Just started growing for our first time. And while we thought we were off to a good start and two weeks into it realized our lights suck and won’t get us through to the end.
Got a 4x4 tent to start with and am on the fence between the popular favorite HLG600r and the new Spider Farmer SF7000. The PPF specs on the spider farmer are much better and has some other advantages such as UV diode’s to help raise THC, 8’ cord on driver module so it can be located outside the tent. Disadvantages would be lower red’s and soul LEDs instead of Samsung.
Any advice would be appreciated as this will be our third and final light. I’m tired of buying and trying weak performers.
The 600r just has a better spectrum. If the sf7000 has uv it looks pretty negligible in the spectrum. Doesn’t look like it dips much, if any, into 340-400nm range.
$700.00 for the 600 Rspec SOLD
HLG has some other options in that power / size range for a few more $$.
DBRN32 has mentioned Growers choice ROI E680
Budget LED has its Elevated Lighting Demon 650 Watt Grow Light also for $1K
Chilled Tech has Growcraft X6 – 600 Watt DIY LED Grow Light Kit for $1K or you can go crazy and spend 2X that for their upcoming Ultras
I’ve had the sf7000 for about two months and imo you can’t find a better light without spending another $500 and even then I doubt you would be able to see a difference except on paper and weed doesn’t grow good in or on paper
1700 umols/s at 650 watts isn’t 2.9 umol/joule. Kinda makes me wonder what else they may be fibbing about.
With hlg they just list performance specs as verified by third party testing facility, including the full report. If all these inexpensive copies were as good or better you would figure they would be happy to do the same.
@dbrn32 so if we did the HLG600r in the 4x4 tent how many plants could we support? Thinking if these first 4 plants go well we would like to try more maybe even a sea of green.
Wish I understood the lighting terms and the math to compare things like this. I don’t even understand the color graph chart they always show lol. Any tips where to research that stuff?
It will grow as many as you can cram in that space. Lighting doesn’t care how many plants. It’s just going to light up a certain footprint (which is 5x5 for the hlg 600).
Just like Bobbydigital said. You should be running light intensity to your space, not your plant count. Theoretically, then doesn’t matter if you have 1 large plant or several small plants, light requirements won’t change.
@BobbyDigital@dbrn32 So sounds like no real advantage to spend extra money on the spider farmer despite their claims. And from what I read in the forums Hlg is a name to trust. Looks like we will go that route. Thanks for everyone’s input.
@dbrn32 so went to HLG looking at their site I ran across a 600Bspec they say is good for veg… If the 600R can take us from seed to harvest why would we need Blue? Do we need both? Or is Blue better? Sorry for all the questions we have had an ordeal trying to find the right light it’s been frustrating.
I picked up a refurbed hlg650r around the first of the year for a decent deal. I even got a 10 percent discount using dude at checkout. It came in an original box with all mounting hardware and 2 pair “sunglasses”. Worked great in my 3x3 and had to dim it down considerably. Yeah it’s overkill but it sure lights up a tent! Best thing I’ve bought for growing and wall to wall light to boot. Keep and eye out for them on their website. They usually go fast. Just my .02 cents! Cheers and good luck with whatever you decide.
Blue light is superior in what most look for out of a vegging plant. I wouldn’t necessarily say you need it. There was obviously some amount of demand for the board, so they made it. Once they had the board, it was basically plug and play into every 288 platform they have. So of course they would offer it.
If you are running multiple spaces and shopping for a dedicated veg light, does it make sense to look at b-spec? Absolutely! But I wouldn’t buy one with intentions of swapping $800 fixtures out from veg to flower.
