120w LED lights - how can I gauge the quality?

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TheInsider

Member
I'm using standard Aerogarden Deluxe lights atm, which will need to be replaced. Rather than waste cash importing them from the USA, I think I may opt for a 120w LED.

I know very well they are considered expensive, but I don't tend to throw money around regularly, so I don't mind making a few quality purchases. However, I see plenty of LED lights retailing for very different prices.

So how can I gauge which are of good quality, and which are cheap rubbish? The "it's on eBay and being sold from China" thing seems to be just, but am I discounting them unfairly? Are there any reputable suppliers you could recommend, who will ship to/are in the UK?

What should I look out for when making a purchase? This is my second serious grow. It's being housed in a 60x60x120cm tent.
 
sean stevens

sean stevens

Member
i bought a 180watt ufo led from china and am amazed at the vegative growth as have a couple of my seasoned grower buddies . now im a newbie and dont really know what im looking at but the plants vegged pretty quickly and had to be moved after 3 weeks because they grew to large for my veg room hope this helps
 
S

SwiftGrow

Active Member
Look up Kessil LEDS they are much more densely packaged and actually made in the USA. They are produced by a company named DICON that does military and department of defense contracts for the government so your can be sure the LEDS are top quality. They also used better LED mounting system that help heat dispersal and improves longevity.

Currently Kessil only has 1 model i believe the H150 equal to a 150 hps but it comes in 4 color ranges specifically designed for different plants stage of growth.

purple= general red= bloom booster blue= veg booster magenta = mix red/bule primarily for flowering/fruiting

They recommend 4-6 of them in a 4x4 tent for lighting just to give you an idea. That why i still use HPS and just use kessil around them for supplementaty lighting and as penetrating light.
 
Kaptain Kron

Kaptain Kron

Well-Known Member
here man try these they are a good price made good led's i just picked one up and will be grabbing another soon

90w ufo
http://cgi.ebay.com/90w-Hydroponic-UV-UFO-LED-Grow-light-2009-GB-Winner-NR-/270658940885?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0487afd5

180w ufo http://cgi.ebay.com/New-180w-Lighthouse-Blackstar-LED-Grow-light-2w-LEDs-/280584458810?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415423123a

and what i picked up

240w LED panel http://cgi.ebay.com/New-240w-Blackstar-LED-Grow-light-3w-Flowering-LEDs-/280583548942?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415415300e

with two 240w panels you should have MORE than enough power i think one should be putting out more than a 400w since most companys make claims that their 90w models do...
 
T

TheInsider

Member
^ wow, that 240w LED looks great value! Just a shame it's in the USA (I'm based in London) as that adds an extra $60 shipping, and then customs will probably tax it to the tune of another $40-60. And then there's the power converter. Had to buy one for the Aerogarden at the cost of around $50. So that's an extra $150 on top of the actual panel.

Edit: just spotted this at the bottom of their listing:

"I live in Europe, will this light work here? Worldwide voltage, no import tax, UK plugs available, we have locations in the UK and Australia"

Interested on how they manage that. Will send them a message. Thanks so much. :-D
 
Kaptain Kron

Kaptain Kron

Well-Known Member
no problem man its probably still worth lookin into even with the high shipping it could be worse they could be shipping to you from the west coast lol not NY but i think still even after all the tax and shipping you will still get a good value out of it.
 
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nocida

Member
I saw an ad in Nov issue Future Grow magazine, Kessil is launching its H150 LED light in UK through Hydrogarden. That should save you some shipping and import taxes. (I am sure they should come with the correct UK power supply too.)
 
T

TheInsider

Member
nocida said:
I saw an ad in Nov issue Future Grow magazine, Kessil is launching its H150 LED light in UK through Hydrogarden. That should save you some shipping and import taxes. (I am sure they should come with the correct UK power supply too.)
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I Googled them and I'm not convinced by the technology they use, nor the price they charge for it. I've read mixed reports.
 
sean stevens

sean stevens

Member
TheInsider said:
How much did that cost you? Was it an eBay thing?
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it cost me about 165 delivered it was an ebay thing but would not just buy 1 and think it would work most dont i researched leds for 3 weeks before i found this 1, it is quad band and has the right ranges for vegging. have just looked at my ebay and its deleted as i bought it more than 60 days ago, but just search the usa version of ebay and you should find them hope this helps
 
B

budlover909

Active Member
i think the only way you could tell the quality is get a light meter and see which one performs the best at some chosen distance from the panel? i hear panels with low amounts of blue light suck, i know mine has lots of blue, way more than any other panel i have seen. it reads as having sunlight intensity about 5" away according to the cheap light meter from home depot. i wish i had my cfls still so i could compare to this led.
 
sean stevens

sean stevens

Member
budlover909 said:
i think the only way you could tell the quality is get a light meter and see which one performs the best at some chosen distance from the panel? i hear panels with low amounts of blue light suck, i know mine has lots of blue, way more than any other panel i have seen. it reads as having sunlight intensity about 5" away according to the cheap light meter from home depot. i wish i had my cfls still so i could compare to this led.
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wow really the closest i can put mine to young plants is 36" they tend to die at lower heights
 
TheAngryLiberal

TheAngryLiberal

Active Member
I used a 90w hydroponics hut ufo (supposedly a good brand) and they stretched like a sumbitch. weren't that high either, but they don't cover shit for space so you can't put them too close. they are just over-priced, efficient supplemental lights and the shit about them being = to 400w hps is bullshit.
 
newworldicon

newworldicon

Well-Known Member
TheInsider said:
I'm using standard Aerogarden Deluxe lights atm, which will need to be replaced. Rather than waste cash importing them from the USA, I think I may opt for a 120w LED.

I know very well they are considered expensive, but I don't tend to throw money around regularly, so I don't mind making a few quality purchases. However, I see plenty of LED lights retailing for very different prices.

So how can I gauge which are of good quality, and which are cheap rubbish? The "it's on eBay and being sold from China" thing seems to be just, but am I discounting them unfairly? Are there any reputable suppliers you could recommend, who will ship to/are in the UK?

What should I look out for when making a purchase? This is my second serious grow. It's being housed in a 60x60x120cm tent.
Click to expand...
http://www.hydroponicshut.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=36
 
ledbudguy

ledbudguy

New Member
TheInsider said:
I'm using standard Aerogarden Deluxe lights atm, which will need to be replaced. Rather than waste cash importing them from the USA, I think I may opt for a 120w LED.

I know very well they are considered expensive, but I don't tend to throw money around regularly, so I don't mind making a few quality purchases. However, I see plenty of LED lights retailing for very different prices.

So how can I gauge which are of good quality, and which are cheap rubbish? The "it's on eBay and being sold from China" thing seems to be just, but am I discounting them unfairly? Are there any reputable suppliers you could recommend, who will ship to/are in the UK?

What should I look out for when making a purchase? This is my second serious grow. It's being housed in a 60x60x120cm tent.
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You might want to check out my grow here using 5 x 170w hybrid ISIS-1 led panels... https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/378470-confined-space-850w-led-master.html
 
ledbudguy

ledbudguy

New Member
TheInsider said:
That seems awfully expensive just for a small tent like mine. I had a pretty decent grow just using 3 x 27w CFL, so buying 5 x 170w LED seems way too big an increase, no? At most I'll be growing 3-4 autos.
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all you would need is one of these 170w panels for your small grow tent. I'm merely telling you about a LED that delivers what it is supposed to :)
 
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