Which led grow light to choose for a 5x5?

Z

zooolcsi

Well-Known Member
Hi guys,

it’s been a while but I’m planning to have a few runs in near future.
I used to use hps and small cob lights before.
I want a led fixture for a 5x5 area.

can you please suggest?
Please, I’m not looking for the cheapest option, I want a led that penetrates well and produces nice flowers. (Dense, rich in terps)

I looked up a few relatively cheap 720w fixtures, any experience with them?
I know even a cheap Chinese knockoff will produce something. I’m not necessarily looking for bigger yields, but better overall quality.

share your suggestions, if you have pictures that would be even better.
Thanks
 
Mr.DS-420

Mr.DS-420

Well-Known Member
I'm running a Photo bio MX2 in a 4x4 space, it's overkill for the space. It's a 680 watt fixture and would probably do well for a 5x5 space. Great light penetration. I attached a pic, only one I have that kinda shows the light. 20240609_212542.jpg
 
Trap Star

Trap Star

Well-Known Member
Ebay black dog led PhytoMAX - 2 1000
$600 + $73 shipping.
You can youtube black dog LED 1000 an watch them grow 2.51 lbs of blue dream bud
 
Z

zooolcsi

Well-Known Member
Trap Star said:
Ebay black dog led PhytoMAX - 2 1000
$600 + $73 shipping.
You can youtube black dog LED 1000 an watch them grow 2.51 lbs of blue dream bud
Click to expand...
Hey thanks,

to be honest I’m not sold on this one. The videos are 7-8years old, I’m sure there was improvement on led light since.

I’m not after weight, but quality. They might have cropped over a box but I doubt the quality was top notch.
Have you used this light yourself? Have you got any result figures / pictures? Thank you
 
Z

zooolcsi

Well-Known Member
Mr.DS-420 said:
I'm running a Photo bio MX2 in a 4x4 space, it's overkill for the space. It's a 680 watt fixture and would probably do well for a 5x5 space. Great light penetration. I attached a pic, only one I have that kinda shows the light. View attachment 5436081
Click to expand...
Yes that looks decent, just watched a few vids about it. I really like their light controller (does it come with it or it’s a separate purchase?)
I was looking at very similar ones but uk based.
how was your results? In terms of quality.
what would you say, how deep is the properly penetrated canopy? So no popcorn bits.
thank you
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Do you really need a light or do you need 4 lights? If you have the vertical space one easy approach would be doing 4x 240w double board kits of whatever provider you prefer and think of them as each covering a 3x2' section: put one in each corner with a "windmill" orientation: there is only one way to fit in 4x 3x2s in a 5x5: you get one ft2 emoty in the middle but it will be lit by cross lighting. This way you can accommodate variation in cannopy height and you have extra power if needed. And if one breaks down its not your whole light out of action. Drawback is separate hanging for each light but in the end i dont really find that much of a factor:)
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
zooolcsi said:
Hey thanks,

to be honest I’m not sold on this one. The videos are 7-8years old, I’m sure there was improvement on led light since.

I’m not after weight, but quality. They might have cropped over a box but I doubt the quality was top notch.
Have you used this light yourself? Have you got any result figures / pictures? Thank you
Click to expand...
Black dog should likely do the best quality but its a bit lacking in output. Id go for their latest version though, and use 4 separate smaller lights as described above. But thats going to be pricey obviously. Penetration and quality: they depend on opposite and exclusive things in the spectrum; you may have to chose one and not the other: more green, more light down cannopy, but also (imho) less quality terps. In any case you should add some violet or uva for quality.

Also fluffy lowers tend to happen when you flower too much depth; do some lolipopping and clear out any sucker growth and you get bigger tops and better density mid cannopy depth

Ymmv
 
Mr.DS-420

Mr.DS-420

Well-Known Member
zooolcsi said:
Yes that looks decent, just watched a few vids about it. I really like their light controller (does it come with it or it’s a separate purchase?)
I was looking at very similar ones but uk based.
how was your results? In terms of quality.
what would you say, how deep is the properly penetrated canopy? So no popcorn bits.
thank you
Click to expand...
It comes with the driver which has a knob for power output. You can set it to 40, 55, 70,85, or 100%. Thr dimmer/controller is sold separate, you can run multiple light off it.

Had an amazing run with it, currently on my 2nd. The quality of the flower was top notch.

Towards the end
20240624_011457.jpg
Chopped some colas and let the lowers go, even they were chunky.
20240701_005001.jpg
Here is some of the dried product
20240713_231941.jpg20240724_194609.jpg20240722_204343.jpg20240713_231909.jpg20240724_194304.jpg
 
420AD

420AD

Well-Known Member
zooolcsi said:
Hi guys,

it’s been a while but I’m planning to have a few runs in near future.
I used to use hps and small cob lights before.
I want a led fixture for a 5x5 area.

can you please suggest?
Please, I’m not looking for the cheapest option, I want a led that penetrates well and produces nice flowers. (Dense, rich in terps)

I looked up a few relatively cheap 720w fixtures, any experience with them?
I know even a cheap Chinese knockoff will produce something. I’m not necessarily looking for bigger yields, but better overall quality.

share your suggestions, if you have pictures that would be even better.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Depends on what market you're buying from.

I can only speak about the EU market.
Here in Europe most people vouch for Lumatek (Photontek in the US) and Sanlight as they are top quality, but also rather expensive.
Migro Lights, Viparspectra, SpiderFarmer and Marshydro would be a little cheaper.
I wouldn't buy in china - unless you got a good source confirming the product or it's so cheap you don't care.
regards, herby
 
420AD

420AD

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
Id argue that buying mars or apiderfarmer is the same as buying china. But at a slight premium price.
Click to expand...
Alot of chinese sellers put other diodes in their fixtures and sell it as LM301B's.
If you can get 2 fixtures for the price of one spiderfarmer, I'd say go for it and push 'em if you have to.
I bought mine in china but they have put a heavy fee on imports so it's not worth it for me anymore.
Gonna get me some Lumatek ones next if I can afford them and save me the hassle with warranty and all dat.
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
420AD said:
Alot of chinese sellers put other diodes in their fixtures and sell it as LM301B's.
If you can get 2 fixtures for the price of one spiderfarmer, I'd say go for it and push 'em if you have to.
I bought mine in china but they have put a heavy fee on imports so it's not worth it for me anymore.
Gonna get me some Lumatek ones next if I can afford them and save me the hassle with warranty and all dat.
Click to expand...
Yes but what diodes are going into mars and spiderfarmer? They test 10% lower than spec when going into a gonio, test are here on the forum. Ive seen customers complain that they got a broken on arrival unit and where told to shipp it back to china on own dime in order to get another new one: price would be about half the unit.
The one thing i can say positive about Mars is that they engage on the forum and problems like these seem to be chased up quickly when a client makes a big fuzz on the forum. They seem to want to do better and engage directly with customers which can only make them better.
But the whole deal being that as a customer youre important if you make bad PR is a bit shitty. If any type of fault or problem means you have to self fit replacement parts id just aswell try to build and set it up myself.
Theres a lot of small things you can skimp on (connections, cheap soldering) which i find more important than diodes cause its the type of thing that makes smoke and fire if it breaks down. But im diy til die it seems like, cant bring myself to buy any lights but if i did, it would likely be lumatek (eu) or hlg (us).
 
420AD

420AD

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
Yes but what diodes are going into mars and spiderfarmer? They test 10% lower than spec when going into a gonio, test are here on the forum. Ive seen customers complain that they got a broken on arrival unit and where told to shipp it back to china on own dime in order to get another new one: price would be about half the unit.
The one thing i can say positive about Mars is that they engage on the forum and problems like these seem to be chased up quickly when a client makes a big fuzz on the forum. They seem to want to do better and engage directly with customers which can only make them better.
But the whole deal being that as a customer youre important if you make bad PR is a bit shitty. If any type of fault or problem means you have to self fit replacement parts id just aswell try to build and set it up myself.
Theres a lot of small things you can skimp on (connections, cheap soldering) which i find more important than diodes cause its the type of thing that makes smoke and fire if it breaks down. But im diy til die it seems like, cant bring myself to buy any lights but if i did, it would likely be lumatek (eu) or hlg (us).
Click to expand...
Go Migro then, I think Shane's integrity is unquestionable considering his build quality, and his lights are pretty dope for the price.
Well if you can build them on your own... ofc you don't have to deal with all of this. :D
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
420AD said:
Depends on what market you're buying from.

I can only speak about the EU market.
Here in Europe most people vouch for Lumatek (Photontek in the US) and Sanlight as they are top quality, but also rather expensive.
Migro Lights, Viparspectra, SpiderFarmer and Marshydro would be a little cheaper.
I wouldn't buy in china - unless you got a good source confirming the product or it's so cheap you don't care.
regards, herby
Click to expand...
Vipar spectra has some features to it which makes me think they really put some thought into their engineering ,- and ive never seen them mentioned in any catastrophic adjacent mishaps posted here on riu. It makes me favor them slightly. The p1500 pro seems to be an easy nr 1 for a 2x2.
420AD said:
Go Migro then, I think Shane's integrity is unquestionable considering his build quality, and his lights are pretty dope for the price.
Well if you can build them on your own... ofc you don't have to deal with all of this. :D
Click to expand...
Migro in general seems really clued up but i dont rate absolutely everything that he says; especially put into context of time. Ive heard "theres no good affordable uv led solution available" umpteen times online repeating his uvb bulb sales spiel while you can fairly easily get modern, though, not top performance but good enough, diodes for very cheap nowadays when covid market pressure on uv really made it affordable. There are a couple other tests where i feel he had some small obfuscations, but his general approach of ppfd / w seems really valid as it takes spread into account. Id happily go for his lights rather than MH and Hydro farmer.
He is really good but it's important to note he also sells a product...
 
420AD

420AD

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
Vipar spectra has some features to it which makes me think they really put some thought into their engineering ,- and ive never seen them mentioned in any catastrophic adjacent mishaps posted here on riu. It makes me favor them slightly. The p1500 pro seems to be an easy nr 1 for a 2x2.

Migro in general seems really clued up but i dont rate absolutely everything that he says; especially put into context of time. Ive heard "theres no good affordable uv led solution available" umpteen times online repeating his uvb bulb sales spiel while you can fairly easily get modern, though, not top performance but good enough, diodes for very cheap nowadays when covid market pressure on uv really made it affordable. There are a couple other tests where i feel he had some small obfuscations, but his general approach of ppfd / w seems really valid as it takes spread into account. Id happily go for his lights rather than MH and Hydro farmer.
He is really good but it's important to note he also sells a product...
Click to expand...
Well, you can see things from whatever view you like, but in general the guy is dedicated not only to his business, but to the customers also.
He invested alot of his personal time in videos that are not about selling his stuff. He's really interested in the matter, he takes on brilliant guests and he still replies himself to alot of people wo aren't customers. So I give him the benefit of the doubt.
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
420AD said:
Well, you can see things from whatever view you like, but in general the guy is dedicated not only to his business, but to the customers also.
He invested alot of his personal time in videos that are not about selling his stuff. He's really interested in the matter, he takes on brilliant guests and he still replies himself to alot of people wo aren't customers. So I give him the benefit of the doubt.
Click to expand...
I take no issue with any of that :) world is better with migro than without.

All im saying is to contrast what he says with other sources, like science papers, check the date of the video and see if it still applies a few years later and ask yourself how much of a complete picture you get out of growing watching youtube videos of a comercial vendor. Same thing could be said of Bugbee; the videos seem great but when you read some of his papers you really wonder about what he thought when he was setting up his experiment.

Migro does answer question but the one time i asked a question which challenged his method somewhat i got zero response. Do with this what you please and rather than giving the benefit of a doubt just give everything a slight doubt, check up on it nothing more, thats the whole point of scientific method: its never finished, its always updating and getting closer to the truth. The world is not black or white, its grey and the trick is to figure out exactly which shade of grey :)
 
chuckeye

chuckeye

Well-Known Member
zooolcsi said:
Hi guys,
it’s been a while but I’m planning to have a few runs in near future.
I used to use hps and small cob lights before.
I want a led fixture for a 5x5 area.
Click to expand...
Early days for me but I just switched from HID to LED...

Did a Lot of comparing lights/par maps, etc. and the best value and light spread was the ViparSpectra KS5000 500w.
Sold out in Canada and their US store doesn't ship cross border.

Next choice was Mars Hydro. Again, sold out in Canada and the FC4800 480w looked a little weak on the edges....
FC6500 730w crazy expensive ;)

Ended up with the Phlizon FD6000 640w on sale for $389 Cdn.

I will have to see what the results are but so far I am pleased !

Day 6 of 12/12 for a total of 47 days..

Clockwise from back left > Mau Wowie, Columbian Gold, Hawaiian Snow (5 days younger) and Acapulco Gold.
5 gallon pails with GroBucket inserts, ProMix HP, Mega Crop one part. Hawaiian Snow is in coco, same feed.

Day 6 of 47 The Girls 2 Nov.jpg

Maui Wowie knuckle

Day 41 MW stalk 27 Oct.jpg

Acapulco Gold knuckle

Day 4 AG knuckle 31 Oct.jpg

Cheers
 
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