I need help; growing auto with leds vs Timber vs Viparspectra?

Yea the cobs and qbs are definitely the way to go, I mean they're not ridiculously expensive, just saying the vipar it great for a start up if you're low on funds, the 1st harvest can pay for a new set up if you wish
I'm thinking about keeping the vipar and seeing if I can find a cheapo led that is very heavy on the red side as that's where the vipars main flaw is, decent light but not as much red as you would like for flower, wonder if that could push it towards the 1.3/1.5gpw

Yes, £ 50 sounds amazingly cheap, but to yield 100g you would probably only need an efficient 70-80W strip based lamp and if you build it yourself, it's no problem.
2ft. Bridgelux EB strips are realy cheap(7$) and with 175lm/w pretty efficient and you need no heatsinks and simple 20v drivers with 100w are also cheap to get(e3ay, am4zon). So 5 EB strips(35$) mounted on an aluminum sheet or frame(10$, baking sheet) and a cheap 100w 20v driver(15$) is all you need to beat a vipar.

Like a said I know it's very easily beat, buts it's the best option for someone who just wants set up quickly and has no idea what all the watts/lumens/par/gpw/uMol means.
It's a good grab and plug in light for beginners to find their feet with.
I'll make my own judgement when this gorilla bomb is finished !

Buds.on.a.budget said:

Yea the cobs and qbs are definitely the way to go, I mean they're not ridiculously expensive, just saying the vipar it great for a start up if you're low on funds, the 1st harvest can pay for a new set up if you wish
I'm thinking about keeping the vipar and seeing if I can find a cheapo led that is very heavy on the red side as that's where the vipars main flaw is, decent light but not as much red as you would like for flower, wonder if that could push it towards the 1.3/1.5gpw

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More red will not help. There are two things wrong with the Vipar's.
1. The used LEDs and 2. the insufficient spectrum.
If you would use good LED's with good efficiency, eg. true Cree or Osram, they would easily come in the range of 1.3-1.5g/w. But the spectrum also lacks in green light, which is especially important at high irradiance. All blurples are based on the false assumption that green light is unnecessary, but that is indeed wrong!
Even with the relatively small amount of absorbed green light compared to the other colors, one study found that green light increases the production of chlorophyll, which aids in photosynthesis, while the plants additionally get a greener color. It is also the most used wavelength in deeper plant sections below the canopy.

It was just a thought! She's doing okay with just the vipar for now anyway

Buds.on.a.budget said:

Like a said I know it's very easily beat, buts it's the best option for someone who just wants set up quickly and has no idea what all the watts/lumens/par/gpw/uMol means.
It's a good grab and plug in light for beginners to find their feet with.
I'll make my own judgement when this gorilla bomb is finished !

Click to expand...

Yeah, they are cheap and lasts one or two grows but I would not recommend it to a beginner. Building yourself has become so easy with LED strips, it is really unnecessary to start with a bad light to buy a better one later.
I would rather start with a small one and extend it later if I need more light.