I've already built an LED panel with 4x CXB3590's running at 200w. A friend of mine is currently testing it with some blue dream but it's been put into flower only recently so it's still quite a wait to see how it performs. So far it's worked great, but the price of those COB's is pretty steep. I was thinking, what if you'd try your best to find an Ebay selller with the best rep and get 6x cheap 50w COB's and drive those with a 200w driver? would 6 cheap 50w COB's running at 200w perform near the same as 4 CXB's running at 200w? Also considering the build price.
It's really important to understand the bin #'s as well. If I remember right some of the cheaper cob aren't even binned. I think you can get like 10-20% in efficiency with different bins form the same batch. Cobs also are more efficient running at a lower wattage. Having said that, even the cheaper cobs are putting out far more light then cheap led panels and most hids. I'd be weary of any ebay sellers or the like..it's just to easy for them to swap out bins and you'd never know. I think for the amount of buds that those lights are capable of growing, it's worth the extra initial cost to get the msot efficient. That's just my opinion though...I've seen plenty of people complaining that even $200 is too much to pay for a light that can grow pounds and pounds of weed. I'm pretty big on buying high quality the first time...tools, grow equipment etc. Have you checked out quantum boards yet? They're close to the same efficiency if not better then cobs and they are spread out better rather then a single point of light. The prices seem comparable to high end cobs, all things considered. I plan on getting one next time they're in stock at end of the month. Cob users seem to be loving them(more then their cobs), which I guess is why they're sold out lol.
Yeah i guess it's always a crapshoot when buying cheap cob's, but i kinda like the idea of just buying a big cheap heatsink and sticking 400w worth of different cheap cob's like 6500k's, 2700k's and maybe a few UV and IR ones for the hell of it and drive it with a 300w driver and just put a plant under it It's for a small cabinet grow, aimed at DWC and scrogging. Those quantum's sure look nice, but yeah same high price as the bigger cob's
yeh the quantums are eventually gonna come down in price. The heats sinks seem cheaper and you don't need a holder, thermal paste or lenses either which helps to offset the price compared to a cob set up. I'm super happy with my cbx3590's btw..I'm just always looking forward to new and better tech.