Mars Hydro FC or FC-E ?

I asked the question in another thread off topic so I thought Id try a thread on the question.
Are current Mars Hydro lights good lights for the price ?
Im looking to light a 4x4 tent, I was considering either the FC 4800 or the FC-E 4800.
Any help ?

not everyone at once

There's links with the spec on post #2.
idk what the exact price is tbh but imo the fc is a cracking light, yes I'd buy one,

Wabbles said:

I asked the question in another thread off topic so I thought Id try a thread on the question.
Are current Mars Hydro lights good lights for the price ?
Im looking to light a 4x4 tent, I was considering either the FC 4800 or the FC-E 4800.
Any help ?

Click to expand...

i don’t know if it helps but I looked at them, and noticed the regular FC 4800 has more output at same wattage, but does not have removable light bars. It does fold I think.

The FC-E 4800 has removable light bars, but lower output. They both seem to use the same mix of diodes, I think it’s neat they include some UV diodes in both.

Lm301s in the fc and bridgelux in the fce at a higher diode count for efficiency.

Eta... The fce has some clever design features but I'm not familiar with bridgelux diodes, if you research them they might well be better, idk.

The lm301 they use in the FC4800 are the lesser of the series, and less efficient than B or H. I can't remember exactly how much less, I looked it up a while back...

Anyways it's annoying if you search YouTube all these videos and reviews claim its using "H" or "B," when in fact if you look at specs it's "D".


As for the FCE, it's a great fixture, but the driver/dimmer not so much....

I bought the FCE-3000 last fall, but had issues with the driver/dimmer and a sneaky sale (amazon.ca) that turned out to be not a sale (in fact its still that same price today lol), so returned it. It was a nice fixture but for that price I expected the driver/dimmer to be reliable. If it was I'd have kept it.

I'm thinking of going with the FC 4800.
I'v just read so much negative about past Mars lights. But recent improvements look much better.
So consensus is YES mars Hydro lights are worth the money ?

Before I spent my money I'd want to clarify which diodes are in them, 301b are acceptable but Imo the newer 301h is preferable but not a deal breaker at the right price.

Wabbles said:

I'm thinking of going with the FC 4800.
I'v just read so much negative about past Mars lights. But recent improvements look much better.
So the consensus is YES mars Hydro lights are worth the money?

Click to expand...

mars hydro never stops improving, yeah, mars hydro led grow lights are worth the money.
below are some pictures of the FC series, hope it is good for you to make the decision
plants under fc 4800 and tsw 2000

plants under FC 3000 and grow tent

FC 6500 vertical growing

fc room set up

this week, will come flash sale for FC 4800, don't forget to follow us for the newest thread Good Luck

by the way, below are some information about Mars Hydro Samsung FC/SP series information

Would Vivosun be a better buy than the Mars FC4800 ?

Wabbles said:

Would Vivosun be a better buy than the Mars FC4800 ?
View attachment 4986148

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You need to drop a link to the specs of you want help on this. That pic doesn't really say so much.

MarsHydrofactory said:

mars hydro never stops improving, yeah, mars hydro led grow lights are worth the money.
below are some pictures of the FC series, hope it is good for you to make the decision
plants under fc 4800 and tsw 2000
View attachment 4985936
plants under FC 3000 and grow tent
View attachment 4985937
FC 6500 vertical growing
View attachment 4985943
fc room set up
View attachment 4985944
this week, will come flash sale for FC 4800, don't forget to follow us for the newest thread Good Luck

Click to expand...

Looking fwd to the flash sale, hope it's good!

Rocket Soul said:

You need to drop a link to the specs of you want help on this. That pic doesn't really say so much.

Click to expand...

thanks,

I know the subject has been brought up, ad infinitum. But LOL at those ebay ads. Stating product is 3000W/4800W/6500W, and also stating consumption is 305W/480W/650W is kind of skirting the near the edges of mis-selling. I wonder if US consumer law would favour the customer if they put in a claim about the product bought. Good that the seller has 100% feedback and a lot of units sold, I guess?

Wabbles said:

thanks,

Vivosun VS LED Grow Light with Samsung LM301 Diodes & Sosen Driver for Indoor Growing - Classic Series

Lower Cost & High Efficiency:The Vivosun VS3000 LED grow lights combine the latest high-efficiency (2.9μmol/J) LED plant light technology, the Samsung LM301 Diodes and the Sosen driver for high output that consumes only 320W of electricity, enabling gardeners and specialists alike to do more...

vivosun.com

Mars Hydro FC-E 4800 BridgeLux 480W LED Grow Light

FC-E4800 is densely packed with 2646 pcs BridgeLux chips, giving an average PPFD of 1000umol/m²/s, suitable for personal and commercial cannabis veg rooms. Full spectrum with UV and IR to meet the plant growth needs.Wattage - 480w Personal Cultivation Coverage - 4x4 ft Commercial Cultivation...

www.mars-hydro.com

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Of the 2 I'd go for mars: much better spread and much better diode count. Also mars spectrum is better, more red. Also more watts on mars, for cheaper. And sincerely I call full bull shit on the vivosun 2.9ppf/w, no f-in way they can pull that off with so few diodes.

Tip: take the diode count of the light and figure out how many watts per diode. Vivosun for about .5w per diode mars about .18w. lower power per diode will be much less likely to fail, well at least the diodes.

Also: no par map on the vivosun, wtf!?!

Also, maybe @MarsHydrofactory could let us know about the UV chips: how many, what brand and why do they not show up in pics of the spectrum on their webpage.

No reply from @MarsHydrofactory ?

@Rocket Soul

Opinions please on this light, 4x4 tent.

Wabbles said:

No reply from @MarsHydrofactory ?

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This is the thing, they don't really answer these kinda queries. It's why, even though the mars bar lights look at least decent on paper, with really good diode counts, I have a hard time supporting them. They seem to care less about their customers (current and future) than they care of the appearance of caring about customers.

That other light: not easy to evaluate, can't find diode count or specific details on diodes, only Lumiled and osram. No details on driver but seems like not meanwell. Maybe inventronics which have a rep for being maybe a bit more reliable than meanwell when it comes to higher wattage.
465w seems like a weird and not common model.
5 y warranty: check what's covered and what's not. Can you buy it from your own country? What is service like, get a new bar and fit it yourself or sending it back for repair?

Spectrum looks like 5000k + loads of red, instead of 4000k and medium red. Haven't seen enough favour one or the other.
If it's Lumiled, could they be a rebrand of those lumatech lights that use lumileds?