Here is my 2 cents...
I been growing for 12 years. I started with soil and moved up to hydroponics. When I first got into this hobby, I built my own grow cabinets. Then moved into building out a closet, and eventually an entire room. It wasn't cheap, and it was a pain in the ass. There was a HUGE investment in tools to buy the proper saw, drills, electrical, etc to convert a room. It was a huge under taking and took months. Tools and components are more expensive than you think when you add up every little part.
It ended up costing a lot more money than I planned when you start adding up all the little parts, plus the tools, and everything else. Not to mention totally fucked up the room by drilling into the walls, and the room couldn't be moved if trouble was approaching. Not to mention busted if the property owner ever came in!
After a close call (my ex girl friend called the cops to report my growing after we broke up) I learned I want my grows portable! Converting a room or a closet just isn't worth it when you need to break it down and run, and to be honest it took about 6 months to get my room dialed in and running smooth. There was a lot of re-work and the design was constantly being changed and improved. All in all my room cost my over 10k and looked like amateur hour; IE UGLY. I did learn a lot, and could do it better next time, but it really wasn’t worth the learning time and expense, plus the chance of getting caught, and the repair bill for fixing the room when I moved out. The walls and carpet were completely destroyed.
When I moved into my new place, I wanted a professionally built unit that was ready to grow the day I got it. I was prepared to spend the money on a commercial system for the expert design, and the convience of having a unit delivered ready to use. I originally bought a Sunlight Sheds Cool Cab that turned out to be a total piece of shit. Ran hot, and was terribly over priced. Ended up gutting it and selling the parts on eBay for less than I bought it for.
Researched the hell out of grow boxes next time around, and eventually bought me a Bloombox which I paid $3400 for, plus $250 in shipping. It is a nice unit, and served me well for 2+ years. I have been getting decent results from it, and I am happy with this purchase. Let me say that you do not need a tall growing environment to get a great yield. Short, dense plants deliver the goods regularly. My Bloombox has performed well, and I don’t regret getting it. I would fill a room with these if I had the spare cash.
The problem with the Bloombox is that it runs a little hot though, and doesn't have as much light as I would have liked. I actually supplemented it with an additional 400 HPS and been kicking ass ever since. BUT maintenance is a pain in my ass. I can't even leave for a few days without worrying the water will run out, or the pH will drift off making the solution toxic.
I just took a VERY close look at that Cultivator Pro, and I must say HOLY SHIT; that thing is SWEEEEET! It looks like it has 9 fans on it, so I bet it doesn't run hot like my Bloombox. The BCNL only has a 400, but the Cultivator has a 800w system and t5’s too! And it lets you run both MH and HPS at the same time. Never seen a grow box that can do that before!!!!!!!!!!!!
The technology on the Cultivator Pro is amazing. It looks like it fills your system with water and nutrients when you’re gone, and adjusts the PH for ya all by itself! That is absolutely sweet as hell. I have not seen after market technology like this for sale anywhere and believe me I looked. All you do it yourselfers are full of shit if you think you can just slap one of these together with aftermarket parts and get the same results. I paid the same price for my Bloombox and it doesn't do half the shit the Cultivator Pro does at the same price. Shit, if I would have known about the Cultivator Pro, there is no doubt in my mind I would have got it over my Booombox.
Plus, it has wheels so it can be moved, it can vegetate as well as flower, has fan noise controls and looks sweet as hell. But best of all, if the 5.0.'s roll up on me, the shit is outta there in 5 min!
I have built my own rooms.
I have bought several brands of grow boxes.
BUT
I have never seen one as completely mind blowing as this thing. I think the price is very fair considering what that technology would cost to buy, and some of it isn't even available to consumers. The learning curve on trying to build your own just isn't worth the time when you can get one of these ready to use. So what if the company makes a little bit of profit on this. They provide free tech support, free nutrients for a year, and a system I can walk away from and not have to worry about my plants dying. Trust me. A grow room is like a kid, can’t leave it for a second!
After seeing this product, I will be taking my profits from my next harvest and buying 2 of these Cultivator Pros for commercial harvests! One for flowering and one for vegetating. I for one am extremely impressed that a commercial company finally listened to what growers wanted, and built a bad ass box that really works.
Forget doing it yourself. You couldn’t make one of these at home, and your half ass final product would be ugly, unsafe, and wouldn’t end up doing ½ the shit this thing does. And believe me, you’re not saving as much as you think! Keeping my ass outta the slammer is worth the money for the peace of mind. Shit, the asking price isn’t really that bad for a system that will pay for itself after the first harvest.
Just my 2 cents..