Solistek ballasts? 1000w

stonedstoner · Jan 5, 2013

Does anyone have experience using these? Looking at the youtube videos and they seem pretty good. They have some safety features which normal ballasts don't. Just curious, thinking about running them. How do they compare to other ballasts? American made? Can't tell from the site.
thanks! :biggrin:

http://www.solis-tek.com/digital-ballasts/solistek-1000-digital-ballast.html

Snook · Jan 6, 2013

I've had the 600w for a year or 2, the 1000w I'm running my second run. I'm happy with them. First 1K was a dud, their C/S replaced it without question... they have a delay restart that prevents hot starts... no flutter, runs MH or HPS.. 400w/600w/1K.. I'll keep useing them.... if I dont go LED or induction for veg.

fishwhistle · Jan 6, 2013

they are great and the staggered start up is awesome if your running multiple lamps on a flip.

Azeotrope · Jan 6, 2013

I think the "American Made" is actually "American's sent the specifications to a chinese mass producer"......... Not trying for a buzz kill!! I remember noticing that little detail (semantics you know) on their website. Orange was all wrong!!!

Don't think you'll find a general application e-ballast sold on the horti market that is made in the USA. Breaks my heart really. I have read good reviews on these and I would encourage you to do a lot of research before you buy. My thoughts are the best warranty available from a well known brand should be a strong consideration.

Edit and self correction!!! Some times my mind fails me! LOL!!! These are made in Japan! Much better usually than China for sure. My bad! If I wasn't a CMH freak, just the made in Japan factor would get my vote!

At any rate, best regards and good growing to you!

Azeo

stonedstoner · Jan 6, 2013

yeah they sound pretty good to me. not sure if i should get the matrix which has the remote or if i should just go with the regular 1000w.

also, they came out with the hood soismax66 recently. anyone have any experience with the hood? it looks pretty good from the pictures that i saw. looks better than similar hoods on the market.

Doc420 · Jan 7, 2013

Azeotrope said:
I think the "American Made" is actually "American's sent the specifications to a chinese mass producer"......... Not trying for a buzz kill!! I remember noticing that little detail (semantics you know) on their website. Orange was all wrong!!!

Don't think you'll find a general application e-ballast sold on the horti market that is made in the USA. Breaks my heart really. I have read good reviews on these and I would encourage you to do a lot of research before you buy. My thoughts are the best warranty available from a well known brand should be a strong consideration.

Edit and self correction!!! Some times my mind fails me! LOL!!! These are made in Japan! Much better usually than China for sure. My bad! If I wasn't a CMH freak, just the made in Japan factor would get my vote!

At any rate, best regards and good growing to you!

Azeo

They use Japanese components.
This actually means that they are made in China.

The HighLander · Jan 7, 2013

Hey Stonedstoner,
Just got the the Matrix 1000w with the remote, had it for over a month now. So far it is great the remote will run more as you add them. Has it's own timer and keep track of the hours it run! I like it, plan on adding a 2nd one soon. :joint:

Treetroit City · Jan 7, 2013

These will be at the top of my list when I need new ballasts.

moses wellfleet · Oct 28, 2016

Any further info, how many people are using these ballasts in 2016?

RedBeardy5 · Oct 29, 2016

I use these and love them.

stim · Oct 29, 2016

I have 1157 hours on one matrix ballast it's still going strong.

Hrpuffnkush · Oct 29, 2016

Azeotrope said:
I think the "American Made" is actually "American's sent the specifications to a chinese mass producer"......... Not trying for a buzz kill!! I remember noticing that little detail (semantics you know) on their website. Orange was all wrong!!!

Don't think you'll find a general application e-ballast sold on the horti market that is made in the USA. Breaks my heart really. I have read good reviews on these and I would encourage you to do a lot of research before you buy. My thoughts are the best warranty available from a well known brand should be a strong consideration.

Edit and self correction!!! Some times my mind fails me! LOL!!! These are made in Japan! Much better usually than China for sure. My bad! If I wasn't a CMH freak, just the made in Japan factor would get my vote!

At any rate, best regards and good growing to you!

Azeo

All solis tek products are made in China , owners of solis tek are Chinese

, there stuff is tested here , they have a metal storage unit in there warehouse plug them into to see if the work ...

Ballasts are ok , bulbs are terrible 3 out of 6 never worked out of box , there 10k lasted 2 weeks
There new stuff looks cool , but seems costly compared to what's available

RedBeardy5 · Oct 30, 2016

Well then give me some Chinese ballast lol. I have had the best luck with these ballast over other brands.

Phaeton · Oct 31, 2016

Hrpuffnkush said:
All solis tek products are made in China , owners of solis tek are Chinese , there stuff is tested here , they have a metal storage unit in there warehouse plug them into to see if the work ...

Ballasts are ok , bulbs are terrible 3 out of 6 never worked out of box , there 10k lasted 2 weeks
There new stuff looks cool , but seems costly compared to what's available

Well, at least the presentation matched the content. Since the ignorance spouted has zero to do with the topic or the reliability of any products there is no real way to respond other that with distaste.

Many poor and substandard units have been tested, none have ever had a fifty percent failure rate, none, ever. Ignorance has always been the enemy. This seems a step past ignorance and is actual bigotry promoted with lies.

I am here for the information trading and learning, posts of misinformation based on personal hate of other cultures make me uncomfortable.

Hookah79 · Oct 31, 2016

I have some 1st generation Matrix ,been running like a champ for a couple of years.I also have the 2nd generation ones (double ended).1 failed out of 6 brand new in the box.It would not fire up.Was told by a vendor that these new ones are made in a different factory where their QA is not top notch thus the failure rate( i think about 30℅).
The new Vanquish ballasts are made in the old solistek factory,but AFAIK they dont have the digital timers yet.

So Basically i would stay away from them.

moses wellfleet · Oct 31, 2016

Phaeton said:
Well, at least the presentation matched the content. Since the ignorance spouted has zero to do with the topic or the reliability of any products there is no real way to respond other that with distaste.

Many poor and substandard units have been tested, none have ever had a fifty percent failure rate, none, ever. Ignorance has always been the enemy. This seems a step past ignorance and is actual bigotry promoted with lies.

I am here for the information trading and learning, posts of misinformation based on personal hate of other cultures make me uncomfortable.

The guy gave his personal experience. Not his fault if the product was sub standard. How on earth do you manage to find hate in that post?

zachrockbadenof · Nov 2, 2016

the Chinese make inferior products... their products suck... post a list of superior products with the 'made in china' logo... it will be a very short list...

its not hate... just the truth...

growingcrazy · Nov 2, 2016

zachrockbadenof said:
the Chinese make inferior products... their products suck... post a list of superior products with the 'made in china' logo... it will be a very short list...

its not hate... just the truth...

It is not the fact that the Chinese make inferior products, but the fact that the Chinese make products cheaply because that is what consumers want to pay for.

I have a couple Solistek ballasts running atm. I would say they are going on 3 years and they haven't been touched once.

zachrockbadenof · Nov 2, 2016

growingcrazy said:
It is not the fact that the Chinese make inferior products, but the fact that the Chinese make products cheaply because that is what consumers want to pay for.

I have a couple Solistek ballasts running atm. I would say they are going on 3 years and they haven't been touched once.

the products they make ...SUCK.. if u wish to say they are cheaply made...ok... but the bottom line is they suck..

and its the workers... u can go to Vietnam, where wages are even lower the china, and the same product will be built better...using the 'exact' same components...

KONY · Nov 2, 2016

zachrockbadenof said:
the products they make ...SUCK.. if u wish to say they are cheaply made...ok... but the bottom line is they suck..

and its the workers... u can go to Vietnam, where wages are even lower the china, and the same product will be built better...using the 'exact' same components...

Bullshit. They make good products and they make crappy products.

It's borderline insane to think that everything that comes out of china is shit. Just like it would be borderline insane to think that everything that comes out of America is high quality.

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