New Bulb Choices. Ushio, Digilux or?

Got 6 months on 3 600 ushio super reds. Time to replace all of them. Was wondering what people thought about the digilux bulbs? The ushios put out more PAR than the hortilux ( I have no interest in the hortilux) but I can't find any specs on the digilux bulbs. They sure are expensive.

Lastly, anyone know if they will be releasing ceramic metal halides for digital ballasts anytime soon? I have heard great things about them.

Thanks all!

Really, what nobody uses HID bulbs? DId I stumble into the CFL forum or something? LOL

I heard good things about the Ushios ..i have a Lucalox right now..it has a shitload of lumens but i dont like it much. Replacement will be a Hortilux

Picked up a 6 pack of digilux 600's $370 shipped so pretty sweet deal. Flipped last night, man those bulbs look a shit load more white than the ushios did. They almost look like MH bulbs. I'll post up on performance.

I would like to add a not though. Dear digilux, I know that the packaging for your HPS bulbs looks pretty pimp with the vacuum formed velvet case, I feel like I am opening some kind of secret amulet. That said, its too fucking tight and its a bitch to actually get the bulb out of the package. + 10 for bling factor, -5 for usability.

How's the digilux bulbs doing for your garden?

The are really working out well. I have been switching strains and what not so I can't really say how they are yield wise but the plants are healthy and they have big buds...so that is a plus.

I have a total of about 4 months of 12/12 on them and have only seen a slight reduction in lux numbers. I believe I told myself I would use them for 4 runs or about 10 months

digilux has less wasted light, supposedly built poorly. at least I've been told that from several shops. they could be full of shit or not.

http://www.planetnatural.com/planetnatural/images/digilux-product-sheet.pdf


ushio has very good infrared spectrum and built with much better glass too. the ir means denser fatter buds.






agro sun red sodium hps is much better than both of those. it has more red spectrum, same amount of infrared and has uv-a and uv-b spectrums. less green spectrum which means leass wasted light. plants only absorb 20% of green and yellow spectrum at a very narrow bandwith




i just found another bulb , Maverick sun D Lux digital, its the cheapest out of all of them. from its spd chart, its the best one. has the highest red peaks, the highest blue peaks, violet peaks, its has slightly more infrared and has uv-a and uv -b.




This is the visible PAR spectrum that plants use.

View attachment 1960822


Its all about spectrum. lumens mean absolutely nothing. its like greek mythology for lights

I'd say Ushio.

Great post hyroot. The plants are taking a little longer to finish flowering under the digilux. Maybe that is the reduced red? I haven't harvested yet but I guess I should say that the best results I ever had were under new ushios.

i love the digilux as well.. but i have recently been turned on to sun pulse metal halides for flowering after talking to a member on another site and he convinced me to give them a try, and i have to say that i love them thus far.. just finished my first flower run with them, and i am loving the results..
the nice thing about the sun pulse are that they come in various k spectrums much in the way that say cfl's do, and you can simply buy different k's for watt ever phase of growing that you're in at the time... 6k for veg, and then switch to the 3 k for flowering.. the nice thing about using mh's for flowering is that they have more light in the uv spectrum, which is absent in most hps bulbs on the market.. and as we all know uv is good for tricome production...
the sun pulse come in ranges from i think 3k all the way up to 10 k, which they recommend using for the last week or two of flowering... i haven't dropped the cash on the 10k one yet as i think that's a lot of money to drop on a bulb to only use it for say 2 weeks out of a grow, but i'm loving the 4k bulb for flowering...
and the other nice thing about the sun pulses are they are made to handle the higher frequencies that digital ballasts fire at, same as say the digilux and also the ushio's..

i heard the sunpulse bulbs tend to blister. Especially the 3000k ones. i didn't ever want to spend money and that happen.

I stopped using hid's and Ive been using them for almost 10 years. 6 months ago I switched to T5's with aquarium bulbs. i did a side by side test for twice with a 4ft 8bulb(432w) and 1000w with an eye hortilux. per sq ft and watt I matched the yield. Plant size did vary but there other factors like shitty soil i experimented with and bugs and etc.... the bud size was the same. the quality far surpassed the 1000w. with high PAR( photosynthetically active radiation) and uv and high IR in the t5 bulbs, it was much better results. I stiil have my 1k but selling it to a friend in a week and getting more t5's. i love it. barely any heat comes off those ballasts and no ventilation needed. no more cutting holes in walls for venting. I will soon have 3 t5's more area than 1000w for half the wattage and again no heat issues. the spectrums on these bulb blow away any led and cost is like $400 for fixture and bulbs. the bulbs do not degrade like hid's do. they just burn out after a year or so. if matching watt for watt. the t5 will blow away any hid. I'm not trying to push these. im just so stoked on them i want to tell everyone. to each their own. if you are happy with what you do than that's cool.

check my journal on my profile to see

legallyflying said:

Great post hyroot. The plants are taking a little longer to finish flowering under the digilux. Maybe that is the reduced red? I haven't harvested yet but I guess I should say that the best results I ever had were under new ushios.

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How long it takes to finish usually depends on the strain itself. Spectrum is more for quality and for chlorophyll to absorb usable light. Wasted light just lights the room and plants don't use it. like the high yellows and greens in most hid bulbs. If you happen to have mag deficiency then the plant is not producing as much chlorophyll. There is actually a mag molecule in chlorophyll. Chlorophyll A makes up 75% of chlorophyll and mostly absorbs light at 410nm - 430nm and 660 nm - 700nm. that could be a possible factor. ive seen them lagg because of that before but only by a few days.

I was just about to get a dual arc bulb and changed my mind at the last minute after thinking about how short the veg is for autos.. getting the Ushio 1000 hps.. much greater red spectrum it seems..

hyroot said:

How long it takes to finish usually depends on the strain itself. Spectrum is more for quality and for chlorophyll to absorb usable light. Wasted light just lights the room and plants don't use it. like the high yellows and greens in most hid bulbs. If you happen to have mag deficiency then the plant is not producing as much chlorophyll. There is actually a mag molecule in chlorophyll. Chlorophyll A makes up 75% of chlorophyll and mostly absorbs light at 410nm - 430nm and 660 nm - 700nm. that could be a possible factor. ive seen them lagg because of that before but only by a few days.

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Im confused as to which bulbs to get? As far as in the nm ranges. I have a quantum 16 bulb t5 unit and would love to try this for myself, thanks for any help u can give

Anyone using a Hortilux BLUE? Its spectrum looks crazy full compared to any other bulb i've ever seen.

Huel Perkins said:

Anyone using a Hortilux BLUE? Its spectrum looks crazy full compared to any other bulb i've ever seen.

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They're not reliable if you're using a digital ballast. They look good.... if they fire. If your lights are on a timer and you're not actually around, you risk missing a light cycle. Hortilux Super HPS are good though.

What is everyone's opinion on the best hps digital ballast bulb?

digillux. i had to go back to hid, i got a digilux for free. fullest spectrum of any hid. no spectral shift from veg to flower. plants seem to finish a little earlier under the fuller spectrum. its cheapest on amazon. best quality buds of any hids i have ever used.

Im not doing t5 anymore. the cost of replacement bulbs got to be too much. Im saving up for a couple of Inda Gro Par 420's edfl lights.

That's funny you say digilux. Don't know about the MH but the HPS was THE worst bulb I have ever used. I used then for one cycle and now they are sitting in a box. People all over the net are dumping them because the word got out they suck balls.

I always favored Ushios over hortilux as they seem to last longer with digi ballasts and they are cheaper although people are finally selling the hortilux bulbs for 70-80. If you are running 600. I can't say enough about the GE lucalux bulbs. Awesome bulbs!! Awesome awesome awesome and they are $45-50 per. GE knows a thing or two about lighting and these are their commercial green house bulbs. A friend tippede off on them. Tried 2 and then bought 8 more.
If thy only make a 1k watt!!!!

The digilux came out in 2008. In 2011 they redisigned it and fixed the problems. Like I said I got it for free and its a 1000 watt. I have had it 3 months now. No problems. Its the best hid bulb I ever used. It appears like a neutral white light. Like neutral leds. Ive used hortilux, ushio, plant max, solar max, agrosun, ge lucalux. I get big frosty dense ass buds. I main line too.

I would like to try a sylvania gro lux. That has the best spectrum. Thats only sold in europe.