Thanks for making this @Mr.Sparkle im in the market for some new lights and definitely need to go the cheapest route humanly possible so I’ve been deep diving for weeks now. Glad to have the lighting pros advice 
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I have this same light, just 1 in my 3x3.
I’m in this thread to learn more about lighting, and I’m pleased to see DirtMcGirrt has them as well.
I grow some bushes with it, so must be doing something right 🤷
It does go on sale for $40-50 pretty often. I just saw it at that price few weeks back and told my family.
I’m enjoying reading the discussion, the more technical the better even if most of it goes over my head right now.
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Well ill drop this tidbit then
For the Samsung LM301 diode and current led lights.
Initially there was Zero difference between the LM301B and LM301H, and was only labelled differently so that Samsung could internally track how much of a market there was for horticulture applications.
worth a watch for those a bit more into the tech side.
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If you get more of them, you can find the cable to connect them waaaaaaaaaaay cheaper from a generic cable brand instead of groplanner. Think the reviews on amazon had the cable number somewhere.
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GTFO so the AC Infinity new lights aren’t actually different diodes than the 301B?
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Point taken, on that note here is a really excellent review of one of those Cresmar panels by someone within an Apogee PAR sensor:
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I found some reviews saying it blows away the Mars hydro 300 watt . It’s damn bright light but puts out a lot of heat from diodes, not sure what to think about it it says it’s for a 2×4 tent and that’s what I have it in but so so hot
It checks a lot of boxes but has a whiff of stench to it.
I can find the smaller model on ebay but this is not available anymore sometimes people do have it like on Facebook but I can’t get any more info about it.
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Actually I’m thinking it looks like half of the grow star mn w300 light
Same diode, could be a bit different now but for the H’s color accuracy binning doesn’t really matter as they go by efficacy as in μmol/J so there are alot more diodes made that will say put out a high output but their color is slightly off vs those that need to fit a metric more tightly like the B’s well when considering the top tier bins
Which say 301H’s ordered by HLG for example highly likely will be the top bin examples where as other brands could be going for the cheaper and easier to get lower tier bins which arent as efficient… Still 301H for namesake though.
Water/weatherproofing comes at the point of once the panel is made as its the solder contacts and the likes that need the weather proofing more so than the diode face which is already encapsulated.
Now saying both above the next gen stuff for horticulture is supposedly a step away from the base white chips and will actually be designed to be more horticulture specific, actual details on that i haven’t looked into or has been released yet, but seen mention of different backend wavelength pumps and high efficiency red diodes, as right now they can create blue light for days and all white chips are just blue leds at their base, but the efficiency plant growing wise comes more from the other side of the spectrum, and still alot of ongoing science based on color ratios and such.
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The HLG video linked above where they talk with Samsung confirms that there was never any difference in the 301b or the 301h. No different coatings or extra anything, it was purely a different designation for internal tracking to see how much demand there was for the horticulture market.
There is a difference now with the Evo generation of the 301’s The new evos have a base blue light pump at 437nm instead of the old 301’s which use a 450nm pump.
One thing I am unclear on is this. They still produce the old 301b and 301h at the 450nm spec and now they produce the 301H Evo at the 437nm spec, but is there a 301b Evo and what nm pump is that at?
In the HLG video the Samsung guy was getting ready to discuss it and Growmua5 interrupted him right before he got to the very part I wanted to hear lol. So frustrating hahaha.
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What are peoples opinions on the new Samsung evo and evo mint spectrums? Seems like they are pushing more blue/violet and moving away from red. Instead opting for adding the red photons from their own dedicated 660nm red diodes.
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Yes and 
https://led.samsung.com/lighting/mid-power-leds/3030-leds/lm301b-evo/
And heres something to consider, if you can achieve better efficiency with a added dedicated red diode, would a shifted blue diode make more sense efficiency metrics wise, and current research is now more diving into say Red Green Blue light ratios and what works best, not hat they havent done similar in the past, its just if one can get a decent range then a light can be tailored to fit efficiency wise.
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