Led Users Unite!

I was accused of being a pitchman for Kessil because of how excited I got about their lights, and I got my medicine on that one. Now I'm sure I look like I'm selling ISIS but what it comes down to is every LED user is putting down some serious $. The larger they are going on their purchases the more they need this resource. I don't want anyone to experience the headaches I've had with Kessils but I also want others to know how great LEDs work. I have friends that insisted HID was the only way to go and now they are jealous of my setup and looking at how they can get some LED based solely on my results. It's to the point that I get angry because I was almost mislead myself and talked out of saving massive $ for years to come. These misconceptions are perpetuated intentionally by the HID industry who controls most if not all the hydro shops. The hydro shops are the hubs of this culture. That's why they never boast the benefits of LED unless they have Stealth Grow or KEssil and then it's, "this is the only LED unit that works." I have seen the power of LED with my own eyes so it gets at me to no end when people tell me LED doesn't work because then they are telling me, I'm seeing shit, that I'm delusional, or that I'm lying.

Aint it the truth, man if i were to go and buy a 1300 light imma post some shit about it to make sure no one buys it if it sucks or to have ppl invest if its good. im no advertiser i just want leds to become more mainstream.. the more ppl that buy the cheaper it gets and the better brands weed out the shittier brands. Dude i know led works, ive used hps and that shit gets hooot. Leds dont as much so its easier to control. My 2 cents. Every one is sooo paranoid. This is a question and answer forum period! i dont like having to sift through the bullshit comments of: man this guy must be a rep...please... we need this place to be a place of info for all and we dont need flame wars. as it seems most leds turn good gpw. But what we all want to know is what is the best, with the best warranty, with the best savings and the true honesty that i have only learned exists from this forum. Without this forum i would never have found out about spectra, isis, magnum..period. I would have settled with a shitty led panel or par led light. Blackstar is good, i like there veg model. but for flowering im going with spectra.
 

660nm420

Active Member
If you like Kessils because they're small you might like Sunshine Systems Grow Spots. At $72 for 15W (claimed) they're way up there $/W but if they were half the price I'd have 10 of them and sprinkle them like stars over my garden. As it is I bought 2 to supplement the CFLs in my 2x2x4 veg tent and they seem to cover a 10" pot with an LST clone nicely at least until the plants bush out past their containers. I also have a Sunshine systems 90W UFO in my flower shower (first grow) along with 4 CFLs because the UFO isn't enough for that space (30" diameter, 11 plant SOG).
View attachment 1529054View attachment 1529055View attachment 1529056View attachment 1529057


Disclaimer: I paid full retail on the UFO ($275) from my local grow shop and full price on the Grow Spots from Greners.com. I get no compensation or deals of any kind from Sunshine Systems and don't recommend their products over any other manufacturer, it just happens to be what I have.
They look allot like the 12w lights from alien grow http://www.aliengrow.com/led-shop/ Do you see any difference??? If not these are only $35 and I already had my eyes on them.
 

Al Dente

Member
They look allot like the 12w lights from alien grow http://www.aliengrow.com/led-shop/ Do you see any difference??? If not these are only $35 and I already had my eyes on them.
Definitely not the same unit. Here's a pic of my Grow Spot taken just after I turned it off so the LEDs are still glowing
IMG_1524.jpg

Whereas the Aliengrow Spot has each LED under its own lens according to the photo of the product on the Aliengrow web site. At $35 I'm tempted enough by the Aliengrow to find out more about the company and see what kind of customer experience people have had with them. They offer a 3 year warrenty "no questions asked" which sounds great, but the warrenty page on their site is 404 and so far I can't find any resellers or customer experience comments. Anyway, if you find out more or get a light from them I'd love to hear how it works out.
 

660nm420

Active Member
Definitely not the same unit. Here's a pic of my Grow Spot taken just after I turned it off so the LEDs are still glowing
View attachment 1530626

Whereas the Aliengrow Spot has each LED under its own lens according to the photo of the product on the Aliengrow web site. At $35 I'm tempted enough by the Aliengrow to find out more about the company and see what kind of customer experience people have had with them. They offer a 3 year warrenty "no questions asked" which sounds great, but the warrenty page on their site is 404 and so far I can't find any resellers or customer experience comments. Anyway, if you find out more or get a light from them I'd love to hear how it works out.
If it's only $35 and works to grow they are totally worth it. The only reason I haven't already ordered some is because they have no contact info on their site at all. It wouldn't be much of a loss if all I ordered was one bulb. Their panels look sic. The daisy chain would solve my problems with my mess of wires. I can't help but wonder why it is they look so much alike though. My guess is we will begin to see a wash of these bulbs on the market much like how all the panels are made from similar outside components but entirely different guts. This is exactly why we need this thread. Two different lights from two different makers, same wattage, looks the same, ones half the price, but user testimonial is everything. Yep!! Guess I have to investigate, and I'll keep you posted!
 

660nm420

Active Member
If you like Kessils because they're small you might like Sunshine Systems Grow Spots. At $72 for 15W (claimed) they're way up there $/W but if they were half the price I'd have 10 of them and sprinkle them like stars over my garden. As it is I bought 2 to supplement the CFLs in my 2x2x4 veg tent and they seem to cover a 10" pot with an LST clone nicely at least until the plants bush out past their containers. I also have a Sunshine systems 90W UFO in my flower shower (first grow) along with 4 CFLs because the UFO isn't enough for that space (30" diameter, 11 plant SOG).
View attachment 1529054View attachment 1529055View attachment 1529056View attachment 1529057


Disclaimer: I paid full retail on the UFO ($275) from my local grow shop and full price on the Grow Spots from Greners.com. I get no compensation or deals of any kind from Sunshine Systems and don't recommend their products over any other manufacturer, it just happens to be what I have.
Couple more bulbs and a that ufo of yours in this fixture would be pretty tight. http://www.hidhut.com/catalog/satellite-system-for-ufo-led-grow-lights-p-1760.html.

So I also found the bloom boss http://www.bloomboss.com/bloombossspot.html. Same generic Kessil looking outside, but the same configuration as the alien grow spots instead of the denser matrix of the growspot. So it's basically like the panels where the outside component parts are all similar but what they do with them inside matters.
 

660nm420

Active Member
okay i know i posted about getting my replacement in and it came with a free spotlight and that post is gone
So what did you decide on?? I can never tell if you want to go LED or if you're an LED hater. If you decided on a good unit you will be satisfied with your purchase and change the minds of any skeptics you know. I know this because I've had people telling me I'm stupid for going LED and they have eaten their words along with their 400-500 power bill every month. Each and every month that mines way lower = more LED wattage. Every month that my power bill is $200-300 means more LED lights.I like what my LED units are doing so much that it gets to me every time I hear any of the widely held misconceptions being perpetuated by people who have NEVER given them a chance based solely on the grow authorities(hydroshops) that act as the hub of indoor gardening. Of course LED sucks to them because they make SOO much money on HID lighting and all the other components to deal with the heat issues. That's why every shop that has a small selection of LED claims that their LEDs are the way to go if you are going to go LED which quote, "I wouldn't suggest, they just haven't come far enough yet" when I know that these guys are salesman and have a larger margin on the HID lighting so when I hear the LED sucks myth being perpetuated it's like someone lying to me all over again and I know damn well that LED does work and that these salesman are lying so to me to make a few more bucks of one sale when it will cost me more money EVERY month. So not cool!! To me it's like somebody saying, one movie is better than the other without having watched both. How would they know?? If it's not base on experience, it's based on something else and you have to question motives of others when seeking advice, especially when they are willing to give you advice in an area that they have no experience. Why would ACTUAL users of LED lie to you?? I have no personal gain for deceiving you. Just think about motives and apply some critical thinking to this issue and it's not difficult to see where the misinformation regarding LED is perpetuated.
 

Al Dente

Member
Couple more bulbs and a that ufo of yours in this fixture would be pretty tight. http://www.hidhut.com/catalog/satellite-system-for-ufo-led-grow-lights-p-1760.html.
Yeah that looks cool but I wouldn't go for it for a couple of reasons. 1) I actually need those CFLs in my flower room for the heat, at least this time of year. As it is I have to run a space heater on and off to keep temps up above 75 during the day. Might change my mind about that in the summer though. 2) the thing I like about the spots is they can be placed around and under the canopy so the light comes in at a lot of different angles and hits as much foliage as possible. When I get enough to replace the UFO (which I will probably put in the veg tent) I'll probably want to have most of them around the perimeter of my little grow or concentrate 2 or more on each of 3-4 LST plants that will go in when this SOG is done.
 

660nm420

Active Member
Yeah that looks cool but I wouldn't go for it for a couple of reasons. 1) I actually need those CFLs in my flower room for the heat, at least this time of year. As it is I have to run a space heater on and off to keep temps up above 75 during the day. Might change my mind about that in the summer though. 2) the thing I like about the spots is they can be placed around and under the canopy so the light comes in at a lot of different angles and hits as much foliage as possible. When I get enough to replace the UFO (which I will probably put in the veg tent) I'll probably want to have most of them around the perimeter of my little grow or concentrate 2 or more on each of 3-4 LST plants that will go in when this SOG is done.
yeah blasting them in from any angle is the ONLY thin I like about kessil. Ok so by my calculations at about $80 for 12w that's about $7 a watt and at $240 for 36 w for the kessil is about $7 a watt. So about the same price. 3 of them equal a kessil in price and wattage so the benefit of the grow spot is that you can incrementally purchase these to equal a kessil and that you can spread them around more.
 

jdizzle22

Well-Known Member
10w total / 9LED = 1.11w per LED (likely 2w LEDs or really underpowered 3w)
$60 / 10w = $6 per watt

compared to say about $1.8-2 per watt with Spectra or $1.1-1.5 per w with Blackstar

That thing is going to be super crappy and expensive. You would be better off spending twice as much on a UFO or saving for a good proper panel.
 

jdizzle22

Well-Known Member
has anyone ever used the apache led lights?? they are certainly bragging about them http://www.apachetechinc.com/
LED company bragging = 95% likely to be implying their lights are about 300-400% better than they really are

However there lights do look similar to mine which I know will work great, so they guys are probably not bad.

PS: Ok asking $949 for a 156w LED light is INSANE at $6.08 per watt when the proven companies with great stuff charge less than $2 per watt! I do like that their lens angles are rather extreme at either 14 or 50 (the SCROG with that could be amazing)
 

dunit

Active Member
LED company bragging = 95% likely to be implying their lights are about 300-400% better than they really are

However there lights do look similar to mine which I know will work great, so they guys are probably not bad.

PS: Ok asking $949 for a 156w LED light is INSANE at $6.08 per watt when the proven companies with great stuff charge less than $2 per watt! I do like that their lens angles are rather extreme at either 14 or 50 (the SCROG with that could be amazing)
14 degree lens angle is ridiculous. If you hang the lights 2 ft above the plant the coverage area will be 6" wider than the panel so 18" by 22"???
 
I was slightly skeptical about a few things, but this thread changed my mind, thanks guys! btw i just picked up a UFO i'll come back and let ya know if it works out for me.
one love
-turtles
 
swimmingly lol. word up on teh dried grizzles my nizzle. i'm shit-faced.
guys i forgot to post up my dry gram numbers for my grow that just finished. 98.8 grams off of 3 plants. One only yielded 9-11g due to being crushed so the two that i took to term raised around 44 grams each or around 1.6 ounces off of autoflowers with poo poo genetics under horrible conditions besides the lighting. I fully expect my next grow to go swimmingly.
 
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