New Grow Tent JUST RELEASED

[Skeksis]

I just found a new grow tent that was just released, and is being sold here:

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=GRGL120&eq=&Tp=

I've been asking around to alot of people and trying to find out what would be the best tent, since
I'm looking to buy one and didn't want to get stuck with something cheap and shitty.

Hydro Huts has come out with a new tent too, but after looking at it, I found it might be more than I needed.

http://www.hydrohuts.com/newwebsite/products.html

On one hand, it's made out of strong canvas material, and has a strong steel frame and nice interior. On
the other, it's about the most expensive tent on the market right now, even if it IS new. $250 for a 3x3',
when the Dark Room 4x4' can be had for around $220. And once I started looking at the cooling options,
I realized that the amount of ducting "socks" on the HH Silver is ludicrous. There are 7 of them - which to
me seems like overkill. But, aside from that, I could swallow the price and overlook the extra "socks" for
a well made heavy duty product.

Now, back to this new tent. It looks ok, pretty much like a HomeBox but with a silver interior like the DR.
Of course they claim things like having a stonger frame, better zipper, better corner fittings, etc.
But one thing I notice is that this tent has two clear windows in the front, with velcro flaps so that you can
look inside without opening the tent. I feel like this is more of a gimmick than anything. Sure, you can check
on your plants without opening the tent and releasing any odors, but you're going to open the tent anyways
to do maintenance. So what is the point in the clear windows? And the biggest thing I see missing is the side
doors. Maybe it has them, but neither the pictures nor the description mentions them. Both the Hydro Hut
and the Dark room have side doors, and I would think that would be one option that would be useful.

So, over all my main concerns for a tent are the thickness of the material and the sturdiness of the frame.

This isn't a pitch for someones product, I don't advertise for anyone. I'm genuinely trying to compare the
newest and most popular tents to try to find the best one for my needs. Any opinions or advice are welcome.

For now, I'm leaning towards the DR120. I wish it had thicker material and stronger poles, but it seems to
have all of the features I want without being overpriced or overbuilt with pointless extras.

 

[Skeksis]

Can I get a bump??


Isn't anyone else interested in new grow tents?

By the way, this new one seems to be made by Homebox, but copies the sizes of the DR.
I still don't know what to go with... With every tent there are positives and negatives.
Is it so hard to take all of the good things from each tent and make one, perfect tent?
Maybe not, because opinions are going to be different on what's a good feature and what's not.

 

[dhhbomb]

i bought a silver sun hut havent put togeterh but i got one thats 36x56x84 for 200 with shipping

 

[zombie1334]

Looks good, just be careful. I would wait for someone to review it before buying it. That's why I'm going with the DR.

 

[the357ink]

isn't the hydrohut toxic???

 

[GrowTech]

this doesn't look like a secret jardin product.

 

[Skeksis]

this doesn't look like a secret jardin product.

No, I believe it is made by the manufacturers of HomeBox, but under a different name.

 

[Skeksis]

isn't the hydrohut toxic???

The old ones were. The new HH Silver edition is supposed to be the fix to that problem,
along with being an attempt at putting out a superior product to compete with the other
brands that gained foot hold after that toxic tent problem.

I think it looks good, but is probably priced too high to compete very well. That, and since
it just came out it isn't very widely available.

 

[drnkrssn]

The Darkrooms are great I have one, but the outer material is thin. I'm not sure how but I got a 2" tear that I've patched with black duct tape. Also when the lights are on I can see tons of very small pinholes. Neither of these are serious problems but they are disappointing. If this new tent is comparable with a thicker material it may be worth another 100 bucks. If your in no hurry lurk around until you know the tent is safe. Otherwise the DRs are the best things going.

 

[bleezyg420]

Go with hydrohut

 

[bearsnotbombs]

The Darkrooms are great I have one, but the outer material is thin. I'm not sure how but I got a 2" tear that I've patched with black duct tape. Also when the lights are on I can see tons of very small pinholes. Neither of these are serious problems but they are disappointing. If this new tent is comparable with a thicker material it may be worth another 100 bucks. If your in no hurry lurk around until you know the tent is safe. Otherwise the DRs are the best things going.

i was contemplating purchasing a darkroom grow tent, but after many solo DIY designs in the meantime, I realized that I could probably build something of better quality for less money -- noting how easy it might be for the outer material to tear and screw up my photoperiod.

having a brother and sister kitten around the house makes me have to try *that* much harder to develop a good product. they're my little test-monkeys, since they love to explore the plant rooms [and attack them] apparently.

 

[bearsnotbombs]

i'm also skeptical of how much weight those grow boxes can support and under what circumstances.

reflector + any fans supported by the room + whatever else you decide to add = that upper-limit of bearing a load which should be better enforced to ensure peace of mind and future expandability?

 

[Hotwired]

this doesn't look like a secret jardin product.

Took me about 2 minutes to see if you were right. There was just something about this tent that turned a lightbulb on.

Sure enough I read this in the item description:

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=GRGL120&eq=&Tp=

Everest Garden Supply (the company that introduced the first reflective tent to North America) and HomeBox (the company that invented the first portable grow room) are proud to announce the next generation in portable grow rooms - The Grow Lab Portable Grow Room.

Here is a link to Everest:

http://www.everestgardensupply.com/index_GR.php

Now you ask "Well wtf is Everest Garden Supply?"

My answer is I think they are either working with or they own Secret Jardin overseas. Everest sells only one grow tent and it's the Dark Room. If you can imagine what both tents would look like mixed up together (Homebox and Dark Room) this is what you would get.

It is a collaboration between Everest and Homebox. They took the best from both tents and made one solid tent. I think the fuckers read my review and knew they needed help lol

Basically what we have here is a revamped Dark Room. Just like the Dark Room "Street" version was a beta for the newer Dark Rooms. We are the beta testers for these companies folks. They come to places like this, read our reviews and we do all the work for them for FREE. Then they build better "beta" tents and continue on down the road. No complaints by me really....you have to make money somehow.

If you notice all the sizes are exactly the same as the Dark Rooms except for the smallest ones. This is the "NEW AND IMPROVED" Dark Room, now called the Grow Lab. I hope it works out for them.

 

[Skeksis]

Yeah, I think BGHydro is getting rid of all of their Dark Room stock to make way for these new tents.
You read my mind when you said these are what you get when you cross a Secret Jardin with a Homebox.

I'm just kind of disappointed in a couple of things. First, that clear "viewing window" in the front with velcro.
IMO, it's a gimmick. It's pointless and it drives up the cost of the product. Second, no side doors for access
to the harder to reach areas when the tent is full. Other than that, they look ok and very heavy duty.

The new HH Silver edition on the other hand looks like the best design of all of them, but the sizes are weird
and it's so damned expensive compared to the others.

 

[Skeksis]

Go with hydrohut

Any reason you recommend the Hydro Hut?

 

[dhhbomb]

i would recomend hydro hut since before the whole plant toxicity scare they were one of the top brands with good strong products and only ones to admit there was a problem with the old tents and stopped selling them and now have their new products released if i had not just purchased a sunhut i would have bought a hydo hut

 

[BloodShot420]

what is wrong with a normal homebox?

I want the XXL - but its about 5 bills delivered... is the only downside the cost??

I'm actually looking for 2... the XXL for flower, and a mother/clone tent...

if the only "downside" to the homebox is price, i think i have my mind made up - i have been keeping an ear to the ground to hear something bad about them, but nothing yet...

 

[funkdocKT]

the Secret Jardin DarkRooms are the best IMO...ive used HydroHut & HomeBox before converting to DRs...

Secret Jardin just released the DR400 too...i believe its around 9'x9'x6'7"....MASSIVE

 

[funkdocKT]

i'm also skeptical of how much weight those grow boxes can support and under what circumstances.

reflector + any fans supported by the room + whatever else you decide to add = that upper-limit of bearing a load which should be better enforced to ensure peace of mind and future expandability?

fear not...i hang my fan, reflector and a 6"x24" carbon filter all hanging from my rafters with no sagging from the frame...when the DRs first started hitting the scene i watched a DR sales man hang from the rafters for a good 5 minutes with no damage (he had to weigh at least 165-175 lbs.

 

[peach]

I've got a Secret Jardon 1.2m x 2m - I think it had DR Street on the box, can't remember DR though.

I was really skeptical about buying a tent and figured I could just DIY something - but the quality impressed me enough I'm happy I bought it. The fabric is decent, the mirroring good.

I doubted the frame when it was going together, it doesn't lock (it's a close push fit) and it's only enough bars to make the edges of a cube and three rafters. The corner pieces are solid and smooth. Frame is shakey UNTIL you get the tent on, then it toughens up because the cover is a perfect fit. There's a separate floor liner you put on first so the floor of the tent doesn't get ripped when your moving things around above it - I also bought a 1m^2 tray for mine that will keep the floor 100% new.

I don't like the idea of the Hydrohuts corners. The plastic ones are made of that stuff that is really tough and would bend before it ever snapped. They're webbed between poles so they create a rounded corner that's less like to cause problems. The Secret Jardin's plastic corners are in no way like the tacky junk the word plastic makes you think.

I like the fact the whole side comes away for access.

Looking in without doing the door isn't so gimmicky - it's not all that, but it's whether or not I'd pay for it depends on how much they want extra, and I wouldn't pay a lot extra (since I'm going to open the door to physically check the plants every now and again anyway). One thing I'd REALLY like on a tent is velcro or popper tabs to tab the door over. Sometimes you just want to cover the light so it's not blazing and tabbing the door shut will still keep the airflow in the right direction - out through the filter (no smells), it won't drift out the door because the flow rate is high enough to keep a negative air pressure in the tent (pulling air in, not letting it out). That way, I wouldn't have to constantly undo the zip. The zip is like any zip - all of them break eventually. It's not weak, but maybe a metal one would last longer?

The zip has a flap of plastiky material behind it, probably to block light getting through the zip, create a tighter air seal or something like that. It can get jammed in the zip, so I lead the zip with a finger, pressing the flap away so it won't damage the zipper.

If you start using ducts to vent air into the tent, you really need to zip the whole thing up to pull the air through the duct. Mine, for example, the room is getting too hot if I just let the air recirculate, I need to use some duct from another inlet to a window - pulling in cooler air from outside.

I'd also like some velcro or poppers up above the door, so I can tab it out the way while I'm doing things inside the tent.

Magnets would be best (no dirty fuzzy velcro to wear down or poppers to rip out the fabric or rust)

There are two ways all grow tents could be made stronger. First, make the frame poles with super tough, heavy duty material - which'd make it big and bulky, heavy and expensive. Or add some more bracing. You could do number two yourself - maybe add a bar going from one corner to the opposite on the walls. But really, it's pointless. They're sturdy enough to not fall over or buckle with the fan pressure or you walking into them, and that's all they need.

All those openings on the hydrohut could come in handy. The Secret Jardin 1.2 has two air inlets. One for the lamp in the roof and the other lets you duct air in. I'm not sure if I like the fact I HAVE to have the lamp and ducting openings on one side of the tent - but it would be difficult to put them elsewhere and still have the side door option (you'd be walking into the duct - since they're on the opposite side to the door on the SJ 1.2). The same applies for routing things like the hydro hose and lighting power. But again, it's a result of having an entire front and side that come away.

Overall, I'm seriously impressed - I was worried it'd be a POS semi DIY that would cause me problems. Maybe there's something better out there and one or two tweaks you could do (tabs on door / window), but this is pretty much how I'd have built it if it was me doing it and I'm usually picky about shit like this.

9/10? High marks

I'm extremely good with DIY and all that (bought a MIG welder / $600 oxy acetylene torch aged 13 and taught myself to weld, had a CNC lathe), but I'd definitly go straight to tents unless you plan on staying in a house you OWN for at least a few years and have an entire room you can dedicate.