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Hazyfontazy
600's are best on paper ,a 1000 on a light rail might be as good as 2 x 600 though
Most people with 1k's have heat issues and thus the bud quality suffers. You also have better light coverage with 2 - 600's over a 1k allong with more total PAR watts. There is such a thing as too much light in a small space and 1k's can surely cause bleaching, burning, excessive heat - not to mention being less efficient. For big commercial type grows I'm sure they can't be beat power wise for sheer space coverage high above a canopy of big plants but personally if I grew still I would opt for the 2 - 600's all day over the 1000 after having used both before. Just my opinion, but hey they are both good lights with the right bulb which is really just as important and some growers overlook.
The best bud I have seen in years recently came from a dude growing under LED lights, never seen such frosty herb before and it was toxic potent. He said it was far better than the same bud grown under his HPS. Supposingly the LED grown bud is much more potent than HID nug for some reason.
The difference is efficiency.
600w lights put out 158 lumens per watt.
1000W lights put out 140-145 lumens per watt.
A 600 is best for plants that will never exceed 3 feet of finished height (canopy penetration)
1000W lights are best for plants 4' or less.
600w parts are slightly cheaper but more of them are needed for the same coverage.
A 600W light effectively illuminates a 3'X3' square with 50w per square foot.
A 1000W light lights an area 4.5'X4.5' with 50wpsf.
Hope that helps
Proper growing conditions will allow the plant to reach it's full strength potential, and poor conditions can harm the overall THC percentage (as does improper harvest and curing procedures.) It's more likely that the bud was a very good strain and through better lighting or environment, LED was able to reach a higher THC percentage than his HPS garden could reach. How were the yields (and what wattage was his LED grow, any supplemental lighting?) Grams per watt is important please!
I'm finding that a 600 is weak cake. I would never trust a 600 to penetrate 3 feet of finished height. I'm doing a 1000/600 side by side right now, and there's no way I'm ever using anything less than a 1k again. The 600s just a joke in comparison.
I think you would be much better of assuming that a 600 watter is ideal for 18-24" of finishing height. And a 1k for anything above 24-30".
But I'm heavily conflicted on this because this is what I'm finding for myself. But I've seen plenty of growers like swampy from NZ doing just fine on penetration with a 600. At least the yield seems to indicate so.
I'm starting to think now, more than ever, that a high quality reflector can make a very big difference. I'm using a 6" A/C XtraSun and I'm just not getting the coverage or penetration I want. Next round I'm switching to 8" XXXL Magnum's w/ 1k's. We'll see.
hehe; so i just picked up a galaxy switchable digital ballast; does 400, 600, 1000, and 1000 with a boost. Best of all worlds. I'll have fun playing with it. I think having a 1000 on a mover will allow me to get very close to my plants without the normal heat issues of a stationary light.
I say the 1000's all day long. Your getting 1 for 2 compared to the 600's. Growing is kinds like racing in a way. There is no replacement for displacement. Or in our case displacement meaning wattage.
My Penny
Mr.Wags