what is the best LED for under $800?

K

KultiVadeR

Member
Ok, i need some help. Im trying to decide which is the best led light to get for under $800. So far im leaning towards a Blackstar 500w or a Spectra 240w (2012 model).
Which one would you guys say is a better light at the moment? They both run about $550.
 
Chief Walkin Eagle

Chief Walkin Eagle

Well-Known Member
I never grew before but when I start Im going to buy from these guys http://www.dormgrow.com/

Me and my friend are also considering on building our own LED lights, the mechanics are simple enough... We found out that with $1000 worth of supplies we can build 7 high powered LED lights... But I dont know if I want to do that because I dont know if the light we produce is the light our plants need, I just know they were selling red, white and blue LED nodes, but what does that tell me? Does it produce a wide spectrum of color or just a spectrum of three? I dont know, Im for sure gunna buy one to test it out.
 
M

mk3coupe

Well-Known Member
I would put my younger brothers LED setup against anyone's any day of the week. I had a friends Blackstar have a little under half the LEDs go out after 8 months. He tore into it and found that they are not even close to what they say the rating is. I love the company, but they need work. I get all my LED grow lights from my younger brother now and while they are a little rough, I spend $500 and get 380 LED's and at 220k lumen thats way better than my 1000 HPS I was using, he even warranties them. He has all the spectrum's down to a science now.
 
postnothrills

postnothrills

Member
mk3coupe said:
I would put my younger brothers LED setup against anyone's any day of the week. I had a friends Blackstar have a little under half the LEDs go out after 8 months. He tore into it and found that they are not even close to what they say the rating is. I love the company, but they need work. I get all my LED grow lights from my younger brother now and while they are a little rough, I spend $500 and get 380 LED's and at 220k lumen thats way better than my 1000 HPS I was using, he even warranties them. He has all the spectrum's down to a science now.
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dont be stingy with it now..... hook it up
 
tokingtiger

tokingtiger

Well-Known Member
many are finding out that just because a company says its a 240w it isnt. Blackstars draw about 130 REAL watts so you are asking about a 130 watt led, yes that mean you will need 2 of them now to cover the area you was talking about.. Blackstar and other companies are not lying to you, most will tell you or are encoding it in the names of newer lights to buyer knows real wattage draw..

I have another light an Actual 240watt draw light from htgsupply coming, that will give me 4 240 watts over a 4x8 tent. I also have 2x26 spiral cfl's in the corners for an extra 400 watts of cfl to shine lower for a total of 960 actual draw LED + 400watts cfl or 1360watts total for 4x8. I did have all cfls at one time but the heat was crazy, even for cfls.. it is so much better now the and the fruit is so much juicier and bigger!

here is where i get my lights. honestly, only here: http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-7-Band-240w-LED-Grow-Light.asp
 
brotherjericho

brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
tokingtiger said:
many are finding out that just because a company says its a 240w it isnt. Blackstars draw about 130 REAL watts so you are asking about a 130 watt led, yes that mean you will need 2 of them now to cover the area you was talking about.. Blackstar and other companies are not lying to you, most will tell you or are encoding it in the names of newer lights to buyer knows real wattage draw..

I have another light an Actual 240watt draw light from htgsupply coming, that will give me 4 240 watts over a 4x8 tent. I also have 2x26 spiral cfl's in the corners for an extra 400 watts of cfl to shine lower for a total of 960 actual draw LED + 400watts cfl or 1360watts total for 4x8. I did have all cfls at one time but the heat was crazy, even for cfls.. it is so much better now the and the fruit is so much juicier and bigger!

here is where i get my lights. honestly, only here: http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-7-Band-240w-LED-Grow-Light.asp
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Those lights you link to are 80 3w diodes, which to draw an actual 240w would mean they are fully powering them. Most LED fixtures run 1.5 - 2w per on 3w diodes for longer life. Have you verified this 240w draw?

EDIT: According to https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/520007-vilify00s-round-two-tga-62-a.html and http://forum.grasscity.com/lighting/1017794-who-knows-about-htg-240w-7band-led.html#post14148719 those 240w HTG panels actually draw 120 -156w so they are comparable to other similar panels.
 
Corso312

Corso312

Well-Known Member
that 240 watt light looks like it is chinese crap.....no mention of the angles of the leds either.
 
C

ClassAcura

Active Member
600w Blackstar is better than 500w. I have the 600w, it flat out rocks. For $800 I would try to bargain and get the 900w Blackstar.
 
C

ClassAcura

Active Member
I grew top shelf in Hydro with a 600w, I was literally blown away at how fast and lush the plants grew, the genetics were as good as it gets. A buddy of mine is using the 600w Blackstar right now to flower 2 shwag plants in soil. I wish I had pics, results are phenomenal.
 
tokingtiger

tokingtiger

Well-Known Member
I asked HTG about the actual draw of thier 240 LED. Here is the letter i recieved..

sales@htgsupply.com

Mar 6

Hello

Thank you for your purchase.

We manufacture some of our LED's. The 90, 135, 120, 240, and 300 watt models are all manufactured by us! We also carry some manufactured by High Yield Lighting, under the AgroMax Professional Series, those are the 432 and 864 watt 7-Band and the 150, 210, 280, and 370 watt Professional Series 5 Band LED's.


Our manufactured LED's operate at the stated wattage! Since we are not selling them to wholesalers or other retailers, we do not fall under ANSI regulations. ANSI regulations require that electronic products must state the maximum wattage the unit CAN pull, which as you have read may not be the actual draw. So our branded LED's will pull the stated wattage. You have the 240w LED and that does pull 240w.


The AgroMax Professional LED's pull on average 80% of what they are described as, due to the fact that they are sold to distributors and no directly to the customer, and thus fall under ANSI requirements.


Thanks again and have a niceday
Perry
Shipping Manager
www.htgsupply.com
 
brotherjericho

brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
tokingtiger said:
I asked HTG about the actual draw of thier 240 LED. Here is the letter i recieved..

sales@htgsupply.com

Mar 6

Hello

Thank you for your purchase.

We manufacture some of our LED's. The 90, 135, 120, 240, and 300 watt models are all manufactured by us! We also carry some manufactured by High Yield Lighting, under the AgroMax Professional Series, those are the 432 and 864 watt 7-Band and the 150, 210, 280, and 370 watt Professional Series 5 Band LED's.


Our manufactured LED's operate at the stated wattage! Since we are not selling them to wholesalers or other retailers, we do not fall under ANSI regulations. ANSI regulations require that electronic products must state the maximum wattage the unit CAN pull, which as you have read may not be the actual draw. So our branded LED's will pull the stated wattage. You have the 240w LED and that does pull 240w.


The AgroMax Professional LED's pull on average 80% of what they are described as, due to the fact that they are sold to distributors and no directly to the customer, and thus fall under ANSI requirements.


Thanks again and have a niceday
Perry
Shipping Manager
www.htgsupply.com
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I hate to say this...but are you going to fully trust a seller?
 
postnothrills

postnothrills

Member
I would have to scour but someone hooked up their HTG 240 watt 7 band led to a kill a watt and it was only drawing about 133w.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=4752514&postcount=13
Their black line is pretty much a direct knock off of Blackstar.

As far as the AgroMax....someone emailed HGL about the AgroMax because it looked eerily similar to the penetrator pro and received an email about how it was a cheap chinese knock off...
http://forum.grasscity.com/lighting/991773-experience-agromax-pro-210-240w-3w-led%92s-lamp.html
but this is coming from HGL's Cammie McKenzie which isn't a trusted figure anyway. Bottom line is I wouldn't buy HTG LEDs. All of their other products are legit but the LEDs seem suspect.
 
tokingtiger

tokingtiger

Well-Known Member
postnothrills said:
I would have to scour but someone hooked up their HTG 240 watt 7 band led to a kill a watt and it was only drawing about 133w.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=4752514&postcount=13
Their black line is pretty much a direct knock off of Blackstar.

dude, its NOT a blackstar, so showing a fail blackstar test and saying HTG is same or worse just shows the stupidity i see on this post.. im just an old hippy that shared some knowledge and got nothing back but attacks and bad links that i wasted time on.. I think you need to beg mommie to pay for WoW so you get back on that game and flame like the 12 yr retards you are.
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brotherjericho

brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
tokingtiger said:
postnothrills said:
I would have to scour but someone hooked up their HTG 240 watt 7 band led to a kill a watt and it was only drawing about 133w.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=4752514&postcount=13
Their black line is pretty much a direct knock off of Blackstar.

dude, its NOT a blackstar, so showing a fail blackstar test and saying HTG is same or worse just shows the stupidity i see on this post.. im just an old hippy that shared some knowledge and got nothing back but attacks and bad links that i wasted time on.. I think you need to beg mommie to pay for WoW so you get back on that game and flame like the 12 yr retards you are.
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Touchy aren't we? We're just doubting the hype, call it skepticism. Hook up a watt meter to your HTG 240w, prove us wrong.

The fact is, 99% of LED panel manufacturers run the diodes at half wattage so they can get the 1-3 year warranty out of them. At full wattage, they would burn out in no time. So your 240w panels with 80 3w diodes will either fail soon or you are feeding us unsubstantiated hype.
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