Haha understandable my friend. No worries. Ur cash right? And no they arent ‘terrible’ just saying… alot more bang per watt (and buck) to be found out there. Give em the old college try right?
And i COMPLETELY feel ya. At least 4-5 personalities rocking around my head myself lol. 
I DO appreciate your opinion on them PurpNGold, not trying to be argumentative at all, just playing “devil’s advocate” a little for them to entice the reasoning behind “yay, or nay”. I understand what you said, i could get more dense and just MORE production out of HLG brand lighting. I looked LOCALLY at a “mom & pop” gardening shop called Fifth Season at their HLG lamps they had in stock. HOLY COW she wanted 329 for the 100W one that amazon had for like 189 or something (they were still high, figured it was a QUALITY brand, and read so a lot while researching, just PRICEY!! for a startup endeavor ). If i were going for PRODUCTION, like yeah, you know like for what, i’d probably drop the cheese on a major setup and have several indoor things going on simultaneously like i’ve read some setups achieving but again I’m not trying to do anything like that 
I truly MAY find that as you say, it doesn’t give me the results I would like, and i end up having a sad, frowny face as key i.d. features in the end result. THAT’s when i’m like, hey buddyyyyyyyy, you still need some LIGHTS? 
LOL, or i could use them for fledglings coming up or cloning or something and get something else for the operational “tent” (there’s no tents in here, just mylar lined walls/areas in a ventilated room, via ceiling fan and small positioned oscillating fans).
That Mars Hydro 1000 that was 105W actual draw was just NOT a good purchase even for doing that with fledglings as they were stretching remember? So i TRY to look at the positives after realizing “it’s not gonna work” and to make it achieve other means to an end if it has that potential. The Mars Hydro didn’t, these would at least have that potential and have me that much closer to being able to keep things year round for myself as i’d already have THOSE for doing seedlings/clones etc
I gotcha bro. Well stated. N i grow for personal use as well so completely feel that. Took me a year to pull the trigger myself. And I ended up sourcing parts and building a few myself. Good bit cheaper then.
Carry on tho my man.
Gotta luv that title…Dirty South Canna King 
Has a sweet ring to it lol. Thanks. A good buddy said it once n it fit haha
I hear you and i actually watched a crap ton of vids this past week on BUILDING them (HLG clones) from parts also. ALMOST went that route but still wasn’t beating the price i wanted to on a self build and couldn’t come close to what i got those TWO lights for, for now. I will get there, i have no doubt as i’m a “restless soul” when things aren’t working to my expectation and WON’T rest til they are. It’s why i tore everything down and took everything outside in the meantime instead of “throwing in the towel”
I have a friend/neighbor who tried LAST year to do just one, in a closet. Listened to a “guru” in the NH (he’s an old timer and grows some nice stuff but is “set in his ways”). She dropped the “dime” on a NICE mh/hps setup, fans, exhaust, lined closet with mylar, etc etc. Followed his advice from start to finish and got puny results and threw in the towel after ONE try, lol. I’m TRYING to prove, i can have BETTER results concentrating more on the SOIL and amendments than that. Afterall this is a WEED and in NATURE, doesn’t get all that fancy treatment and STILL thrives. Point being, if i can keep my startup cost under $500 (which i still have $150 to go and am not doing too bad so far) and produce better results without the exhaust system and big “to do” setup, then i feel like i’m “leading by example” in a way i’d be proud of and will hopefully show her you don’t HAVE to do all that to succeed.
on a lighter note (hehe, LIGHT-er 
), you know what the General Hydroponics liquid ferts ARE good for (flora series)??? AZALEAS!!! (not so much lilies, or i need to find what pH those need and adjust). I have a salmon pink flowering azalea planted here in like '09, that was in a 1qt size pot when purchased. it has taken 12 years now to become a small “shrub” against the norwegian spruce live Christmas tree my FATHER planted here back in the 90’s, lol. It has ALWAYS struggled for light (ex planted too close up under the conifer’s reaching nettles) and i think for nutrients in this clay rich soil. For a couple years it did not bloom at ALL. i thought something had killed it then last year and the year before it would get 5-10 blooms at a time for a couple months but never fully just bloom out. This year when it started to bloom i mixed full strength flora-micro and flora-bloom for the blooming stage of plants per the bottle’s instructions and HOLY COW did that thing go SHAZAM BLAM KALAMAZAM and full blossoms on EVERY available twig
it did make my lilies bloom like crazy on every stalk also when i saw they were starting to bud but it also was TOO strong a mix for lilies as some of the long leaves are now half yellow half green. i gave them straight water 2 days later and then today we got steady drizzle after some t-storms so they’ll probably balance out in that lame soil on the hillside with the nute runoff. but it did NICELY to that Azalea, no joke!!!
LOL, almost feel like i need a couch session, or a hug or something. I’ve been binge watching topping/fimming/LST/SUPER-cropping etc etc and i just went and TOPPED AMY LEE!!! OOPS, i mean, RockStar…OMG i can’t believe my audacity i clipped the one that broke/healed and 4 others also I have enough to “play” with that i’m going to crash course in other techniques both in and outside and try my results WHY? because i can, lol Some of those outside that came outside because they were so leggy, are STILL SO leggy, and like 4 inches between nodes… i may LST them and some bending/tying and see if i can change their upward trend. Couldn’t bring myself to do Teensy, or the only SLH that survived yet. they BOTH have tripled in height and leaf/node production since the new soil and MUCH tighter node spacing but i want to let the tops come out a bit more as they’re BARELY enough sticking up from the 4th nodes on each that i’m not trying my big shrek fingers at being “delicate” enough to get in there accurately til there’s a bit more space
Forgive me “RockStar”, you’re still so very sexy my lady 
And i cut MY own hair so i was VERY delicate in getting yours just right dear 
Also, maybe this was a BAD thing??? On the one that broke/healed… not the first node above the cotys, but the 2nd set (this plant is spaced crazy like 3-4" between nodes too), the two HUGE fans?? that were sticking out, have been darker green than anything else and “wilted” over. The entire plant healed/revived after being repaired with honey and sunk a lil deeper EXCEPT those two leaves and then the entire plant turned a healthier green when given 2 inches of that soil mix i made on the top in the pot EXCEPT those two leaves, so i clipped them…about 5/8" to 3/4" off the stalk. is that a bad thing?
No, i LOVE the New River gorge in W VA but i’m in Central VA and that’s the James River “best smallmouth bass fishing on the Eastern US is the James River in Buckingham County” (Field & Stream’s words, magazine from early 2000’s ). I’m on the buckingham side of the river, and nelson county is opposite side, just a few miles from Schuyler over there, where the Waltons lived and was filmed
and it’s TRUE by the way, lol i’m yankin’ 'em off of spawn, the BIG mamas and patrolling papas, with a black rooster tail (inline spinner like mepps) with gold willow spoon. not sure WHY gold over silver but i have a rod rigged with each and the gold is almost every cast where the silver willow spooned black rooster tail is a hit and miss and also attracts smaller ones which STILL put up QUITE a fight on ultra-light rig We have some BRUISERS of catfish too. My personal best here is 42 and 41 lb flatheads and 36.something lb blue cat. I’m used to this SAME river from Richmond and below where i grew up. MUCH bigger river there and much bigger cats 60’s and 70’s range on blues down there and 50s to 60s on flatties and some QUITE impressing mid 20’s on channel cats too. some of the longest and fattest channels i’ve ever seen are in the lower James, below the Hopewell bridge on 295 near Oswald’s landing and Jordan’s Pointe
I new it was one of the bigger rivers. Never been on the James, but I’m familiar with the area. My best friend lives in Fishersville, just went up to see him about a month ago. I’m on the VA/TN border.
Fishersville is NE of me about an hour or so. I do work there a lot as it’s in the Charlottesville peripheries when i take jobs out of there.
@PurpNGold74 ok, today begins the “experiment” with the new BestVA lighting. You saw the two GSC seedlings outside in the red solo cups above. They are same height as those pics yesterday obviously when they went in today when i set up the room again (LAWWWWD, all the pulling out of other cords/lighting/hanging apparatus, lol and reconfiguring mylar “surround”). Lights say 24-30" for seedlings and i have them at 27". One centered overtop of each one. Going to see what 2 weeks of 18/6 dedication with these full spectrum lights on VEG only will do. Not sure if you saw above, i CUT…AMY LEE!!! i’m still in here half ill over that decision that i so BOLDLY and confidently decided in the MOMENT to go do, lol. Just watched a video, was all “hero drunk” with confidence and she got a snip on the tip… did so on the broken but healed one and some others too (one of which was an accidental FIM and i left it as such )
OH, and for baseline purposes, the room is 81°F and RH says about 45-47% on the cheap lil thermo/hygro i forgot to send back with the underpowered light packaging (OOPS!)
Do i need to put a big bowl of water in there or soak a towel and let it sit in a bucket or something to bring that RH up?
I have an OLDIE of one of those, like 70’s vintage on the wall down here and could take that up there to put on the wall or near the plants (just not under cast of lighting right?) to have a MUCH more accurate reading i’d think. I know it’s old and “analog” but it reads the same as the digital thermostat that got hooked up to the HVAC in the same room here so i’d say it’s trustworthy.
Accidentally is the proper way to do so. Attempt topping and ‘Fk I Missd…’ 
I KNEW i didn’t trust that cheapo thermo/hygro that came FREE with that cheapo light i had before. I took that old 70’s vintage thermo/hygro up there and it’s saying it’s about 75° in there (cheapo one still says 81) and that it’s about 82% humidity (cheapo one still says about 45%). you can FEEL the humidity in that room so i knew it didn’t seem right. i’ll trust that one that’s been in the family for decades it’s been up there for over 2 hours now, since i typed that about it earlier
LOL, i just went cuckoo for cocoa puffs evidently, because i ordered the sweetmix pack of fem’d seeds from here waffled over NUMEROUS “packs” on which i wanted and those sound fun to try next. I needed to spend that $$ on those like i need a hole in my head but I have OPTIONS now for the future endeavors in this new hobby I’ve taken on
