Puzzled on which light is better

Indoor Growing Lighting
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If you can only buy one light at a time. Which would be better? A hps or an led

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That depends on your budget and your needs. How big is your grow space?

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1-2 plants

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1-2 plants area is 2x3

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The most bang for your buck is probably going to be LEDs, especially if you don’t mind DIY’ing something. @dbrn32 is the go to guy for lighting. He can help you on the specifics. But I’d steer you toward LEDs in a space that size, just because you might run into issues dealing with heat with HID lighting.

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Thank you for the tip. I was thinking the led would be better but, wasn’t sure. I already have cfls and a grow light to work in tandem with it. I can get a 1000w for only $60.

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I’d stay away from that one. Sounds like it’s probably way less than 1000 actual watts. Is it on amazon? There’s a lot of flat out junk masquerading as great lights.

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Actually it’s off ebay. You buy what you can afford.

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I see. Well, for that same $60 you can probably do better, is all. We all start out on some kind of a budget. It’s better to get the best you can with what you have to spend than to get the cheapest you can find and have to replace it anyway.

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How do you know which one is better?

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Don’t buy that amazon or ebay or Facebook marketplace light, your throwing money away. Trust us alot of us have already done that and that’s why we’re telling you don’t waste your money.

You will end up paying 100$ for a light that is sub par, then you spend 3 months of time, energy, nutrients, power, water, hassle, love and labour only to find out the lighting is your issue and you would have been better off buying a better one or spending all the money you just spent on smoke from A guy who invested the money to grow good smoke.

You won’t get much data off those cheap lights and what you do may be skewed data and its not even reliable it’s pumped up numbers like 1200w led! Lol… Actually more like 180w… Not full spectrum and terrible PPFD (this is the number that counts more so)

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Can you post a link to the light you’re looking at? Maybe we can look up some specs for it, and go from there. It might be a fantastic deal!

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I am having to decide what type of lights to use for a grow. Would LED or quantum boards? Cost effectiveness…watts… high kilowatt hours here Just 2 plants maybe 3. Small tent.

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I would define “better” as more efficacy per dollar you spend, while also fitting your space and needs best.

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I think the others are just pointing out that the light you’re looking at is likely advertised to do more than it actually will. If you’ve researched and feel pretty confident that you’re getting most for your money, no problem. If you would like help, happy to assist.

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For about $170 you can get a 315w cmh, be perfect for that size

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There is no correct answer to a question without adequate information. However based upon the 60 dollar ebay price I’d like you to look at the horticultural lighting group website at the prices on their lights.

There is a huge difference between some boarderline fraudulent claims made by lights on ebay and Amazon and a true quality light. If you have a decent quality led light you wont need 1000w in the size of space your talking unless its 20 feet tall.

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like everyone here is saying, don’t waste your money on the “1000w LED”.!!
it would be better then trying to use the CFL’s for flower, but there is way better lighting…

315w CMH
400w HPS/MH
HLG QB LED (180-240 watts for a 2x3 area)
Migro LED (same as the QB, 180-240w)
there r other great LED’s, but they r quite pricey compared to the QB’s.!!
u would need 2 of the ‘1000w’ led’s to cover 2x3 in flower and still only have mediocre light.

HID is cheap to get set up, but the HLG QB can save u money over the life of the fixture.!
save up for a great light, it is the lifeline of your whole grow.!!

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if it helps…
i m poor and do not like wasting money, that chit could go towards bills.!!
i’ve tried CFL, T12 floro, 400w HID, and swapped to HLG QB ~7 months ago,
the CFL is a joke, the tube floro is great for veg and kinda sucks for flower,
HID and QB have been the superior lights.!
i m seriously liking the HLG QB’s, plants r doing a bit better and saving money.!!

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My farorite lites are the Viparspectra par series , I have a king plus 1500 led that works great but my Viparspectra par 600 is amazing . For your money Viparspectra is my favorite Tried and texted , but king led and bestva are also very good . You will do good with any of these