so this is an interesting question. We are a Bridgelux distributor but I cant get my head into the EB game. If you want for cheap. I see it as a solution for a quarter mile, but not for staying, and maybe thats ok, if you dont invest much you can afford to get onto the next big thing. Im no fan of FR4(Fibreglass boards) for LED, its an insulator not a conductor of heat, even though people have no thermal problem, so Im told. The Gen3 like Gen 2 are using 2835 leds, much like normal flexible led ribbon, these leds are cheap, I actually prefer the gen 1 with the 3030 leds. Its clear these two things say one thing build them as cheap as possible. the issue with 2835 is I dont see them making the 220LPW that Sammy and Nichia in 3030 make. and I expect in the next 4-5 weeks to see 230LPW 3030 leds. If I was going to build a 2835 strip I would use the Cree 2835 which is a better chip. I think greengenes is moving to the Cree 5630 chip, also a good option. The key thing with strips is they dont penetrate like COB, but they spread the canopy beautifully so why buy an 560mm EB that does 2200 lumens at 700ma for $9.5 when you can get a 5000 lumen strip for around 50c-$1 more at the same efficacy with twice the penetration power
mic drop Im out
Cheers
Mark