quality inline fan for every 1000W hood I have running which is something nobody ever seems to factor into their costs when comparing the initial costs for an HID setup versus LED. My 1000W phantom digital ballast ran me $212 on sale. The hood was $110. The 6" Vortex inline fan was $160. Not to mention $85 for the hortilux lamp. All in I spent right around $567+ sales tax for 1 single 1000W light setup. For this reason when I went shopping for 2 new lights I had to try the latest LED technology in an effort to run a more efficient garden as I expand. I have not completed a flower cycle yet, so I cannot speak to the results these units will produce as of yet. I feel the 660W unit adequately replaces a 1000W light. I spent $504 for that unit including sales tax. That's $63 cheaper than if I had gone with HID not counting the sales tax I would have to pay on the $567 I did not factor into the equation. With sales tax factored in I saved nearly $100 versus purchasing an additional HID light. I anticipate performance will equal or surpass my 1000W hortilux lamps while consuming significantly less power with zero maintenance costs (i.e. lamp replacement fan replacement / cleaning). I'm looking forward to seeing the results, and sharing them with y'all.

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IrkinBollikans

Well-Known Member
Last trip to Colorado, I wasn't that impressed at the dispensaries i went to. Sure, it was manicured and trimmed very nice (which is something i don't do anymore with my personal stash) but I still wasn't willing to pay $225/oz for a bunch of different strains.

Left with some edibles and wax, but actually bought ZERO flower. I prefer my own, homegrown buds.
This was my experience as well. Everything they had smelled the same, looked the same, and performed the same. Poor
 
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