What's your favorite reflector?

[jcsmooth]

Hi Carguy,

Just wanted to back up what clowntown said....the 400 isn't an ideal bulb for a silverstar. The footprint is so large that I find the intensity lacks, but if you're really keen on the silverstar, keep a lot of air movement going through the hood so you can keep the plants as close as possible.

It's a great reflector though. VERY high quality.

JC

 

[shogun]

hydrotek silverstar

hydrotek silverstar

hi everyone i am a new grower from the uk.i have just sent an email to see if i can get a silver star reflector posted to the uk..i hope they can because that shade looks superb..shogun..

 

[gdawg]

i run air cooled silver stars too and i love em. i also have reflector from west coast g. and it sux next to the silver stars. i just did a temp read with one of them laser temp things the silver stars 86, west cg reflector 94! i got the galaxy 600 ballasts and they are great. all the cords disconnest from the ballast makes stuff alot easier

 

[NorCal]

that wcg reflector is actually a bell lighting reflector, after hearing mike (from WCG) rant and rave about these things i decided to do the research he had clearly already done. bell lighting is one of the most researched reflectors out there w/ numerous online experiments to prove it. All this time i have been going through 8" and 6" a/c reflectors when if you just cool those 4" bell lighting reflectors properly, they stay cooler and are more efficient w/ their footprints than any other hood on the market. I always questioned why those reflectors used only 4" holes for a/c. but there obviously functional, i actually gave my first two reflectors away since i thought they were useless, when i really just had to cool them properly. hth...

 

[masterlow37]

that wcg reflector is actually a bell lighting reflector, after hearing mike (from WCG) rant and rave about these things i decided to do the research he had clearly already done. bell lighting is one of the most researched reflectors out there w/ numerous online experiments to prove it. All this time i have been going through 8" and 6" a/c reflectors when if you just cool those 4" bell lighting reflectors properly, they stay cooler and are more efficient w/ their footprints than any other hood on the market. I always questioned why those reflectors used only 4" holes for a/c. but there obviously functional, i actually gave my first two reflectors away since i thought they were useless, when i really just had to cool them properly. hth...

So how/what size fans are you cooling your Bells with ?

 

[Haps]

My favorite reflector is the moon - H

 

[tokinsmokin]

These are the reflectors I have top one is a 600 and second one down is a 1000 and the third one is a 600 parabolic that you can barely see. They all have worked great, I like the large footprint for the 1000 and I also like the 600's footprint as well as you can see its in a cab so its perfect for that. I used a parabolic for my first two grows but probably won't use them ever again just because air cooled is so much better IMO, got great results though so I can't complain. Your reflector is definitely nice as well and looks very well built.

 

[irconfused]

With the silver star is there any type of gasket on the glass to prevent air leaks, or a better question is does it leak air?

I am running 4 of the hid hut cool breeze ones and they absolutely pour out air, not to mention are just shit quality as with all their products (4/8 of their digi ballasts failing within less than 2 months of use) I am looking to throw away all that junk and get some decent pieces. It is worth mentioning that I run a closed system so with any leaks that means the smell gets out.

Also a note on the hid hut pieces on multiple places the powdercoat has chipped off to reveal preexisting rust... greeeat quality, oh and when shipped to me 3 of 4 had their glass broken due to insufficient packing, and the replacment glass sent was too thick so i had to spend hours modifyiying the hoods to fit.

 

[clowntown]

It does not come with an air-tight gasket or seal for the glass, but does a pretty decent job in a fairly high/low pressure system. Those HID Hut reflectors are visibly poor quality; they don't even utilize a restrike bend ("V"), which is a no-no. I've also heard lots of these El Cheapo digital ballasts failing after only a few months of use. I just bought my second Lumatek (but not because the first failed), and recommend you do the same.

 

[PurplePotion]

SuperSun2 -- Picked up 2 shipped for around $250

 

[Grizzel]

supersun2
http://www.hydroponics.net/i/380763
$115 delivered

all I need now is a wintunnel 6" in-line

peace
Grizzel

 

[Pig-Pen]

I like the vertizontal for flowering but it cant be aircooled,its a 4 ft octagonal parabolic hood

Wish I had a pic (or my OG gallery)....several years ago, I "cool tubed" a Vertizontal hood. Had to cut big hole in it, but it worked. That thing, on a mover, gave me awesome coverage.

 

[VapingBuddha]

Considering the importance of lumens, I do think a good reflector is essential. I have a Lumenarc III (website) that I'm pretty happy with. Also, there's a pretty cool but technical analysis of the Lumenarc against a few competitors here.

 

[Old Yeller]

Clowntown - What was the final consensus of that reflector light test I saw here awhile back - I seem to remember that the Supersun2 did real good & my hydro guy says that the Sun System reflectors are the best quality he has seen.
Saw these Mojave reflectors on Ebay for around $90 & they look kind of interesting...

 

[irconfused]

It does not come with an air-tight gasket or seal for the glass, but does a pretty decent job in a fairly high/low pressure system. Those HID Hut reflectors are visibly poor quality; they don't even utilize a restrike bend ("V"), which is a no-no. I've also heard lots of these El Cheapo digital ballasts failing after only a few months of use. I just bought my second Lumatek (but not because the first failed), and recommend you do the same.

Sorry to gum up this thread but I cant pm yet....

Lumateks seem to be the way to go so thats what I'll be picking up, you seem to have found the best price on the hoods so any insight on where to pick up the ballasts?

Also how did you wire them up, I would assume the ballasts just come with raw ends that you fix up, or did you have to buy some wire and diy it?

 

[clowntown]

Clowntown - What was the final consensus of that reflector light test I saw here awhile back - I seem to remember that the Supersun2 did real good & my hydro guy says that the Sun System reflectors are the best quality he has seen.
Saw these Mojave reflectors on Ebay for around $90 & they look kind of interesting...

If I recall correctly, there wasn't too much side-by-side testing of the Daystar AC vs the SuperSun 2, but I think the SuperSun 2 did real well. I might have to check out one of these on my next upgrade.

Those Mojave reflectors look almost identical in shape and design to the original Daystar AC.

 

[clowntown]

any insight on where to pick up the ballasts?

MDHydro.com has always had good prices on them; I'm not sure if they carry the purple model yet, but I know they carried the blue when I bought them (and blue was the latest revision). I also know that they drop-ship the Lumatek's (possibly directly from Lumatek), meaning that you might have a chance of getting the purple one. I'd call ahead to see, though.

My most recent, purple 600w version I paid a slight premium for and got from BGHydro.com because I wanted to get a Sylvania GroLux bulb as well. (I previously ran an EYE Hortilux).

So far the only difference I've been able to see is that the purple one is a slight bit lighter in weight, and comes w/ a SunSystem adapter, but that's about all I could tell so far.

Also how did you wire them up, I would assume the ballasts just come with raw ends that you fix up, or did you have to buy some wire and diy it?

The blue / purple ones come with a plug / socket "dongle" built-in. The previous silver versions had the bare wire you'd need to wire yourself, but just about anyone with a few fingers is capable of doing that.

 

[tex1969]

Duct port on top?

Duct port on top?

Does anyone know of an aircooled reflector that has the duct port on the topside?

 

[clowntown]

Bell Lighting (I'm not quite sold by the shifty design yet) and others have models that are designed to be used w/ a plenum, if that's what you're looking for.

 

[tex1969]

clowntown, the bell is close to what I am looking for. I would be happier if I could find one that has a duct more towards the top, but that is the best one I have seen so far. Thanks for the super fast response.