China UFO leds

[1Zigzagman]

Also forgot to mention it was a ebay purchase direct from the manufacturer

 

[PetFlora]

The panels with the green chassis look pretty good. Each diode/engine having a reflector is sweet

I just invested in a 180w 9 band with IR that was made in china, arrived today as a matter of fact, i have 2 ladies already in bloom 1 maybe 3 weeks in and one with about 3 weeks left, ill let u guys know how it turns out, the one i have is on www.lgledsolutions.com but i couldnt resist anymore i have to find out for myself, the cfls i use with my led most ppl seemed to think wouldnt work well but i love em, hoping leds are as good of a experiance

 

[GroErr]

The panels with the green chassis look pretty good. Each diode/engine having a reflector is sweet

Hey PetFlora, I agree, those green panels looked pretty good, got 2 of their "450W" panels to try in my next round. I liked the reflector config and the fact they have a veg/flower switch. They're available on e-Bay from one seller and they throw them up on auction regularly. Paid $210 for one, $180 for another on auction. To me that's peanuts so I didn't mind taking a chance on them. If I were on a strict budget I would have probably made a different decision. Here's a link to the eBay seller I bought them from: http://stores.ebay.ca/easyhydro/ if anyone's interested, buy them at auction, I wouldn't have paid their full price to try/test them.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not sold on chinese panels yet, nor recommending them. I have money but I'm a cheap bastard and I don't like paying high prices for questionable differences in quality or performance (aka marketing hype). I have to believe there's a place in my grow for some of these and I like the reflector design, and configuration of the 450W (10"x33") for a new room I'm building. At minimum for vegging, the first panel I bought from another (cheap/chinese) manufacturer surprised me with how well it did for vegging.

It's a tough call with these chinese/ebay LED's. I'm in this for personal/meds and a few close friends in my situation, and as a hobby, love doing this shit and it keeps me out of trouble. Spending a couple of hundred bucks to try them out doesn't hurt me one way or another budget wise so I'm trying them. If getting a decent/large crop out of an investment were going to make or break me I'd save my pennies and go with a sure bet like A51's...

From what I've seen so far (again, only my second indoor grow), long term I can see going with cheap/chinese for vegging. Then A51's for flowering. We'll see how these green panels work out next round, I'll keep a journal/post for it, starting in about 4-5 weeks, just started building my new room and can't finish it until my current plant finishes in a cabinet I'm growing in.

One more thought on LED panels in general which you have to consider, particularly when looking at these cheap/chinese panels (their marketing/hype is comical really). These so-called "450W" panels actually draw 270W. From what I can see if you were looking to replace HPS or the like for something equivalent in LED's, look at the ACTUAL DRAW to achieve some-what equivalent lighting. I other words, at least 2 of these "450W" to replace a 600W HPS, otherwise you'll likely be disappointed. The bad news is you don't really save much on power looking at it this way. The good news is that you also don't need to deal with all the other aspects of heat so your room can handle it and you don't spend a bunch other costs associated with heat/cooling issues. Plus LED's look so much cooler - lmao