next gen 400/600 watt ballast..

i was considering upgrading from my lil 250 watt'er to a bigger 400 watt lamp, and have been looking at ballasts.. i have seen the cap next gen ballast before in either high times or skunk or one of them, but i was just wondering if anyone on here has or is using one of these, and if so, how do they perform? do you like them, would you recomend them?
i have read a lil about how they only fire certain bulbs or something along those lines... is there any truth to this, or are they good to fire all bulbs out there?
all info on the next gen ballasts would be awesome..
thanks ahead of time.

I have this exact ballast. I use the 400W MH for vegging and then switch to 600 W HPS for flowering. I am just starting my second grow today . I was ver pleased the way the lights are working. No problems and YES , I would recommend it. It only weighs four pounds and comes with a wall mount.

dadio161 said:

I have this exact ballast. I use the 400W MH for vegging and then switch to 600 W HPS for flowering. I am just starting my second grow today . I was ver pleased the way the lights are working. No problems and YES , I would recommend it. It only weighs four pounds and comes with a wall mount.

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awesome.. this was exactly the kind of info i was looking for.. thanks a ton dadio.. very good stuffs..
anyone else out there using the ng ballasts and would like to chime in?

whats up with next gen bllasts what makes them better than any other digital ballast ?

idk if they are any better than other digi ballasts, but they are supposed to run pretty cool and very quiet.. and they are super light like dadio said.. i think they only weigh like four pounds for the 400 and six hundred watters, and they can be used up to 65 feet away from the bulb, which is pretty convenient..

Favre2Harvin said:

I would go with the Galaxy 400/600/1000 dimmable ballast. dim ur 600 to 400w or crank ur 1000 to "turbo charged" lol. 400 dollar ballast but good shit.

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yeah, i was looking at those dimeable ballast as well.. i love the idea that you can tune your ballast for what stage of growth your in, but four hundy, god damn thats a lot of cash, lol..
i'll have to check into them.. thanks for the info m8..

I have never used another ballast so I can't say it is better that any others.
I can say that this is what I use and I had a very nice first grow.
I ran the 600W light with fans and my electric bill went up $21 a month. I'm pleased.

dadio161 said:

I have never used another ballast so I can't say it is better that any others.
I can say that this is what I use and I had a very nice first grow.
I ran the 600W light with fans and my electric bill went up $21 a month. I'm pleased.

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i'm in the same boat as you dadio.. even though i probably have around ten grows or so under my belt, they have all been under my 25o watt lamp that has its own built in ballast, so this is my first time shopping for anykind of ballast, and was just trying to get some first hand info on the ng as it seems to have most of the features that i'm looking for, and the price isn't out of this world...

I own 2 nextgen 400/600w switchable ballasts, and have used them for a complete grow. They are very convenient and save a lot of money not having to switch specific ballasts for any reason. It's awesome. As far as performance, they are slower to warm up than other ballasts like a Phantom, which I would suggest over NextGen, because they are dimmable, which is as good as a switch, if not better, because you can dim down to a 250 if you want. My parents use Phantom and I'm jealous as hell.

MY MAIN PROBLEM WITH NEXTGEN
I purchased 1 open box from IE HydroFarm, and no problems at all. I buy another one brand new from IE HydroFarm a few months later, and it breaks within a month. I have to bring it back to Discount Hydro myself unless I wanted to wait 6 weeks, and I got a refurbished unit, which had the same random turning off problem as the first one. So I had to go back to Riverside to switch it out again, because I have a garden in the dark at home. They switch it out with a new one for fear of losing my business. Since then not a single problem and they work great, even if you have to turn them on and off through out the day at multiple intervals, if you get a good one they are a real work horse. But they use fans to air cool, and moving parts and flowing air means dust and motor problems that can occur, probably because of the fan or some foliar spray it sucked up, so beware of where you place them and that fact when you purchase.

If I had advice it would be to get a Phantom ballast because they are reliable and affordable, and if you cant get one, get the next gen 400/600 switch, the extra 30 bucks is worth it over the 600w ballast. But do NOT get a Lumatek, most returned ballast in the industry.

Jozikins said:

But do NOT get a Lumatek, most returned ballast in the industry.

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I've had a Lumatek 1000w for about a year now, and I haven't had any problems with it. In fact, it runs pretty quiet and seems to dissipate heat well.

I came here lookin for info on nextgen. but that multi watt galaxy has my attention now. Someone on ebay has them for $320 (including shipping) Can't seem to find any reviews on them though. They are made buy Sun Systems, and have bought quite a few magnetic ballast from them with no probs. Think i just might go for it. Thanks favre2Harvin.



Racerboy, the first seeds I ever bought were from Doc. That was 10yrs ago. Bought many different strains from him. Little pricey but well worth it. If you go to his photo gallery look for "Gren1" thats me. I won a photo contest and recieved 10 free kashmira seeds. I'll have to check your journal out. Take it easy

hey jozikins.. i am really looking at that phantom ballast as it looks pretty sweet, and i really love the dimeable feature of it.. if i got the four hundred watter, i could dim it down to about a 250 watter or run it full power depending on what i was using it for such as clones or vegging or full on flowering.. i think we may have a winner, lol..

If I had advice it would be to get a Phantom ballast because they are reliable and affordable, and if you cant get one, get the next gen 400/600 switch, the extra 30 bucks is worth it over the 600w ballast. But do NOT get a Lumatek, most returned ballast in the industry.[/QUOTE]

thanks man.. i went with the phantom after much debate.. i kinda figured that the 600 watt feature of the next gen ballast would be a lil too much wattage for my small space and i wouldn't ever use that part of the next gen, and i really lilke the dimeable feature of that phantom ballast, and for about $189 shipped, i thought that it was a pretty good deal..thanks again to all for their advice/ experience with the next gen's..

you're welcome. But my information is from my favorite hydro store about the Lumatek. So I really can't say for certain that they are, seeing as the infromation is from somebody that could be trying to sell me on a better unit. On that note I've never heard any shop owner say anything good about them. But my parents got the Phantom's and dear lord I can't say enough good stuff about them! Their grow is my every envy! They have 2 XXXL Magnum Reflectors, along with the Phantom 600w dimmable ballast and Hortilux 600w Advanced Spectrum bulbs to match. It's all air cooled with 8" Hydrofarm Active Air fan and filter large enough to match, bitch is heavy. They have some other impressive stuff, but I plan on doing a journal for this next grow of theirs and I'll show it all off then. I have the same wattage in my flower room, but all my equipment is sort of down graded from theirs. It's still great equip though, I plan to hold on to almost all of it! But I can't help but be jealous of their glorious basement grow vs my upstairs office grow. I will eventually move my 400/600w Nextgen's into my veg room, I may even hold on or sell one, so I can upgrade to the phantoms. Mainly because I'm interested in foliar feeding, and keep my ballasts outside the room, but they have fans that intake air and I'm sure my nutes would wreck havoc on them.

hey joz, no need to be jealous of your parents man.. they are older and i'm sure they probably have better jobs and therefore can afford topnotch equipment, while your forced to make do with what you can afford for now.. still pretty awesome that your parents grow and all though.. hopefully you can learn alot of good things from them that you can then use in your own garden..
good luck with the grow m8..