Best LED's?

I am starting up a personal grow and have been looking at LED for a long time.
I know Cree COB are the best , but I am not a DIY guy.

I am not a newbie to growing just wanting to get some opinions.

I am looking at the
BlackDog PhytoMax
Platinum LED P1200
Kind LED K5 1000
Mars Hydro Pro Cree 256

I have checked PAR for most of them other than the new Black Dog and the new Mars Cree as I see no information on that.

As for the diodes
Black Dog is using 5w and not sure what brand if Bridglux or Epistar.
Platinum I believe are Bridgelux.
Kind are Bridgelux or Epistar I dont recall.
Mars is using Cree.

Currently the Kind K5 Seems to have the best PAR output.

I have herd Apache Tech and Area 51, but have seen mediocre results with Area 51.

Any help as plan on ordering tonight or early morning.

I know alot of people hate CHINA LED, but the fact is they do work and work well.
BlackDog has a 1,000 watt unit( true watts).

ANy good LED guys chime In.

No bias please. Jsut experiance.

All crap. Get Cobs: pacific lighting concepts, area 51, build your own

i second that..

best options out right now. looking at all parameters. Tasty led gets a shout out...

I would recommend mars over a few cob lights but not the above mentioned

Actually the OP should go to 420 Magazine and then they'll get the answer they want to hear.

FranJan said:

Actually the OP should go to 420 Magazine and then they'll get the answer they want to hear.

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I have noticed RIU has a hate for CHINA.
No matter the results still hate.
I prefer unbiased.
I have seen great grows with China LED;s online and personally.

Trippyness said:

I have noticed RIU has a hate for CHINA.
No matter the results still hate.
I prefer unbiased.
I have seen great grows with China LED;s online and personally.

Click to expand...

I'd like to see a grow with the mars pro cree personally.

That'd be my pick from your list..

I have no hate on mars..they have great pricing for entry level led

Positivity said:

I'd like to see a grow with the mars pro cree personally

That'd be my pick from your list..

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Indeed.
Colorado's Finest got some in and is doing grows with them.
I have checked PAR and spectrum on all and are all great.
They are the main ones I am interested in due to research and unbiased information other than how plants can obsorb te light via PAR and spectrum.
Likely between the Mars Cree and Kind K5 and the New BlackDog Phytomax.

I've grown with Chinese panels and thought I was growing pretty good weed till I changed to using CREE/OSRAM/Bridgelux/Illumitex and have never looked back. If you want to waste your money go with a panel using Chinese state approved LEDs. Also LEDs can give very different readings with PAR meters and there are PAR meters and there are companies doing there own PAR readings with handheld units.

Poz you should be ashamed of yourself. Mars? Really?

I've never hated mars franjan....

They have pissed me off in the past with 2 bad lights in a row. But...if they can offer a well designed cree model at a affordable price then whats to hate?

They do have some of the lowest priced lights around that would make fun grow lights for less serious growers. You just take your chances on longevity with past history

FranJan said:

I've grown with Chinese panels and thought I was growing pretty good weed till I changed to using CREE/OSRAM/Bridgelux/Illumitex and have never looked back. If you want to waste your money go with a panel using Chinese state approved LEDs. Also LEDs can give very different readings with PAR meters and there are PAR meters and there are companies doing there own PAR readings with handheld units.

Poz you should be ashamed of yourself. Mars? Really?

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I have seen first hand PAR reading for myself.
What ligth would you reccomend?
Also how was the Illumitex light? Herd good stuff.

Well im not going to claim to be an led expert but ive done grows with Chinese leds..2 platinum p300.Did they work?sure they did...but I was much happier will the outcome with t5ho than I was with them.Currently running some amare tech,and I like what im seeing so far but ill reserve my opinion on them for now,until ive put them through their paces.

Resinhound said:

Well im not going to claim to be an led expert but ive done grows with Chinese leds..2 platinum p300.Did they work?sure they did...but I was much happier will the outcome with t5ho than I was with them.Currently running some amare tech,and I like what im seeing so far but ill reserve my opinion on them for now,until ive put them through their paces.

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SO the Platinums were not soo great?
Good to know.
T5 for sure work great with SCROG.

Trippyness said:

SO the Platinums were not soo great?
Good to know.
T5 for sure work great with SCROG.

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I had 8 4ft bulbs in a 2x4 with mixed spectrum and they flowered excellently.The quality was high.The platinums put out a ton of heat and the plants seemed overly stretchy even with the lights low...it was a constant battle with leaf curl and stretch.

Under this amare stretch was minimal and the buds started stacking and fattening up much better then even my t5 setup.And heat is really minimal 8-10 degrees above ambient.Thats all I can really comment on from my own experience.Good luck with your grows man.

Trippyness said:

SO the Platinums were not soo great?
Good to know.
T5 for sure work great with SCROG.

Click to expand...

Resinhound said:

Under this amare stretch was minimal and the buds started stacking and fattening up much better then even my t5 setup.And heat is really minimal 8-10 degrees above ambient.

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Great to know.
Platinum is out. I wasnt not 100% sure about them anyways with 3w diodes as aposed to 5w diodes.

I would look at the reputation of the companies and their track record. If they have a record of deception,poor quality and bad warranty service then steer clear. Just because they suddenly start using some quality parts doesn't mean anything else about them has changed,it's still the same people running the company with the same ethics.

captainmorgan said:

I would look at the reputation of the companies and their track record. If they have a record of deception,poor quality and bad warranty service then steer clear. Just because they suddenly start using some quality parts doesn't mean anything else about them has changed,it's still the same people running the company with the same ethics.

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Yes Im aware of Mars having some issues, but I know they are geared towards the community. Partners with 40 Mag.
Seen several grows with them.
Not my number one currently.
What would you reccomend.
Im a HPS guy and moving to LED maybe if I can find anything that beats HPS.
I would go with a Gavita but in a 3 x 3 the heat would just be too much likely.

Well since you're not a new grower and have used hps than that's a different story.

Plc....

That's why me love diy long time...

Avoid the bullsnizzle

Careful who you listen to,lots of these on the forums.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_(Internet)

Trippyness said:

I have noticed RIU has a hate for CHINA.
No matter the results still hate.
I prefer unbiased.
I have seen great grows with China LED;s online and personally.

Click to expand...

@REALSTYLES said the same thing as his 14 Mars lights were in the mail. There's a recent thread here showing a video of him smashing his MarsHydro lights in a dumpster. (Be sure to use eye protection. He's lucky he didn't put an eye out.).

You should buy one and show us how it works. It's not a lot of money to lose. It's better than paying a premium for the rebranded epi-whatever lights sold by HydroGrowLED, Lush, Kind, BlackDog, GrowBlu.

I would stay away from Platinum simply because he ripped off AdvancedLED's name and reputation. I don't know what he does now. But, for about a year it was an *obvious* name ripoff, using AdvancedLED's photos, etc. Someone like that is antithetical to this hobby, 420, etc.

Other than those two caveats, I don't think you can go too far wrong. (The Mars Cree "Pro" lights look like a gamble to me, considering the alternatives like A51.).