Panel VS UFO led
- Thread starter Bigoz5114
- Start date
Beeswings
Well-Known Member
Wattage doesn't grow plants... photons do. You need to be looking at the actual output of the lights and the spectrums to be able to even compare. I only know one guy that still uses a UFO light and that's just cause he has a really tight space in his bathroom he is growing in lol.
Your growing in a round tent?
It depends on the specifics of each light, but most ufos are inefficient blurples. Not certain what you mean by panels, but boards vary from crap to excellent. I think HLG and Grow Lights Australia are the best, but there are many good board lights. Bar lights have better light distribution for anything other than small spaces.
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
For what to buy advice it usually good to know which market youre in, US/EU/UK or similar; you wanna get a light that has easy shipping and under warranty service, somewhere close to you.
The alternative is to be your own warranty: DIY your light, if you can build.it you can repair it. Just make sure to order a couple extra parts for replacement if need arise. But buy you power supply from somewhere close by/regional using an authorised distributor.
The alternative is to be your own warranty: DIY your light, if you can build.it you can repair it. Just make sure to order a couple extra parts for replacement if need arise. But buy you power supply from somewhere close by/regional using an authorised distributor.
amneziaHaze
Well-Known Member
diy bar lights you would get the strongest light for least wattage
emepher
Well-Known Member
I still use a blurple UFO. But of course it was my first LED maybe 15 years ago, and I only use it once in a while for rooting clones when I don't have a veg tent going. There is basically no good reason to buy one today, of course.
Unless one is on a ridiculously tight budget, QB or strip-based lights with some LM301 variant diode really seem like the way to go these days. You hit the nail on the head - it's about output, and nothing else reasonably priced is nearly as efficient. I speak from experience when I saw there are some generic and direct-from-China options that offer a LOT of light for the cost.
I've DIY'd a bunch of lights, for myself and others, mainly with COBs. I don't bother with that anymore, because there are so many nicely built, highly efficient panel and bar lights out there for reasonable prices. The DIY route can still be cheaper, but by so little that even my thrifty ass doesn't balk at the overall cost difference, because my time is worth something. At the end of the day, anything will work, to some degree. When I had almost no budget, 32W $1.29 CFLs from the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store got the job done, but if you can go from a $50 budget up to just $100-$200, you can get something that you will give you decent results in a 3x3 space, do so without excess heat and low power usage, and last a long time.