Happy four twenty! Two! First "legal" one in Washington! I finally got the email registration for creating my user id!! What's up Tags!!
I've been following this post for awhile because I just bought a few r2's for my grow setup too, then stumbled upon this. Im sort of a noob right now growing on my own and I was hoping these lights would give me an edge on starting out. (I'll see if I can figure out how to post a picture so you can see my progress...)
Anyway I just want to say thanks to tags for a lot of some good info and let everyone know that these lights work amazingly well. Some of my friends are jealous, heh heh.
There are a few major advantages I've noticed over other HPS systems, the major one being the focused light footprint. Directly from the light source right to the plants, no reflectors or air cooled hoods needed, just a lens. What that says to me is even MORE energy efficiency by the way the light is being directed and of course the lack of need for a fan.
This coupled with the easy plug n play operation makes setting up a room much easier. No ballasts an there's fans already in the lights. I have a simple duct opening with a 6" inline scrubber fan, 400 cfm, just mounted flush with my wall for exhaust and it does just fine. Very low heat signature.
That's just the start of why these lights are awesome. The par ratings are insane compared to HPS and metal halide. And with the r2's you can supplement the best of both worlds of HPS and metal halide all grow cycle with no fuss, letting you provide a full spectrum at all times. Coupled with correct co2, my plants were hippy hairy the first few days into flower! The red is the action spectrum and co2 helps the plant reach maturity. (I've been doing some homework.)
Bottom line is, less operating cost, higher quality, and greater production.
I'll try and figure out howta post some pix now...