does anyone who has experience or knowledge of both of these types of lights care to chime in? i have only personally encountered HPS fixtures, and mostly had my eyes on those gavita 1000/600w adjustable units, but after reading a bit on LEDs, it seems like one could save a good bit of money on power. the only info i have ever researched about LEDs was in Ed's book, so i dont know much, other than they would need frequency blue and red lights and such to cover the spectrum of PAR lighting. i have even considered a combination of a HPS hoods and LEDs in order to offer a more diverse spectrum of light, but im new to this all so i figured i would do well to post on here for awhile and find some info out from folks with experience. thanks yall
Both will grow good buds. Nothing can beat that Gavita 1000 DE. Most commercial ops are re-tooling to that style of lamp.
Rumpleforeskin has a great point. Both can grow great buds. With LED you just need to be a little more careful on which you buy. There are actually a good few companies out right now, but it's based on your budget and personal preference from there. You should read around the forums here more as there has been a lot of LED talk the last months. I fully support them, but don't think HID should be completely disregarded if that's more in your budget/setup.
I agree Gavita DE and similar DE lamps are out of most budgets. Comercial growers are under a lot of pressure to grow lots of top shelf bud in the shortest amount of time, at the lowest cost per cycle. Take a look at what they are using. You won't see a lot of old magnetic ballasts, anything under 600 watts or LED lamps at all. The money will drive industry into the best products. They have a lot of online tours of Colorado's commercial industry. Check out what they are using. With that said, you can grow some good quality bud with an old 400 watt HID that you picked up on Craig's List. It is not uncommon to get a pound of quality bud from such a lamp in less than three months time (I do it all the time). We test lots of LEDs and I found that the total wattage is the key factor (not the country of origin). With LEDs you have to look past the name and research the real wattage the lamp uses. They tend to try and confuse the customers with greater numbers than actual watts used. But we find that the actual used watts will perform as well as any HID of the same wattage. Don't spend a lot of money on a lamp for your first grow room. Start simple and work your way into the more powerful stuff as you get better. You will always find a use for the old stuff. Peace, R.
That is a nice clone lamp but I would rather clone with a florescent then spend all that money. I'm sure you can do just as well cloning with a few bulbs from Homedepot.
Depends on the LED in question. Cheap rebranded panels from china such as kind of mars aren't worth the money. An LED panel made up of high quality CREE or bridgelux cobs will deffinetly give better results than a HID setup. Optic grow lights has one, and area 51 is also getting ready to release a COB panel. However the cost for such a fixture will be high. You could build one yourself relatively easily though and mitigate the cost factor a bit. HID's offer the best bang to buck in regards to initial purchase price though.
I make a panel that kills Gavita all day. bicit you have hit the nail right on it's head.I did a lux test because I recently bought a meter and learned how to calculate lux to lumens and lux to Umols and my panel at 8" is 138,000 lumens and 2796 Umols and only running 413watts. I made a youtube video where I smashed a Mars II 900w and they went nuts on here. I'm using Cree CXA3590's and gonna make some CXB3590's which are even more efficient I think 10% more. View attachment 1771321 View attachment 1771322 If you noticed there's a Mar 1600 and a 1200 and my 413watt panel View attachment 1772068
HPS has been the go to light for decades. Where they fall short is the lack of deep blues and reds/far reds CMHs are addressing this, but they cost as much as a quality LED panel LED panels that incorporate what's good about hid/hps, as well as what's good about leds, <span style="color:rgb(0,0,205);">is the key.</span> That and quality parts; diodes, drivers, heat-sinks, and fans