I have their 1k light that I got for free and used it for seedlings and into veg for awhile on my current grow. No complaints even though there’s much better options. I decided to keep a male and it is currently in flower under it, dimmed to 500 watts. Plant seems to be doing ok but it’s only been a few days.
Yeah those numbers really do irk me too. Film lighting trauma all over again tbh. Just because you have 200x 10w led’s does not mean it’s actually a 2000w equiv. It may work out on paper, but then you do the lux, distance and spread math and you’re like “wtf did I pay for?”. Granted I have 3-4 brick style NN led’s I use in veg and for houseplants… but I paid like 30-50$ cdn each so really I’m getting my moneys worth using them for overwintering tropicals.
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i agree, but i have done enough research to understand how they get their numbers. LED’s are given those numbers by taking the number of LED’s multiplied by the size of the chips powering them. (200 LED lights, times the 5W chips that power them, would give you a “1000” rating
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Yeah, just not a fan. If they will lie about the basics how can they be trusted. It’s not the product itself that bothers me. I have tested both Mars and Viparspectra for myself and know the products are decent. I did it just so I could say that as neither had the best rep but to me is more about growing than bragging. I spent way to much on my HLG, it does a great job but I could have done the same for much less money. It’s nice to be able to recommend cheaper items that will do that job, why spend more than you have to.
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i agree with the frustration though… its a good thing i’m good with numbers, it took some time to understand the B.S. ratings and numbers they throw around to try to sell you and how to look through it and find the ACTUAL important info
Just posting this here since they are free seeds. I just created a tester thread looking for folks to journal a new cross I am thinking about.
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I get how they work out their deception however they wire in a driver that can only push 10% of the voltage so as a complete unit it is not 1000 watts. It’s good you learned about these things but millions of lights are sold to the unsuspecting and that pisses me off.
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I’ve heard nothing but good things about HLG lights. So most likely you spent your money well!
Ultimately “In my Lux Meter I trust”. 
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I use mars products. They are decent.
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I have 3 of the MarsHydro TS1000. Why 3 you ask? The original idea was to have 3 tents going but I found out the TS1000 did not perform in a 4 X4 tent for flower. Works well for vegging. So, I took the other 2 TS1000’s and put them both in one tent for flowering. Seems to work well for that. If I had it to do over, and still wanted to go with Mars I would go for the larger TS2000 for one tent and one TS1000 for the veg tent.
I understand MarsHydro have a new BAR-style LEDs now that are said to outperform the TS series tho.
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totally agree! what really irritates me is some of the PPFD charts and PAR values ( or lack there of!)
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I’ve seen really cool grows with 4x TS1000’s in 1x 4x4 allowing for 4x different strains as you can adjust the height for each; and the spill just helps each other out! 
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After using Mars and Vipar lights I can’t hack on either of their performance. That mars light really did do a good job for me. GH feed chart with autos, not so much, but the light itself I will use again.
I’m thinking you mean this thread?
edit… there is a ton of very good info there. I got Mr.Sparkle to answer a few questions for me, and did a DIY for our whole commercial grow-op that the plants love while dropping our electric bill in half!
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I use Mars, I also think they perform well for the price point. I have used the tsw2000 for a few years and I think its solid. I got a fc3000 six months ago. Last round I ran both in my 5X5. Anecdotelly, I don’t see a major difference in performance (just based on one round) but i would actually say that the plants under the tsw2000 fattened up better. The fc3000 stays even cooler than the tsw does. After the fact, I heard Mars was lying about using Samsung diodes in the fc series; I never followed up on that story though…
I recently bought a 60w led 12×12inch with bloom switch (adds red and infrared) for around 80CAD on aliexpress (60 the light + 20 FedEx 7-15days shipping) costs a lot less if you get their cheaper/longer shipping, it’s pretty nice I would say for 2’×2’/2’×3’ space. They also have cheaper versions too. For me Chinese is Chinese, so I didn’t bother buying mars hydro or spider farmer or any of those.
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Lunchtime??
Suuuure, go ahead and take off for lunch!
edit… I’m just taking a wild guess here and say you don’t know about them sharks circling the waters?
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I see you all been busy since last night 200ish posts not bad how’s my OG fam doing out there hope you all survived the the crazy rain and such I’ve been looking at mars myself in the matket for a new flower light I’m using spider farmers now they work great but can always improve also thinking about building one oh so much fun growing botanist chemist engineer gardening right I love it anyway busy day yall have a great oday
ps @DougDawson recieved a card today thank yo so much I think it’s the auto maria? not sure though anyway as always thank you sir
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