Chinese versus Western lights

Overgrowtho

Overgrowtho

Well-Known Member
Is there really such a reliability/performance difference between Western designed lights such as gavitas and good Chinese ones?

Of all the Chinese brands available, what LED and HPS can you recommend?
 
In my neck of the woods I can get a 240w board with 436 301b diodes and meanwell driver for less than a HLG 65w board and 320w long boards with 566 301b diodes/ meanwell driver for less than a HLG 100w board. The 450w 972 diode boards go for less than two thirds of the price of a HLG 260. It all depends on where you are. Imo there's no reason to buy a 100w board over a 320w board with the same diodes and driver quality just because of a name.

I've had no issues whatsoever with no name quantum boards from china. I have a "unbranded" 240w board with 436 lm301b diodes and a meanwell hlg-240 driver, another unbranded 110w board with 218 301b diodes and a meanwell XLG driver plus a greenfingers 288 diode 281b board at 150w with sosen driver/app control.

They all meet their par maps advertised with a few percent, have had zero issues over two years and end up costing far less than the "western" boards which use the same diodes, drivers and sinks anyway.

The newer bar lights from viparspectra and similar are great lights for the price and watt for watt won't be much different than the more expensive setups due to identical diode and driver choices most of the time.

It really comes down to diode count, footprint and how heavily they are driven at the end of the day.
 
Thank you for this feedback. I'm looking at purchasing more than 20 or 40 lights for some commercial grow operation in Asia. So I would like to get it from China. I'm looking for 600 to 800 W per light.

Can you recommend any other brands or models?
 
anyone have a link to that thread where the connectors on the cords from that chinese light melted / caught fire? anywho id buy american if you can. i just switched to leds last summer i picked up two hlg scorpion diablos couldnt be more happier with my purchase customer service was great i was able to do it over the phone and they were very accommodating they even cut custom cord lengths so that the cords from the driver would reach my flip box outside of my grow room (all the mh/hps ballasts used to be mounted outside the room) so i didnt need to move anything or hire an electrician to move the flip box closer
 
in Asia - check out @Grow Lights Australia , recommend the company , have a look at there site , at least they will be honest and can and will supply correct info on there products

Grow Lights Australia - Full Spectrum LED Grow Light

True Full Spectrum LED Grow Lights. Made in Australia with UV and Far Red. ePAR. Proven Yields, Quality and Efficiency. Price $ Per Watt.
growlightsaustralia.com growlightsaustralia.com
 
I have 4 TS1000 lights. My mate assembled them using the exact same components that Mars Hydro used. He bought the components direct off the manufacturer in China. He could have even had the boards etched with the Mars Hydro logos. Apart form that you couldn't tell the difference. Most of the "Western" suppliers are just marking up and selling on generic Chinese products.
 
xtsho said:
Western lights are just Chinese parts assembled outside of China.
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Or Chinese parts assembled in China, branded as a western make and shipped to the user direct from China. There are UK stockists that have a 3 - 4 week delivery time on their branded lights, because they are drop shipped direct from China. No matter what electronic device you buy most of it comes from China.
 
speedwell68 said:
I have 4 TS1000 lights. My mate assembled them using the exact same components that Mars Hydro used. He bought the components direct off the manufacturer in China. He could have even had the boards etched with the Mars Hydro logos. Apart form that you couldn't tell the difference. Most of the "Western" suppliers are just marking up and selling on generic Chinese products.
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He should have had "Made in the USA" etched on them, instantly worth 2x the price!
 
xox said:
laugh all you like if i remember correctly you immediately went to your room to check your connections as you had the exact light that i mentioned in that thread :D i prefer my house not to burn
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Still haven’t check them actually
 
Sauron said:
The best light company is the one that will actually replace your light when it breaks. HLG will have me a new light within 3 days..no questions asked for 5 years...just try giving mars a call...SMH...pros don't use china lights
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Pros don't rely on Chinese customer service. I just looked at an HLG Patriot 150, as it is a comparable spec to my lights. It uses a Meanwell driver, that is Chinese made and it uses LM301H leds, they are Chinese made. The light may be assembled in the US, but I will bet my left bollock that none of the components are made there.
 
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