Gavita vs Phantom vs Sunsytem vs Nanolux DE air cooled

Gavita vs Phantom vs Sunsytem vs Nanolux DE air cooled what is the best air-cooled DE reflector ballast combo? Im looking to buy new gear ive read countless pages of information about DE aircooled reflector and ballasts. There are a few brands around the same price point. Does anyone have any suggestions and experience with all these DE aircooled reflector combos? I keep hearing people leaning towards Gavita and phantom. Im looking for the top of the line equipment that generates the most PAR and biggest yield increases

From the reading and research i have done, it seems Gavita are still king in the DE HPS world.


@Renfro would be the one to ask, hes running rooms filled with hps and has used them all. Im sure he will pop by when get gets online and offer some advice.

I like the gavitas but I haven't seen an air-cooled version from that company, sunsytem makes the acde air cooled hood and nanolux makes their own air cooled fixture. As far as I know besides other cheaper knock off reflectors those are the only air cooled ones I've seen. I've never used 1k de air cooled but after switching to non air cooled lights it would be hard for me to go back to air cooled. I get such a large spread from the reflectors on the open gavita style lights, and a lot of air cooled reflectors make a light pattern like a flashlight which with a de 1k is gonna be super focused on one area and could end up being too strong depending on the height in your space.

de lights need to get to a certain temp for maximum effectiveness and efficiency. air cooling and sealed hood is not the way to go imo
gavita and phantom are both good to go. i use both, i would say they perform just about equally. i have had to replace more phantom ballasts than i have gavitas though

I feel like bulb age and quality is a major factor here.

I would say all lights lose some efficency when being air cool d because of the glass and the small flash light like spread from most air cooled reflectors. That being said in the acde reclector the air doesn't actually touch the bulb. I believe it's also designed on the same shapes as the boss or blockbuster reflectors which actually have a pretty good spread. If was air cooling and wanted to run de that is what I would use. I never seem to hit my goals when glass is in the equation though, I know they claim it's only 10 percent loss to glass but I've run about every kind of light over the years and when I can keep the room cool enough with out sealed reflectors I do better.

The air cooled DE's that I have seen do not blow air over the bulb, instead blowing over the back of the reflector.

I had terrible luck with nanolux de HPS ballasts. A very high failure percentage.

The loss of light from the glass is the biggest downside to the air cooled DE's (other than changing bulbs being a bitch) that said to achieve the same light levels on a 100 light grow you need only 4 more lights and that energy is easily offset by the 50 - 60% reduced cooling costs.

diggs99 said:

From the reading and research i have done, it seems Gavita are still king in the DE HPS world.


@Renfro would be the one to ask, hes running rooms filled with hps and has used them all. Im sure he will pop by when get gets online and offer some advice.

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Renfro said:

The air cooled DE's that I have seen do not blow air over the bulb, instead blowing over the back of the reflector.

I had terrible luck with nanolux de HPS ballasts. A very high failure percentage.

The loss of light from the glass is the biggest downside to the air cooled DE's (other than changing bulbs being a bitch) that said to achieve the same light levels on a 100 light grow you need only 4 more lights and that energy is easily offset by the 50 - 60% reduced cooling costs.

Click to expand...

This answers everything. Thanks again
Renfro!