i do not insist on coming into the led forum and talking hps but the best bang for the buck for someone coming into growing is HID plain and simple everyone talks like Cob is the end all be all of grow lights fuck no it isn;t its just another fucking light at the end of the day right ??
look at it at this perspective whats the cost of a 1000 watt hid in a cob diy unit ?? how much ??
Remember the average american is living paycheck to paycheck with not much money to spend on anything let alone how much for a 1000 watt equivalant Cob unit ???? how much
so what really is the best alternative common sense tells me Hid did you know for only 150.00 bucks i can purchase a brand new 1000 mg ballast bulb and reflector
and that 150 bucks will in fact make 2.5 - 3 pounds of yield
curious how much is a pound going for in your neck of the woods ???
So with that said that is most likely the best option a smart grower would do start hid after getting couple grows in then possibly look at efficiency and cob diy units ..
When i purchased my first house 35 years ago i paid 65,000 for it and today my house i live in is 2.2 million meaning i slowly progressed from house to house reno's what ever built up my equity to what i have today vERY VERY few people are going to jump into a 2 million dollar home @ 20 years old
same logic applies for growing or life in general
Don't bite off more then you can chew.. plain n simple
We always here the chinese junk leds etc etc and i find it funny i mean only in Merica they say chinese junk things but every house hold is full of it hahaha ironic isn't it
you know mercia doesn't make much of anything anymore other then trouble lets face it the truth i know it hurts i bit now doesn't it ,,,
whats the chances that PC your typing on or I phone is made in the US ??? most electronics today or anything electronic sure the fuck does not come from usa but you got it Japan . china tawian korea so is chinese electronic junk ??
When it comes to cruise missile technology , or electronics sorry other countries are leap years ahead of goo ole MERICA
so with that said i even ordered some Mars reflectors 192 x 5 watters figured 3 of them should be comparible to 1000 watt hid down all @ 320 a piece 960 dollars we will see
also i would really like to know how much for the 1000 watt Cob unit more or less ?
anyways figured i try led for the hell of it i anything they will be good suplimental lighting inbetween HIDS
Well, where to begin... You're in an LED and Other Lighting forum, advocating HPS. He came here to talk LED. Everyone who knows someone who grows, or has been to a grow store, knows that they can use HPS/MH. You coming to this thread to tell him that was akin to telling him that when the sun goes down, it will be dark.
You're not pulling 3lbs a light, I call bullshit. If you hit 2lbs a light, you're not only crushing it, but you're a very experienced grower. Don't sit here and talk like any farmer can just throw a thouie in a room and pull 3lbs. What strain are you running? What nutes are you running? Hydro? Soil? Coco?
You conveniently leave out the cost of the dehumidifier and AC as well in your estimates. I don't disagree that, as a new grower, it might not be a bad idea to use something tested and true. There, we can agree.
The reason why people are bashing the chinese LED is because you don't know the true specs of the panel, a lot of information is misrepresented by those companies, you don't know the part numbers, you don't know what's in the panel. If something breaks, good luck filling that warranty. I'm not a fan of monochromatic panels, they're not very efficient.
Just because you can't grasp the value of such information, and you don't have a background in electronics (I just so happen to), doesn't make you more of an authority than someone who does. I'm not even claiming to be an authority, but guess what, even I can tell you that the less parts to replace, the better. You FIGURE? Do you have any PPFD numbers to back that up? You're just assuming things from a very shaky footing of what you THINK something SHOULD be. The reason people are recommending COB builds is because you get 1) the most reliable driver on the market 2) THE BEST, MOST EFFICIENT LED 3) A full spectrum light that is comparable to your precious and proven HPS (just a little cooler white) 3) Less parts to fail!!!
Did you know that when China, the world's largest LED manufacturer, had the Olympics, most of the LED lightwork was provided by CREE (Phillips) an American company? You know why? Reliability.
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2007/10/cree-xlamp-leds-to-make-a-splash-at-beijing-olympics.html