It looks like this isn't a 1 off:
There is a lot of conversation on reddit regarding the hot spot issues on spider farmer boards too. It is a known issue. Check out the critical reviews on the sf-4000. They recruit users on instagram to receive a free light in exchange for a favorable review. Spider farmer gives them them money via paypal. The user then pays for the light on amazon. If the user fails to leave a favorable 5 star review spider farmer will file a grievance with paypal saying they did not get the product from the receiver of the funds they were promised. Paypal refunds spider farmer the money, and the user is stuck with a purchase they thought was a free product in exchange for an honest review. Apparently spider farmer and mars are also owned by the same company. Ever wonder why the marketing is so similar? Yeah, me too. I just found this on reddit:
Jazz_Cabbage_USDA
1 year ago · edited 1 year ago
Maybe you aren't aware but Spider Farmer and Mars Hydro are owned by the same company.
edit: The comment I typed a reply to got deleted so I'll expand here.
It's a little difficult to point to a direct source (I assume they don't really want people to know this) but from what I can tell the company is ShenZhen LG-LED Solutions & they have 3 grow-light company fronts. Spider Farmer, Mars Hydro & Meizhi.
Jazz_Cabbage_USDA
1 year ago
They're very pushy towards their advertisers compared to companies who make top of the line (albeit expensive) lights like Chill LED Tech for example. They don't want honest marketing from people they're sending lights to, they're sending lights to people for them to say good things & if you aren't quick about it they get upset with you real quick.
They have bad customer service, so bad that they need to form a new company every time a new generation of LED tech comes out. They're the same company as Meizhi & Mars Hydro. Started with Blurple as Meizhi (awful reputation) -> they make non samsung white LED's as Mars Hydro (awful reputation) -> samsung white LED as Spider Farmer.
Source:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cannabiscultivation/comments/gg3gjk
And this indicating some very shady business practices:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Autoflowers/comments/gawx7m
This just looks worse by the hour man.