i tagged you in a post, @steve2 about the 1200 watt meizhi
there is a video of the grow in there
if there is a problem in veg, i certainly don’t see it
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I don’t know about that. If I was spending that kind of money I’d look elsewhere. But that’s just my personal opinion.
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@steve2 I’m in the same boat, there are just too many options (sizes, brands etc) I’ve found it really difficult to choose a light as well. I’ve had some help from the good people here but I’m still not sure which to choose. I need to decide soon as my beans arrived today and I cant wait to start my first run. Good luck, hope it turns out to be the 
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If this is your first grow I recommend to take It easy… Just buy a decent light, for 1-3 plants and enjoy your ride 
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The issue with that particular line of lights is that the 450 and 300 don’t produce the same spectrum. In my opinion, the 300 produces a good amount of red, but not the 450 that I looked up on amazon.
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btw, i wasnt necessarily recommending that light for your purpose. it is more like if the brand delivers, and i am happy with them.
remember that LED watts are often overstated and actual watts from plug to light is a better indicator. in my case, that 1200 watts becomes 568 actual watts used, an entirely different variable in calculations.
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You guys that are looking at purchasing led lights should consider 3 things. Cost, spectrum, and par output.
Most reputable manufacturers will provide that data. If you can’t find it, should put up a red flag.
Due to a major difference in the efficiency of modern led’s vs older tech, watts isn’t a great standard to compare lights. It’s entirely possible for one 100 watt light to have nearly double the par than a different 100 watt light. Furthermore, all the watts in the world won’t do you as good as having them in the right wavelengths.
You want to find the balance of the correct spectrum and highest par values that fits within your budget. Since not everyone has the same needs from a light, or the same budget, it’s really difficult to say a particular light is good or bad.
The meizhi light I liked above provides good spectrum, but relatively weak output. When jumping up to the 450 model the output is better but it doesn’t provide as good of balanced spectrum. These are things that are important to take note of.
In a nutshell, just make sure you compare apples to apples.
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Good to mention as well, especially when shopping amazon and ebay.
To take that a step further, consider the par data as I stated in my other post. The efficiency range of drivers seems to be in the range of 60-95%. As well as huge gaps in led efficiency. If you have a light that gives up nearly half your power in heat losses the amount of power consumed from the wall is pretty much useless as well.
Definitely you have my attention @dbrn32. So you say a 2 of that light (meizhi 300) is better than a meizhi 600 watt? Definitely better than a 450w meizhi I also thinking to… one light(300w) one plant
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without taking anything about par values into account, in retrospect I would probably prefer two 600 watts over one 1200 watt simply for flexibility, if all other things were equal (i do not think they are)
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maxheadroom - please send pictures will look into thanks
Claypole4 - what led are you leaning toward ??
M4ur - if you look at the blue / red spectrums of the 300 vs the 600 you can see – better red in the 300
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I didn’t look that deep into comparing the 2.
I typed in led grow light on amazon and went through the hits one by one until I found the first light that was near the peaks of McCree curve. It happened to be meizhi 300, so I posted pic and link for an idea of what the op should look for. Afterwards, I went back and looked at par data. 300 ųmols dead center at 18" is too weak in my opinion. So then I looked for a larger model of the same light. Quickly found 450 model, but then noticed the spectrum data didn’t match the 300.
I kind of left it at that. I like to find an number 500-600 űmols average over the canopy. I think regardless of the number of meizhi 300’s, they’d have to be directly over the canopy to hit those numbers. Heat would probably make that not an option for most. So I don’t feel real comfortable saying yes or no. It’s simply the way I process the data.
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Claypole4 - was considering the Kind K-3 L450 - but now looking at these:
meizhi (300), and the Viarspectrua 450 - the Meizhi seems like a better light and the blue/red quanities are very close, don’t like the fact about the Viraspectrua and amount of blue light and lack of red in flower. - .thoughts on !!! taking a look at Quantum led’s
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SO - what would brand LED would you use in a 3by3 grow. I appreciate your help along with the other members - Peace
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Ron330 - instead of getting another one – what about using led panels ? using 4 for side lighting ?
Here is a comparison of 2 different lights.
The first is the 500W Quantum Boards light that I built
There are 2 plants in aeroponics system, 2 weeks into flower
The second lights are 2-1200W, 1-1000W, 1-600W. True wattage is 400W. All Chinese made with epistar leds. 4 plants in another aeroponic system
You can see the plant under the Quantum Boards is 2 to 3 times bigger.
Its well worth the extra money and the kits are easy to put together. I have no experience and I built one from scratch
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Now I find meizhi 300w at 50£(OMG) but not on Amazon 
. In Europe.
If it were me, I’d consider looking into something with the quantam boards, cobs, or any of the modern white led’s.
Where you’re going to run into issues is price and limited options. Buying the components and putting them together is cheapest option.
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