I started off this adventure with an idea and a dream. The idea quickly realized itself and then the dream came up behind me and kicked me in the butt. No matter how many reviews you read, the light has to be seen in order to be believed.
Started off with a Giixer 400w LED ($69.00) figuring for my confined growing space and limited knowledge. The light is good for one plant at most if it's compact. At best it was performing like a grow light half as strong.
Then I bought a Bloom Plus 1000W LED ($78.00) Very different to the first light I bought. Plants seemed to like it and I thought I found the solution. Again, it's a great LED and it works, but not as advertised. It was about equal to a 450-600w light of the same quality.
THEN I bought a Carambola (a.k.a. Apelila) 1000F for $65.00) Best light and price yet. Was noticeably brighter than the Giixer and had a stronger RED hue than the BloomPlus. The specs were closer to as advertised, but wasn't the BANG for my buck I was looking for.
Don't get me wrong, what I had going was working, just not as well as I had hoped. I don't want to worry about nutrients, soil health, plant needs and THEN have to worry about adjusting all three lights to even out the growth in my little area. Too much shuffling around at the end of the day (moving different plants into new areas to spread the light even) OR too many changes before the lights go off to make sure when they come back on the plants can take full advantage of their new position in the tent. Enough was ENOUGH! No more spending money on crap that "just" works.
This A.M. I pulled the trigger on a California Light Works Solar Extreme 250 for my 27X27X63 Mars tent. Already have the Infinity Cloudline S6 exhaust fan, Vivosun 18 X 6 carbon filter, double insulated flex line to exterior roof vent, blah blah blah blah...
No more Fudging around with crap. Buy the good stuff the FIRST time.
I spent enough time buying and setting up the correct items, why the hell was I skimping on the lights? I have 3 lights, all mediocre and lacking that UMPH my little green friends need. So in the not so distant future, I'll have the ONLY light I'll need for the rest of this tents life.
No one here wants to repeat what I've done because you'll just end up feeling as foolish as I do. Do yourself a favor, do your plants a favor, do your bank account a favor, do the planet a favor and buy the correct items you need from the start. Eliminate the extra crap we all accumulate and just buy the GOOD grow lights at the start.
This is just a boring Saturday rant about my stupid mistakes and wasted money. If anyone can get a good lesson out of this, the lesson would read “Don’t be like the thread originator and be smarter, better, wiser”. Or just go buy the correct damn lights!!!
Thanks for the read and I hope it helps in even the smallest way.
PhillyRock
Have an AWESOME weekend folks.
Is there a way to make sure the scrolling window does not appear in the thread?
I’ve had two posts do the same thing to me. It leaves a left/right scrolling window on a portion of the thread post. Not sure what I did wrong.
Nope, Just typed into the box provided on the bottom.
It’s probably another case of user error.
How confident am I as to the reason? Highly, because I’m the idiot who typed it out.
I highlighted the text like I was going to do a quote. I could at least read it without scrolling L R line by line. I haven’t heard California light works mentioned in quite a while. I hope it rocks your socks.
Update:
My CLW SolarXtreme arrived today and I’m very VERY disappointed.
I did some reading on the C LW 250 and I was pleased with the specs. There were a few
bad reviews based on customer service and late arrivals. Other than that the reviews were mostly positive. I opened the 250 CLW and I was instantly disheartened. The light was clearly used. Dust all over the cooling fins, red sugary substance on the fan shroud. Thought it was cannabis rosin until I tried to clean it. It was some kind of melted candy. Glass had grease on it, oily finger prints all over the case and fan shroud. The stickers on the light were brand new so they KNEW they were sending me a USED light. (I.E. the old stickers were removed and new ones applied). For $250.00 all I wanted was a brand new light, from the manufacturer, and they couldn’t even accomplish that.
I’ll never waste another dime on ANYTHING CLW and I’m going to go out of my way to warn
people of my experience. It’s disappointing and I’m angry that I was taken for a ride. There are
other lights out there for the exact same money that I should have looked into. I’m about a hairs
breath away from sending this back for a full refund and I’ll spend my money with a company that gives a damn about their customers.
Very very disappointing and I’m slightly embarrassed that they got me. I feel like a sucker, a tool, a dope, an idiot and a FOOL.
This is just my experience, I can’t convince anyone of anything so if you’re going forward
with the purchase of a California Light works COB LED, buyer BEWARE!!
Hope everyones day was better than mine.
I genuinely hope everyone can relax and spend time with loved ones tomorrow.
Sunday.
Regards,
PhillyRock
Major buyer’s remorse - bummer.
Hard to imagine a company would try to dress up a pig like that and try to sell it as any thing other than a second - with blemishes etc. It may have been some very old stock.
Personally, I would return it and look at Horticultural Lighting Group or something using current LED
board or strip technology.
I know I agonized over my first light purchase. At least it looked and performed as advertised. That said, had I known of forums like this at the time, it would not have been the light I would have bought.
Truthfully? The light works and is better than the two LED’s I was previously running.
My issue isn’t with the light itself, it’s how I was treated as a customer and sent a used, dirty, dusty, disgusting (part of a Jolly Rancher (small individually wrapped hard pocket candy to those NOT familiar with JollyRanchers) was melted onto the side of the fan shroud), and old stickers swapped out for new stickers.
I know I know $250 isn’t a lot when factoring in the expense of a decent set up, but I just expected something better when ordering straight from the manufacturer. I decided to purchase
directly from CLW instead of amazon to avoid the few negative reviews I found there and as you’ve read above, I think I might have been better off.
Thanks for your time Ladies and Gentlemen.
I sincerely hope everyone has a good week.
PhillyRock
This should be pinned as a tip and a rule for anyone buying a light for their grow set up.
Not kidding, nothing more can be added or taken away to make that statement more profound, truthful and real.
