Best bulb?

Who makes the best grow bulbs, for the money? are the expensive lights worth the higher prices? help please.

ushio bulbs doent produce as many lumens but i have always thought the leaves looked healtheir. i usally use sunmaster but i used a sylvania after one of mine broke and had to get a replacement immediately and it worked fine for like 9 months and then i just replaced, so honestly i figure they are all about comparable. i just figure if you start with a brand and it does you well, then why worry, but if it isnt what you wanted then chuck it anf get one thats good for you. i have used hps mh and t5.

Philips makes greast bulbs, moderately priced.I'm using their 430w son agro right now. IMO, you're not paying for a hell of a lot more when you go for something "high end" like a hortilux. Avoid off brand bulbs that seem too cheap to be true, avoid bulbs that are discounted and obviously if you have heard bad reviews about a particular bulb avoid that one too.

Bought some plantmax bulbs from here (metal halide 7500K) www.gladiatorlighting.com kicked the shit out of my old phillips in regards to color temp, smaller bulb casing too for the 1000W, so it wasn't so close to the canopy (vertical handing bulb). I think the 1000W was 60 bucks with shipping.

yetibear said:

Who makes the best grow bulbs, for the money? are the expensive lights worth the higher prices? help please.

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HPS is not too important, MH you want a horticultaral 6500 K spectrum, cheapest available if you're on a budget.

i only use 250w each i run a eye hortilux -hps and a philips- cmh
me and my plants love them deserve them and are worth them not cheap just the best i have used for spectrum coverage yield will show the diff
yep yep we both be happy happy --i even like the color of the light from the cmh its so bright and clear --like in a jewlery store or sumtin
if you burnin 1000w and not even usin say half yo light it dont matter

i run both my lights together at flower i throw in my uvb for a hour a day as far away as i can get it in a 39 in square tent (uvb nutin to play wit)
risk vs reward must always be considered like what we do

good luck -keep em green - 1 Luv

frmrboi, what does "HPS is not too important" mean? are you saying there all the same? money is tight and the expensive bulbs are around $100-$120 dollars here and the cheaper ones are around $50-$70, the hydro store guy says they all last around a year! so what does the extra money get you? and does it REALLY give you what you pay for? dumb question I know but I'm new to this. oh yeah and I'm CHEAP! thanks again.

yes, they are worth the more money you pay for them. hortilux, buy it and be done

what fixture do you have??? your not being to clear on your needs man. are you flowering or veggin or both one fixure or 6...come on dude details!!!!!!

yetibear said:

are you saying there all the same? money is tight and the expensive bulbs are around $100-$120 dollars here and the cheaper ones are around $50-$70, the hydro store guy says they all last around a year! so what does the extra money get you? and does it REALLY give you what you pay for? dumb question I know but I'm new to this. oh yeah and I'm CHEAP! thanks again.

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mostly extra lumens of light per watt for the premium HPS.
The biggest payoff is buying a 6500 K light which are a lot more than a standard white MH. The growth return is worth the extra cost there, big time.

We've switched from Hortilux HPS to Digilux HPS with approx. 7% yield increase...probably due to being a little brighter. The Digilux is also about $25.00 cheaper.

Here's a tip that works for us: Keep your plants under the blue halide for the first 2 weeks of flowering. The node spacing will be tighter, the plant won't stretch as much, and yields will improve.

practice has proven that mh (for me cmh) is best in first third of flower to reduce stretch better internode spaceing

middle one third of growth better under hps to get rock hard buds (you wont get hard buds wit mh you get big and softfluffy )

last third of growth best under mh again- to get best results from final phase of weight gain and bud fattening

----so i just run my two little 250's together all through flower spinning and rotating pots ---works for me

Hudsonvalley82 said:

Bought some plantmax bulbs from here (metal halide 7500K) www.gladiatorlighting.com kicked the shit out of my old phillips in regards to color temp, smaller bulb casing too for the 1000W, so it wasn't so close to the canopy (vertical handing bulb). I think the 1000W was 60 bucks with shipping.

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Hi Hudsonvally and thanks for the response, this is exactly why I'm asking this question. I know a person who's been growing for many years (over 20 years) and he told me recently that years ago eye hortilux was the "bomb" when it came to bulbs! but that over the last 5 years or so other company's have designed and built better performing bulbs then hortilux and some of them do it for half the money!!

He SWEARS hortilux lives off there name!! the plantmax is a great example!! I'm looking at a 600 watt HPS for a electronic ballast! http://www.gladiatorlighting.com/products/PLANTMAX-600W-HPS-GROW-BULB-2000K.html the cheapest price I can find the hortilux for is on the internet for $86.47+ shipping (just over $95 shipped) http://www.growlightsupply.com/eye-hortilux-600-watt-super-hps-lamp-p-97.html and all the hydro shops here want retail $124.99+ tax!!!!

Looking at the specs isn't the plantmax a BETTER value and a BETTER light?? the plantmax bulb offers longer life! (almost double) and 2000 more lumens!! at much less money!!! I was told by several people that I was going to go through bulbs once every 8-12 months, no matter what brand I used! and if so why spend the extra money?? one could literally buy 2 of the plantmax's for the cost of 1 hortilux! am I missing something?? thanks again.

do whats best for you and your setup all different everyone does each step different wit different tools and end the same cause the plant will grow itself

a l ot of grow gods alot of inflated egos a lot of people think their way the only way or the best way

may you all have a room full of fat assed girls
im out --1Luv

If you have a digital ballast than "FUCK HORTILUX BULBS".....They are nice bulbs and all but digital ballasts blow them left and right because they aren't meant to be started at such a high frequency. Digilux all the way man. Plantmax work well for digital ballast as well if you want something a little cheaper.

Banditt said:

If you have a digital ballast than "FUCK HORTILUX BULBS".....They are nice bulbs and all but digital ballasts blow them left and right because they aren't meant to be started at such a high frequency. Digilux all the way man. Plantmax work well for digital ballast as well if you want something a little cheaper.

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yeah but what about electronic ballast??

yetibear said:

yeah but what about electronic ballast??

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They are the same thing.

Digital = Electronic.

Do you mean magnetic?

what i relly like is my cmh by philps i love dat baby as well i love my eye hortilux and my cmh by philips

a lot of shit out hter find whats best for you not what someone else says is best for them unless you got exact same setup

alot of wasto do the same thing nobody is right or wrong just different you can grow a plant on your window sill wit no nutes --you can also use 300 dollar nutes and 10 one thousand watt lights on an auto if you want its all up to you

Dwezelitsame said:

do whats best for you and your setup all different everyone does each step different wit different tools and end the same cause the plant will grow itself

a l ot of grow gods alot of inflated egos a lot of people think their way the only way or the best way

may you all have a room full of fat assed girls
im out --1Luv

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I agree 100 %... Different strokes for different folks ... do what suits you

sorry Bandit, it's a digital! thanks.