(Edited)Need help buying a veg light

There are tons of good lights out there that will suit your needs. It’s really a matter of how good a light you want and how much you are willing to pay for a good light.
You will get many opinions of what the best lights are for your area. It also depends on how handy you are as building your own light is an option.
Good luck on your search……. I am sure many will post options for you!

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You’re bang on. Nowadays we are truly blessed to have so much choice. And plenty of data to help us choose the best to suit.

I never thought I’d say this. But the more I look around. The more I feel you should be approaching @MarsHydro

I know their newer models are using bridgelux EB strips and I can confirm they work good.

That’s a DIY build using the EB strips and results don’t lie. Best advice I can give is look for full spectrum lights. Steer away from “blurples”.
As you want to use for starting beans/rooting cuts and veg. (I presume it be all 3 if it’s for mothers) You definitely want something dimmable.

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I was just checking out the mars tsw2000 would be perfect for my mother half of the tent. But wouldn’t mind a diy. I’ll check that out thanks man

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Thanks man. Was thinking on getting the mats tsw2000. There’s one on eBay for 150$ days it’s been used for three months. And it comes with 25 beans 15 from ethos and 10 from clear water. Kinda seems legit because he’s also selling all his other grow stuff. I kinda don’t wanna buy a used light but kinda sold me on the beans. We will see Amazon has one for a little over 200$. Do these lights break often? Or defected? As I write this I kinda wanna go brand new. I’m checking out a diy now and will make a decision soon. Appreciate you

I’m a big fan of the DIY stuff. The EB strips are available in 1120mm lengths too which are perfect for a 4x4 space when mounted on a rack right :sunglasses: they’re also available in 280 and 560mm lengths. Paired with a meanwell xlg driver you got a real powerful light with no heat. (You don’t even need a heatsink and as they’re a resin clad PCB minimum chance of electrocution and shorts) if you need any help with components on a DIY hit me up bro

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then def go for it!

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I’m finding that the cheap chinese leds 100-300w do just fine for veg. You often find them dirt cheap second hand. Save some money in your veg area and spend the money u saved on a real nice flowering light would be my advice.

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To be fair I’m a scrounger and would suggest keeping an eye on the used market for whatever you can get cheap in the islands for your veg lights.

Spend the $$$ on what you’re gonna use for flower :+1:

I have @MarsHydro , Spiderfarmer and HLG fixtures for my veg/flower, and for just veg is usually just LED shop-lights and blurples bought for next-to-nothing. I paid much more for the flowering fixtures but in the used market so in honesty I’ve paid the equivalent for full price for 1 of the lights to then have ALL of the lights. :smiley:

Gotta love folks who buy all in to grow their own and then give-up after 1 cycle because they had no idea of the amount of work it takes to get themselves high on their own home grown :rofl:

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Howdy Ronson, T5 florescent fixtures on the racks and a 400 watt HID for the mother’s in an air-cooled reflector that throws wide should have your veg tent lush with growth. Much love

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“But it’s a weed it just grows itself.” Man I hate when people say that.

Lots of good advice and food for thought but I totally agree to spend your money on a flower fixture. You have many good options available.

:+1:

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I vote for an HLG on the flowering side. Veg side pretty much anything will do the job these days.

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I use @MarsHydro exclusively. I honestly love their products.
I use a TS1000 for seedlings and vegging. But it is not near enuff light for good flowering. Two TS1000 lights would get you some very nice buds.
I did that for a couple grows in a 4x4 tent. Worked well.
But I started wanting more. I bought the FC E4800 and use that for flowering. Perfect light, IMO, for a 4x4 tent.
Right now I’m testing a new 2x4 tent with their SP3000. Going from seed to harvest with this light. We will see what she’s made of.
I sound like a @MarsHydro fanboy, and I guess I am a little. I just have had dam good luck with all their products. Never had a failure yet in about 4 years of using them.
Used some Chinese unbranded stuff from Amazon before that and was always having things screw up.

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Thanks man. You think the mars 1000 is good enough for a 4x4?. I just bought an unbranded blurple. Damn I wanted the mars tsw2000. What do you think about that one?

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Sorry for not replying to all but I’ve read all the messages and super stoked on the feedback this group is awesome. I ended up getting a besteva that supposedly covers a 5x4 area. A cheap o. I am stoked. Next tent will be the flower tent. I appreciate you all

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TSW2000 can be used for 4x4 during veg stage and 3x3 for flower stage.

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Nice. Just wondering how much does the electric cost to run a veg light 24 hours? I’ve read on google a 300 watt 24 hours for a month is around 13$ is that valid. Nice setup by the way

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300 watt 24 hours for a month is around 28$. (0.3 watt x 24 hours x 30 days x 0.1283 per kilowatt-hour)
You can read this article to find the answer.

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Thanks for the info. Definitely in my next tent I’m going to mars it. Alot of good info

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I have a tsw2000 that came in the mars hydro kit i bought for my 4x4 it worked fine for my first grow, i now am going to just use it as a veg tent , it seems to get the job done for veg. I have no complaints

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Damn my friend told me to get a blurple. Why is the blurple no good? Color?