https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RPKT58L/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_4RCcGb3KAPN7B
My budgets 200 and I want to get as much dispersion as possible. Since I plan to flank this light with my 2 Mars hydro ts1000
Forgot to add, I’m running a space heater 24/7 in my grow space, I’d rather have heat as a byproduct or I would buy more LEDs
ok never had the topogrow did have one of those vivosuns, so i can only speak to the vivosun
it got returned next day, the adjustable reflector was flimsy as ****,. the bar that goes from the ballast across and holds the reflector actually bent under its own weight from using the eyes installed to hold it up. The light itself was weak, i suspect it was the ballast.
Also tried one that was supposed to do both 315 and 500 it was worse
I heard you on your budget and wish you luck. I paid $270 each and got some i really like, dimmable Chinese made but to a US companys specs like gorilla tents, but bulb wasn’t included and that was before covid prices.
These 2 just seem to have the widest dispersion of the reflectors I’ve seen.
Thats good to know, I’ve never owned anything vivosun
I have a few of the HTG supply CMH’s. Work fine, nice and sturdy. Reasonable prices (until you buy bulbs haha). $200 might not be enough if you want something better than the sketchy Amazon ones.
i have there 2 in one 4 x 5 tents two of them there exht fan there hygrometers and there trimmers
the trimmers are only thing i like
dont remember where but posted a pic on here of one of the tents at night with the light leaks
and i owe likes here but out right now
I was at htg the other day and they have a bulb /fixture ballast combo for like 230
one thing is amazon is pretty good at understanding they sell a lot of crap, and will take the stuff back ,i live very rural though so its a hassle.
If @vernal likes htg it would be good enough for me to try them, and going a bit over budget and getting something of far greater value wins for me, and i am not at all rich.
I used growers choice in the end.
@anon93244739 Me too I think it was like $250 out the door for their vertical 315 CMH unit it was a pretty square deal. Love it so far, definitely better than my horizontal unit in the veg tent. I also really prefer to go to an actual brick and mortar store for higher end equipment, it is very important to be able to switch out a unit same day if it takes a shit, the return and reship turnaround from Amazon can be over a week, though it is overall very convenient for stuff that doesn’t have moving parts or plug in.
@Who I get almost of my gear/nutrients/etc from there that I can’t get from hardware stores. Can’t say a single bad thing about any of it. Usually fair priced, decent quality.
I love htg. I got a customer card when the Taylor MI one opened. Now when I go in new employees are like “your card doesn’t have enough numbers”
I was on the website and you can get a scion 315w ballast hood combo with a philips 3100k bulb for 197.xx before tax.
I’m in Michigan too. There’s one just a few blocks away from me, and it is wildly convenient.
yup when i was in Mich i bought stuff from there catalog, here we dont have any and if we did they would be at least 90 miles away.
So why do you like the vertical one more?
Better, more even spread.
It’s more efficient to reflect that way.
Is there a hotspot directly under?
Not really. I let flowering tops get sometimes closer than 12" away, no bleaching, no burns. A single 315 isn’t really powerful enough to get a real “hotspot” vertical or horizontal, but horizontal is a better spread in general, anyway.
I went with this one-
https://hydrobuilder.com/growers-choice-grower-s-choice-315w-cmh-all-in-one-fixture-with-bulb.html
So far, no complaints…
So I’m going to be flowering a 6.75x4 area (I have a shelf thats 15" deep on one side of my 8x4tent, thats where I fruit my gourmet mushrooms when I have them going, other than that its storage). I have 2 ts1000 mars hydro led panels that I was going to hang on either side, with the cmh in the middle of them, which is why I want as much light dispersion as possible. I’d probably just get another led like the vipaspectra p2500, except I need the heat. I’m in an insulated, but not heated out building, which means my space heaters are running 24/7 and fight to hit 71°F. If I can get more heat as a by product, that means my space heaters run less. I have a light rail 3.0 and the robostick, so I can have the cmh move a bit too if I want. Or all 3 lights move if I get 2 trolleys.
You could always check these out. https://growershouse.com/315-grow-lite-packages-bundles-kits
thats the onnes i have, but @vernal is right as far as i know the vertical’s are more efficient, horizontal alot of the light is going up and is somewhat wasted.
