Whatever you get make sure it has a UV wavelength in there, that has really helped my grow along...I don't have anyother LED's to compare against, just blackstar. Yes they have a website, although it looks like they bailed out on making it half way through, as it has not been updated in some time. They sell so much through their ebay store that I doubt they want the trouble of handling a webserver (honestly this is just a couple of guys in a hydro store who are the sole US distributers of Blackstar)...if you google gotham hydroponics their site comes up...I would recommend calling them, its never a bad idea, they like to talk. They will lay it out for you in a pretty down to earth fashion without all the marketing BS of how their LEDs will bring peace to the middle east.
Whats so good about blackstar vs. illuminator: Blackstar is comparable output and performance and half the price. There is nothing super fancy about blackstar outside of their price, they actually understand that LED's won't be a viable option for growers unless the price drops, so apparently they run a low budget, small but very busy distribution business that has a very low operating cost, and pass that along to make them competitive. They have all the bandwidths needed to make it effective, and that is all they need.
No fancy website, no ridiculous claims, no silly designs, no adjustable BS, just case, fan, led go...All that other shit mentioned just bakes in a higher operating cost for their business, and therefore a high cost for their products.
You should just call up, im starting to sound like a salesman now, but i have had to defend blackstar from haters in the past, so I have a well rehersed rant to throw back against actual salesmen trying to put my shit down to push theirs...Im sure I am not the only one...Just get an LED that has UV, White, Red, and Blue. I recommend 6 wavelengths, there's 4's that work well, 6's, 8's, 11's. Whatever you want...
That is the thing with LED's it's not as cut and dry as HID lighting, there are a lot of fine details that differentiate the various platforms. Its not just like 120000 Lumens at this color temp. Its how many watts of each wavelength, what angle are the lenses, what kind of chipsets are they, blah, blah, blah...
I know that blackstar uses several brands of chips, including cree and bridgelux, they shit runs real cool, the wavelengths include the red(several wavelengths of red)/blue/white/UV/Infrared, and the angles on their lenses range from 60 degrees to 120 degrees depending on the wavelength...Most of this info is available on their ebay posts...
Honestly I don't think you can go wrong with most of the LED's on the market these days, so whatever you pick: good on ya. I also like haight solid state, kessil, LEDgrowlightsdirect.com, and .357 magnum. I went with blackstar as I couldn't see thier products being effective as the equivlant money being spent on blackstar lights.
For Example:
Haight solid state is an amazing LED grow light, it uses 6W, automotive LED chips...completely solide state, no fans, so on and so forth.
I have seen some very good grows with these lights. They are an amazing alternative to HID lighting, however, versus other LEDs on the market the waters begin to become muddy.
They have a 180W model for $495 dollars. Great model...
For the same money though, you can get 480W or 3W chips (2 x 240W blackstars). I have a VERY hard time believing that you wont be able to grow the same amount, if not more plants, under the blackstars for the same expenditure. Chances are you would be able to get more than the haight, at a deeper penetration (as the LED source is concentrated higher with blackstar).
Now, dealing with the foot print of a light, for OPTIMAL performance of the blackstar, each 240W unit will do 6 sq.ft. I'm sure most people on here will agree to that (if you own one) and probably say you may be able to squeeze a touch more. So two units will yeild 12 sq.ft. of OPTIMAL led lighting coverage. Haight says that the 180W unit will do a maximum of 16 sq.ft., with out giving the optimal effective lighting area. If the optimal is 16 square feet than I would wonder about its penetration. I know that most companies wont get up to 16sq.ft. of optimal coverage without being at a bare minimum of 400W due to lens angle constraints.
So really that was my thinking behind the blackstars, I can spend 500 bucks on 180 watts, or 480W, and not have to worry about having to purchase more lights later on.
My first light was a 500W, and I went back for the 240W. About to buy a few more of them next month.
