Got a $200 light budget. I will be setting up a flower 5x5 and am looking at a sealed air cooled hood or an umbrella type hood. I want to stay with 600w for height restraints. I do SCROG. How far do you keep a 600w open bulb from the canopy? In my 4x4 tent, I keep my 600w air cooled hood about 18 inches from the canopy. Is the yield from a 1000 watt worth the extra heat and electricity? It will be in a sealed 5x5 tent. I don’t have the budget for LED. I know a 600 cannot cover a 5x5 but I like a little work room. Thanks
If your budget is strict at $200, then an HPS kit off eBay or similar, or a blurple are likely going to be your only options. If you can stretch your budget to around $300, you can probably get ~500 watts worth of Bridgelux LED strips and an HLG-480H series driver. The LED route is obviously a little more pricey at startup, but generally requires much less wattage per square foot (~30watts) than HPS. So you do save in electricity cost over time. More info on the LED strips here... DIY LED Strip Build Designs for Samsung H-Series, F-Series, Q-Series, and Bridgelux EB Gen.2 - LED Gardener