I’ve been looking at LED posts recently and realize they’re better than what was on the market years ago. I’m wondering if LEDs can compete with regular HID lights? More specifically i’m wondering if a “Gavita pro 1700e led” can compete with a 1000w HPS? Any opinions of the gavita pro 1700e?
Don’t know but I will tell you this…
www.timbergrowlights.com
Hands down redwoodvs will compete with a 1000 watt HID, HPS ect
And it’s only pulling 640 watts. Check em out Dan is the CEO/Owner
And is a great and honest person.
No I do not work/affiliate with Dan or Timber grow lights but am a happy customer 
% .
FM
10 Likes
even the mid priced leds are better than hid. i run 2 viparspectra reflector series and they grow great bud for the money. uses a lot less elec. and barely any heat from them.
4 Likes
All this talk and no affiliation but where are the results? And cheaper to run? Cheaper per gram per watt? Cheaper per unit price, how many years do you get out of that led fixture? I haven’t seen any pictures of anything that compares to what a skilled grower can do with hid lighting. Compacitor or ignitor is a $15 repair on hid, what is the cost when a led goes down, and how easy is it to go to a local hardware store a d be back up and running the same day?
I always see these posts, i always get shit for questioning, and i always get challenges but no one posts any pics.
If you are a new grower stick to what is most efficient and cost effective
Why is the second post always " i am not affiliated or a seller but here is a good link"
I want to see proof, canopy penetration, bud structure, trichrome production, version / model stability, are you pulling a gram per watt or more?
9 Likes
If you can’t find the pictures and proof on this site then you are not looking hard enough.
Plenty of guys kicking ass with LED.
13 Likes
This really isn’t an argument anymore, modern LEDs absolutely slay hid in every category. You can look at very detailed spec charts for any variety of LED out there and see the numbers for yourself. Way more light per watt, way better spectrum, equal or greater penetration, great coverage, not to mention way less heat and generally easier to use.
Here’s a guy whos set to harvest 9+lbs of top shelf weed from ~2000w of LED light.
I say this as someone who runs HID lights myself because I have so many laying around. I’d switch to LED in a second, and will over time as my equipment gets old.
Costwise a quality LED won’t cost much more than a comparable HPS and will last 5 years easily (with no bulbs to change vs a new hortilux once a year on HPS). Not to mention the dramatic savings in energy costs which will usually pay for the light itself completely over time.
11 Likes
A 1000w powerhouse switchable ballast with 7 year warranty with hood and bulb is under $700 even less with a lower grade hood. How much is one led fixture?..
1 Like
Here’s one a user built for under $400. Full spectrum and dimmable, I don’t see the wattage but probably 4-600. It will cover a 4x4 very evenly
If you didn’t want to build your own you could easily snag a couple smaller (2-400W) fixtures from Amazon for well under $700 and cover the same area very nicely. It’s all about the modern LED chips, they’re super efficient and put out a superior light.
You’ll need a new bulb the the hps roughly every year, and a non garbage bulb will be $100. In 5 years when you throw the LED out you’re still ahead a few hundred.
7 Likes
Im pulling more then a gram per watt.
5 Likes
I run 1k hps lights and love them. Still dialing in my setup, but if I had the money I would switch to leds. The grows I see people doing are right on par with hps, if not better. Light penitration is lower, but with Scrog, it doesn’t matter much. That helps both led, and hps.
1 Like
I’m starting off with screw in bulbs 
From over on IC mag using off the shelf screw in LEDs
From the user Terpene:
“Everyone knows I’m not growing for weight as Im all untested sativa landrace hybrids from seed… but lets run some quick numbers. The last production style strain I ran was Fruity Pebbles OG x Sour Sunset x Pineapple. So from seed, first time out, I got roughly 2.5oz (1/2 gallon mason jar packed to the brim) from a 1 gallon pot. I can fit 8 of those in my cabinet, but since this one over grew the pot a little bit, lets be really safe and say I could only fit 6 plants in flower. That means from 180w (25w per sqft) I would theoretically pull about 420g / 15oz or 2.3g per watt.”
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=8491878&postcount=2687
One of his latest pics
I have to add, I’m not even a member over on IC mag my phone wouldn’t show me the code to prove I’m not a bot to let me make an account.
11 Likes
I also get over a gram per watt without much trying. Im not saying you can’t yield great with hps lights. Im just saying you would yield even more with an led.
3 Likes
I was skeptical about the yield of LED compared to HID. Just started using an LED Quantum board for flower. It’s a SpiderFarmer 4000, company literature claims 450 watts consumption. I never measured it but I doubt it’s over that amount.
Anyway, last run in the flower tent ended up being only one female. Harvest was 17.2 ounces. That blew away any harvest I ever had from my 600watt HPS.
Just a couple pics from that grow.
18 Likes
You need to do your homework evidently you haven’t and the LED Cobs, chip on boards ect… technology has been out for several years.
Oh and I’ve got a 10 year warranty from my purchase as well as a 100,000 + hour life expectancy. So yeah stick with your HPS,HID .
FM
I guess HID still have their place in the northern climates, it helps heat the rest of your house if you vent it right .
That said, I’ve noticed a temp increase in my room with even 345W of led bulbs in the tent being vented out. I just removed 4 of the 15W bulbs, dropping it to 285W, making it just over 31W/sq ft evenly spread in a 3x3. I also reconfigured the spread of warm vs cool white, With bare hands while the bulbs were still on. Try that with HID.
3 Likes
I have led and love it only pulls about 430 watts at full power. No ac unit needed. Just running 1 6" fan. Have a 3 year warranty. The initial cost is more but your power bill saves. Haven’t flowered under it yet but does of videos out there. We went with a kind led. Working on a another 5x5 setup. Might try the grower choice roi e720 or the hlg 650 full spectrum. By running a dimmable ballast your making your lights run harder because they need the proper power for the gas so your actually not getting the proper spectrum either .Haven’t had one break yet. If the kind led breaks luckily they are a local company for me. So maybe a trip to downtown to get it fixed. Led are very reliable compared to an hps. The technology used today is better than it was a few years ago. I know guru over at dude grows cannabis has a full scientific breakdown on why the leds are better. I told myself the light is basically my entire lifeblood of this tent. So I went with a nicer one with local customer service. There’s a lot to compare but overall I would say that the leds are gonna be just as good as the hps and maybe be cheaper in the long run if you save on power. Your really just gonna get a lot of opinions off here. But those are better than reading about the lights and trying to figure it out. My best case for you would be to run the led and find out for yourself. Personally video reviews and just saying fuck it did it for me. What can you lose from buying a light and finding out you dont like it. Just sell it used. Youll still get a harvest out of it. But definitely give it a few grows to get the hang of it. See if you produce more from led or hps. Good luck to your search on finding the answers and grow some buds.
3 Likes
I’m running 1200 watts of unvented, open air HIDs right now. I use a heavy duty fan to blow all the heat into the rest of my house. I’ve had one cold night (40s) so far, and it kept the house in the 70s. It’s great! I am going to need to find a different system come summer, though.
If you use the heat from the HIDs, your efficiency reaches 100%, since wasted energy is expressed in the form of heat, unless I am mistaken.
5 Likes
A Gavita LED will blow away a single ended HPS system but who wants to pay $1800. Also with the cost of Gavita 750 or 1000W DE systems there’s no point of getting a single ended bulb if you can space 3-5 feet of head height.
I got a customer running a SF4000 LED against a Gavita and SE Hortiulux bulbs and so far the SF4000 is looking exactly the same at 7.5 weeks as the Gavita min you wont know untill its all cut down and dried in a couple of weeks.
Most of my customer with Gavita 1000W DE are pulling on average 2.5lb dry from each light same with the Gavita LED’s Some get 3 but that’s the most Ive seen.
8 Likes
Yeah, nitro (going for the record thread) said he’s shooting for 10 pounds from 2000 watts of led…said he got 9 pounds last run. Never seen an hps give up 5 pounds per 1k.
4 Likes
I don’t think you could compare the 2000W LED to two 1000x HPS. A gavita LED is 650W or so that 1950W and would cover anywhere from 4x4 to 5x5 space x 3 so 3x 1000W. Yes 9lb dry from 3x Gavita LED is possible.
I do have customers who get 3LB dry with 4 week veg and 8/10 week flower using both Gavita 1000W DD and Gavita LED and even they say its a shit of load of work and the environment has to be perfect, they have crazy room setups. Also they don’t always get 3Lb dry. Sometimes it goes below 2.5LB.
With LED’s like Spider Farmer SF 2000 would I buy a 315 or 600W HPS, not anymore as the cost is the same might as well got for the LED.
5 Likes