I've been researching a good amount on LED grow lights. I'm familiar with the importance of 3W min chips vs 1W and 2W. I'm familiar with the spectrum and which bands to look for. The light I'm about to purchase is the 240W Blackstar LED Panel for my 3-4 plant scrog grow. I just have a few concerns I need cleared up. Is the small lense over the LEDs found in the more expensive systems really necessary? Does it aid in light penetration or just make the footprint larger? Why does Blackstar charge about $280 for a 240W panel and Advanced is $540 for only 180W? I don't want to be disappointed with the quality of the final product as that's what this is all for... but doubling start-up costs is pretty tough too. What do you all think?
That lenses is not necessary its the LED makers wanting to focus the light in more directional areas. If your LED intensity is good enough you dont need it. You also lose light via those as well. The LEDs I use are 5watt LEDs 120 degree angles. Why is there a difference? People who make Blackstar are of more a value leader then the others. Hence alot of reviews are done on the Blackstar. Also that Advanced LED has actual wattage of 180. The blackstar your about to get has about 130-135.
I waa about to get a 240w blackstar also but ended up choosing the 100w diamond series (both veg or flowering). Figure I'd use that and 4-6 42watt cfls for more light in my future scrog set up. 3w & 5w. those are the ones you gotta stick to for better bud. Black star says they have a mix between 1w, 2w and 3w. I choose my light because it was 100w of all 3w diodes. Haven't gotten it in the mail yet GL!
To answer the question in a literal fashion, the key difference is the overall quality in components and actual wattage. There is nothing wrong with the build quality of Blackstars, but generally the higher-end LEDs tend to have better fans, more efficient power supplies & chip-sets, but most importantly the actual running wattage of the LED chip-sets. A 240 watt blackstar does not output 240 watts, more like around 160w. That said, I've seen some beautiful grows done with a multitude of the popular LEDs in the hands of growers of all skill sets.