First time ever attempting to grow. Bought a 2x3x5 tent and GSCXtrm autos already. I’m leaning towards a bestva 1000w dual chip for light but I really have no idea if it’s a good one or I’m about to fall for some hype. Anyone else used one of these?
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Does have the power to flower your tent, probably wouldn’t veg it, would recommend HLG hulticulture lighting group. Anything made by them is quality. Amazon lights claim better specs. Good luck and welcome to the forum!
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Stay away from lights that are purple, or burple what we call them, those are old led tech, much better lights available by HLG, spider farmer and some others. For a 2x3 a hlg 135w rspec for full spectrum, flower nice with extra red. I grow with 2 hlg 100w v2 rspec full spectrum with extra reds
For flowering. I grow 2 in a 2x4 with 2 hlg 100w v2 rspec, and I pull 3.5 to 5 ounces per plant, two hlg 100s would good too. Buy a ggood light the first time, save money and frustration. Yo may do good with 1 hlg 100 v2 rspec for less than 150 bucks. Good luck @OverallQuill80 tag me I’ll try to answer any questions. @Dennis62
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I’d be running far and fast. @NeoGroR has a story about blurples - I haven’t got the topic bookmarked, but believe me when I say it’s a sad tale.
As for alternative recommendations, I’d go for an HLG - best bang for the buck - the 135 R spec (red spectrum lighting to aid with flowering when it’s time)
If it were me, I’d be getting the 260 R Spec kit because I’d rather have too much light and dim it than not have enough. That said, it’s not cheap, so if it’s a budget thing do the best with what you have.
Spider Farmer can be good, but I honestly don’t remember which models are good and which ones suck. This is the one I’d be getting to fill your tent with light - also not super cheap. The HLG uses better parts and will have a much better warranty. SF-2000 200watt LED
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I agree with Mr Dennis. Stir clear of light that emit purple pink looks as they r not what they claim to be. HLG is gonna be one u hear probably the most around as it has the best materials used and they r built in states parts are from china but hand selected stuff lol. For bettering urself I’d say at least grab a hlg 135rspec for 2x3 if u can get the 300 as more light power equals better buds but also I can run the light a bit under power and save on some wear on the light not being maxed out all the time. Good luck and welcome. Ur gonna hear alot of stuff here and most every bit is gonna be good stuff. Another if u haven’t. Start ur auto seed in their final homes as autos are not ones for being transplanted too much it seems to pause their growth cycle some. Tag if u need with the @
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Thank you all. I’m working within a tight budget and the temptation is to go as cheap as possible. I’d rather spend a little bit more than have bad results.
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This is the correct path because you would be disappointed with the light you are asking about
Glad you came here first
You dodged a bullet
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There is a Ton of info on lights available on here.
If you want to hear my story… here it is Blurple Buyer’s Support Group
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I’m no horticulturist, but I have learned a few things. One and foremost is cheep lights produce cheep buds! Haven’t heard anyone bragging about the great dense killer buds grown with burbles. I’m sure there is an exception but it’s just that. Save money elsewhere!!
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If there’s anything I’ve seen here it’s the lighting difference between successful grows with good lights and non successful runs with blurples
And never did I hear anyone say this hlg sux, I’m going back to my BestLite ™ blurple
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Just to use Bestva as an example, see what happens to the price when you go from blurple to white light samsung 301 diodes used in their pro series lights. I would look to the 2000 pro to have enough flower power in your 2x3
A decent light for that size space will be pushing $200. At that price point you could look at Sono Farm SF2000 for $220. The comparable spider farmer is almost $300
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U can always look on hlg and other good lighting sites and purchase their refurbished lights at a few hundred dollars less than cost. Not same warranty but still worth the buy. @Nicky uses a off brand light with awesome results it’s all in the diodes and drivers they use. If it has a fan attached u don’t want it basically lol.
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If it has two switches bloom and veg, you also probably don’t want it
Disclaimer: I’m sure there are exceptions to this, but all in all 2 switches means underpowered blurple
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Kingbrites have yet to be beat for price and quality, value for par output.
There was a study done over a year of leaving lights on from a couple different brands and it shows even top boards like hlg show that within 5 years you should swap your lights or add to your tent because they loose efficiency.
That’s why I try to advise people to grab a set of kingbrites and jam as much light in the tent as possible, for example put a 320w in a 4x2, two 240w in a 3x3, two 320w in a 4x4 etc.
HLG is the best warranty and chip quality, pcl is right there to, kingbrite is cheaper by a significant amount of money and you get better technology and the chips should be very close in quality but warranty means you’ll have to deal with China. Which is fine it’s just a bit more of a time issue however they warranty them well.
Spider farmer is a bit lower chip quality but still good, the problem with them is they don’t use top notch boards and their price is inflated conpared to kingbrite but they have warehouses in north America so quicker warranty issues.
I really wouldn’t recommend much of anything else like mars hydro or anything you find on Amazon. I won’t buy anything but kingbrites from now on and I have hlg stuff but that’s before I knew about kingbrites
Also agreed with the general rules.
If it has a fan, stay away.
If it has blue lights stay away.
It should be a 3500k light with reds in it at the very least, these days it should have built in uv as well to be honest.
Bloom and veg switch? Yeah ancient technology lol these and the fan lights are used for a veg tent only and buy these type of lights 2nd hand.
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I find it courious they use (in the ad discription) Horticulture Led Grow (HLG) isnt that interesting.
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They use all kinds of buzzwords in the product descriptions. I saw one listing that essentially mirrored the Mars Hydro and Spider Farmer style marketing 
alibaba is the Google of marketplaces in that respect I think.
I have a KingBrite (240w with the epistar) in my tent alongside my HLG (260w XL with an added BSpec board and extra driver, so 300-something watts really). I have things about both I prefer over the other.
For quick, great quality, good customer service, the HLG is a no brainer. Once you know more about lights, drivers, what kind of heat generation your tent can handle, etc., then Nicky is dead right that a KingBrite will get you similar light output for less (granted for me, after shipping it wasn’t as stark of a price difference as it looks at first glance. It is still less in most cases).
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I have some 240w with Cree reds, far reds and uv’s beside my hlg 320xl v2’s.
The key to getting a even better price on anything on Alibaba is to tell them to drop the list price, make a deal if you buy more than one and also a big one is for them to undervalue it considerably on the Import slip so you don’t pay much for the import fees that are included in the shipping.
HLG’s are great they are just lower technology than kingbrites and more expensive so I see no advantage, oh and not sure of the new ones but I like the built in dimmer control on the kingbrites soooo much better, also the switch to turn reds on and off because in veg you want them off.
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What do you see as the technology benefit of the Kingbrite of HLG (aside from price)?
Yeah this is the one thing between the two I distinctly like over the HLG. KingBrite actually encased my potentiometer.
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