Mars Hydro FC or FC-E ?

luxonator

luxonator

Active Member
Thanks for sharing your experience. I was considering of buying a Mars Hyrdo light, but now I can cross that one from my list.
 
Greengrouch

Greengrouch

Well-Known Member
I dig my fce 4800. Don’t think I’d pay more for the Samsung diodes over the kingbrite, same light spread and less than %5 difference in efficiency.
 
C

ChipBangor

Member
I got into the hobby about five years ago with a chinese blurple and grew some fluffy buds that smelled like hay. Moved up to a California Lightworks 450w LED, and a Spectrum King 100w Mother's Helper veg light. Couple runs, upgraded to a 315w CMH, instant killer tight, smelled great, all progress...Last night I replaced the CMH with a FC-4800...we'll see =)
 

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weednerd.anthony.850

Well-Known Member
Wow all that time and mars didn’t reply for nearly a year and a half. That speaks volumes. Cheap product that is readily available from Chinese factories definitely using not the top bin Samsung diodes, and questionable driver quality on the cheaper models, but returns and customer service is obviously lacking.

That’s why as much as I like saving money I’ll stay the hell away from cheap LEDs like mars and spider farmer Amazon knock offs, as I’m more than very happy with my HLGs both the 350R and the Scorpion Diablo.

Yeah, they cost me some savings, but through HLG directly I was able to use the buy now pay later option with Affirm. Idk how y’all’s credit or money is but that way I got my 350R first for around 35-40 a month payment for like 18 months but I paid it off much earlier which has no penalties too.

So now I’m in the middle of paying for my HLG Scorpion Diablo, about 6 payments out of 18 months of payments through Affirm once again, and I got it on a nice sale before HLG released the newer Scorpion Diablos with reflectors. So it was a little above $1000 with tax and shipping not like when it was 1300-1500 approximately.

HLG gets ridiculed for being pricey, but their customer service is above and beyond ANY lighting company I’ve seen so far. Even if they aren’t having a sale you can definitely email them and ask questions about which light is right for you, and they often will give you a nice coupon code at any time.

So before I get bs calling me an HLG fanboy or even a HLG representative, I never grew with LED until 2020. I got a small Crecer Lighting Panthrx mini 2 at first, and the canopy penetration wasn’t near what my CMH was capable of.

Then, I found many excellent examples of HLG grows that looked excellent, so I jumped on the first chance I had to get my 350R in 2021. Later, after upsizing my flower space by setting up a sealed walk in closet instead of a tent, I needed a much bigger light of course going from a 3x3 to nearly double the footprint between 5x5 and 6x6.

Now I have completed a crop or two under the Scorpion Diablo and I’m not going to change my lights anytime soon, unless maybe by the time they get dimmer from constant use, etc. at that point I’ll be getting a new HLG whatever they have available at that point.

Here’s a top of one bud under the Scorpion, not my best work or anything, and I know yields are heavily dependent upon genetics, plant training, grow methods, etc. I held a lighter up next to it, so y’all can see how much bigger that top is than the lighter and my hand too.

Best of luck to anyone debating LED brands and models, my advice is to do lots of research, and don’t rush into it, that’s what eventually led me to HLG’s products.

7BBEB8FC-BD66-4EED-837F-1F5700EF3AB0.jpeg
 
H

Hdhkf

Active Member
weednerd.anthony.850 said:
Wow all that time and mars didn’t reply for nearly a year and a half. That speaks volumes. Cheap product that is readily available from Chinese factories definitely using not the top bin Samsung diodes, and questionable driver quality on the cheaper models, but returns and customer service is obviously lacking.

That’s why as much as I like saving money I’ll stay the hell away from cheap LEDs like mars and spider farmer Amazon knock offs, as I’m more than very happy with my HLGs both the 350R and the Scorpion Diablo.

Yeah, they cost me some savings, but through HLG directly I was able to use the buy now pay later option with Affirm. Idk how y’all’s credit or money is but that way I got my 350R first for around 35-40 a month payment for like 18 months but I paid it off much earlier which has no penalties too.

So now I’m in the middle of paying for my HLG Scorpion Diablo, about 6 payments out of 18 months of payments through Affirm once again, and I got it on a nice sale before HLG released the newer Scorpion Diablos with reflectors. So it was a little above $1000 with tax and shipping not like when it was 1300-1500 approximately.

HLG gets ridiculed for being pricey, but their customer service is above and beyond ANY lighting company I’ve seen so far. Even if they aren’t having a sale you can definitely email them and ask questions about which light is right for you, and they often will give you a nice coupon code at any time.

So before I get bs calling me an HLG fanboy or even a HLG representative, I never grew with LED until 2020. I got a small Crecer Lighting Panthrx mini 2 at first, and the canopy penetration wasn’t near what my CMH was capable of.

Then, I found many excellent examples of HLG grows that looked excellent, so I jumped on the first chance I had to get my 350R in 2021. Later, after upsizing my flower space by setting up a sealed walk in closet instead of a tent, I needed a much bigger light of course going from a 3x3 to nearly double the footprint between 5x5 and 6x6.

Now I have completed a crop or two under the Scorpion Diablo and I’m not going to change my lights anytime soon, unless maybe by the time they get dimmer from constant use, etc. at that point I’ll be getting a new HLG whatever they have available at that point.

Here’s a top of one bud under the Scorpion, not my best work or anything, and I know yields are heavily dependent upon genetics, plant training, grow methods, etc. I held a lighter up next to it, so y’all can see how much bigger that top is than the lighter and my hand too.

Best of luck to anyone debating LED brands and models, my advice is to do lots of research, and don’t rush into it, that’s what eventually led me to HLG’s products.

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I'm not sure brands of lights matters. Not sure plants can tell the difference. Just like they can't tell the difference between general hydroponics $20 maxibloom vs some 200$ multi bottle nutrients.
I don't care what anyone chooses to grow with. Just like seeing people growing!
 
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