For me it's a battle between the Spectrum King SK600 and the Fluence SPYDRxPLUS since I'm not set on a specific area
(I was impressed with Chomsky's grow over at icmag using the SPYDRxPLUS).
For your space it depends on many things, let's compare the basics:
LED + PPFD Flowering footprints + Watt Draw + MSRP:
Spectrum King SK600........................ 5' x 5' @ 640W / MSRP $1495
Johnson Maximizer............................ 5' x 5' @ 630W / MSRP $1849
Johnson CX9 ..................................... 4' x 4' @ 535W / MSRP $1049
Fluence SPYDRxPLUS....."generous" 4' x 4' @ 685W / MSRP $1500
Amare SolarSpec 450+UVB .............. 4' x 4' @ 450W / MSRP $1145
As for your choices only two are rated to cover a 5' x 5' and for me I would pick the SK600 over the Johnson Maximizer for the following reasons:
1.
Price: $1849 - $1495 = $354 x 2 = $708 cheaper to go with 2 x SK600s
2.
Dual Warranty: "...our lights are guaranteed to maintain 90% or better light output for 3 YEARS with regular use plus a 5 YEAR Mechanical warranty on all parts and labor."
3.
Safety: Spectrum King is CREE certified and their lights are UL Certified, ETL Listed, RoHS compliant, CE compliant, and IP65 rated, meaning they are fit for use in wet/humid conditions - you can literally hose it down while its on. If your state goes legal and you have a legit business, safety inspections will be a real possibility - even without that it's nice to know the light is safe to use under normal growing conditions.
4.
Efficiency: The SK600 is pulling 640W and is recommended ~1500 BTUs of cooling. Maximizer is 630W and recommended ~1000 BTUs of cooling
only when duct-cooling the heat outside the room - What sort of heat will it release without the extra fan and ducting which add to the initial and operating costs? My guess is more than 500 BTUs which would make it less efficient - SK600 is claiming 92% power efficiency with their "medical grade" drivers, which they are using instead of their standard MeanWell drivers.
5.
Spectrum + Intensity:
Data on Maximizer:
PPF 1300 µmol/sec
PPFD 887 µmol/sec/m2 (only in a 4 x 4 area)
Data on SK600:
PPF (is it the initial µmol? not sure it's not per second)
LED Initial LUX 300,000*
Initial µmol (TBD) 2,000 µmol*
It's hard to compare these since I'm not sure if the peak PPFD on the SK600 graph is the same, but just looking at the curve the SK600 seems to have a nicer amount of blue & violet which should make it better for veg + resin production.
Top: Maximizer / Mid+Bottom: SK600 Spectrum + Lux/Par
