Im looking at buying 4 of these Optic 8+ COB lights ( $6000USD !!! ) and am Interested in hearing about real life results that the average grower has acheived.
How hot do these run ? Do i need a heater to keep the temp up in my 1.2m square tent ? whats your compared yeilds to hps or Average LED lights ? is there much difference in quality ?
The light looks nice from the internet site, but seems pricey - how much of an area are you looking to cover?. However, I am not a LED expert. There are a bunch on the site that are fans of the HLG quantum boards. Several use COBs too. I didn’t see any references through to the Optic 8+ in the search results, but perhaps someone has them out there
You must have a large space to light…
Cree and Meanwell make quality products and that appears the bulk of the unit. The specs looked good. You could probably grow great bud. Don’t go by their hype … 2.5 grams per watt. Gram per watt is an equation requiring several variables… None-the-less, I would use this light.
I would not buy one though. For larger spaces, I prefer a Gavita DE/Gavita Pro. Mid size I would do A Meanwell/Quantum Board build. Smaller spaces, I like T5 HO…
May I ask a question? What is drawing you to this one particular light? Have you seen one produce? That dollar figure is killing me.
Have a great Sunday (or Sat. If down under)
Hey Poseidon.
Yeah they do both make a quality product for sure.
My space is one 1.2x1.2m tent of autos and another 1.2x2.4 tent with other plants in it.
I was thinking of having 2 optics in the big tent and one in the small tent and one as a spare incase a friend wants to grow.
One of the main reasons I’m really thinking about them is they only consume 500w at max power and during veg its only using half that with a good dimmable option to reduce even more.
The videos i have seen on youtube so far have looked impressive with huge colas and also increased yeilds under the same nutrient scedules and growing conditions with a better flavour.
I have considered the option of buying some of the CXB3590 cobs and some meanwell drivers but im not very confident in my own ability to assemble them hahaha (I’m a carpenter by trade).
The dollar figure is very high for sure.
Hey Sixpackdad.
They are a good looking light, but yes very pricey,
2 tents. one is 1.2x1.2m and the other is 1.2x2.4m.
I was going to put two the big tent and one in the small tent with one light spare for something else or if a mate wants it.
Yeah i get the feeling not many people have them just because they are soo expensive.
They have the Cree cxb3590 COB and the meanwell drivers for them which have great reviews.
I will have a look at the quantum lights aswel thanks.
Hmmmmm. I am not a pro and the choices for lighting are very broad. I never like to say, “this is the best light” because of the variables… There are options for sure. A lot is cost driven. A $300 (US) HLG Quantum Board Kit with Meanwell drivers pushes 83,000 lumens. Perhaps 3’x3’footprint(?)… I just can’t wrap my head around the cost… I can get an entire Northern Lights grow box for the cost of one light…
Looking forward to seeing what others have to say… What’s the story with this light??
@dbrn32 can you scroll up and see if the poster is on the right track with his light options… thks
I’m interested to see your thoughts… 
If you go the cob route dont buy the cxb3590, they are overpriced. You can get luminous cmx22 for 19$ and they perform very similar. There are many cheaper options than the Optic’s lights that will perform as well or better.
2 HLG 550’s DIY for under $1000
I would definitely be in line with going a different route.
@New.NZ.Grower on a scale of 1-10 how confident are you in building from scratch? 1 being not confident at all.
I would go quantum boards. I grew 1.9 grams/watt.
6000$ USD seems insane… pretty sure timber grow lights or HLG has something that will fit your need for cheaper.
My abitity on the electrical side of things are , I know the differnce between positive and negative, can join and solder wire connections and thats about it. so id say a about a 3/10.
Everyone seems to like these HLG lights and yes they are cheaper than the Optic Range and 1.9g per watt sound pretty good still.
The 550w is still $1000. can you get cheaper on other sites ?
On thier website it says most stuff is sold out, where else can you buy these from ?
@Aolelon What lights come with the luminous in them ?
What other Pre-made COB lights have been good for growers?
Hlg-600 is like $700 something. Same boards at hlg-550 but with bigger driver and different heatsink.
If you build by hand cxm-22 the way to go, but rapid is only one selling complete light with them last I knew.
That’s all you need to assemble a Quantum Board light. Very easy, takes 30 min if you take your time. I know nothing about electrical and found it simple.
Hmmmm that does sound easy.
I just had a look at youtube videos on how to assemble and it wasnt as hard as i was expecting it to be hahahaha.
Have been looking on Rapidled.com. @dbrn32 @Aolelon
They have both the CXB3590 and CMX22 range at some very reasonable prices.
You can get the 4x4 kit for $750-$850 and that has 12 lights. Im thinking i could split them between my tents and have 4 lights in the 3x3 tent and 8 in the 3x6 tent.
They also have an mass medical kit with 16 CXB3590’s in it for $1050 and that would cover my 2 tents with 5 lights for every 3x3, the range of lights isnt fully what I want but i have e-mail to ask if I can get 12x 3500k and 4x 4000k in the pack instead.
This would actually work out very a simular price to the Quantum Board setup aswel for my 2 tents.
You’d have to go back and look at those kits, at those prices I don’t believe they include frame. Not that it’s end of the world, but would be an additional expense. Also, you won’t teall gain much by blending the 4000k and 3500k, but if that’s what you want to do it doesn’t really cause a problem either. As far as number of cobs go, you’d need to run them about 70 watts or so to do 4 in 3x3 and 8 in 3x6.
Yeah actually thats a good point. I may aswel get all 3500k.
How do you know how much you are running them at?
It says the chips can go up to 130 watts.
Im pretty good with building my own frames out of light weight timber with hooks and hangers.
If you want high quality COB , Cree&Osram chips, meanwell driver, maybe you can look at mars COB or marsproII Cree 256 led. One Cree 256 led can cover 4’x4’, one mars COB can cover 2.5’x2.5’. This is a old led brand in the market for 10 years, I think their quality is more reliable. Last time, I bought light from their website www.mars-hydro.com and get discount by code 'Cathy"
Forward voltage of cob by drive current. Cxb’s for instance are available in 36v and 72v nominal models. If you have a 36v at 1400ma that’s roughly a 50 watt cob. 130 watts is at its max current rating. That would be driving led outside of its efficiency range and be a real pain in the butt to keep cool.