Bulb brands making a huge difference?

[Mrkline006]

I’m curious at how “much” bulb brands make a difference. I run the cheap Vivosun bulbs and normally just change them out every grow. I ran Hortilux last grow in my 600s and I wasn’t blow away at all and actually didn’t seem very good. (After the grow I was talking with someone and a shop around me had rumors of reselling old bulbs as new) so could have been the issue. Will the bulb make that HUGE of a difference? I know in scheme of things a 200$ bulb is pennies in the bucket and pays for itself I just find hard to spend that money less it’s REALLY worth.

 

[indagroove]

I'm running LED these days, but when I ran HPS I liked the Ushio lamps. They are a good balance of quality and cost.

 

[Dennis000]

I’m curious at how “much” bulb brands make a difference. I run the cheap Vivosun bulbs and normally just change them out every grow. I ran Hortilux last grow in my 600s and I wasn’t blow away at all and actually didn’t seem very good. (After the grow I was talking with someone and a shop around me had rumors of reselling old bulbs as new) so could have been the issue. Will the bulb make that HUGE of a difference? I know in scheme of things a 200$ bulb is pennies in the bucket and pays for itself I just find hard to spend that money less it’s REALLY worth.

HPS grow light and HPS street light are two different types, real HPS grow light contain more blue and red light, usually red 660nm is 2 times higher than HPS street light. Unfortunately those cheap ones are all street light.

 

[Cantharellus]

When I ran HPS I never paid more than 30 bucks for a bulb. Changed them once a year or so. My friend only used high dollar bulbs 100 bucks a piece. I gave him cuts to grow and he never turned out the quality I did. I told him for years to ditch the eye hortilux and use a cheap bulb.

 

[vacuumlungs]

I ran Apollo 1000 watt hps bulbs in place of Eye Hortilux once and my yield, potency and terps were off. I’ve had the same flower room set up the exact same way for nine years and run hortilux bulbs exclusively and the once harvest I got out of the Apollo bulbs was trash and everything else was the same as before. Same nutes, temps, ect.

 

[Switcher56]

I guess the question could be... does climate/growing conditions play a factor, wrt how a bulb performs?

 

[Mrkline006]

I guess the question could be... does climate/growing conditions play a factor, wrt how a bulb performs?

That was going to be my next question. Seems it could be strain dependent, room dependent ect.

 

[Dennis000]

I ran Apollo 1000 watt hps bulbs in place of Eye Hortilux once and my yield, potency and terps were off. I’ve had the same flower room set up the exact same way for nine years and run hortilux bulbs exclusively and the once harvest I got out of the Apollo bulbs was trash and everything else was the same as before. Same nutes, temps, ect.

Apollo 1000w and hortilux 1000w are same 1850umol/s HPS street light, you can try 2100umol/s 1000w E39 bulb, you will find the different.

 

[Dennis000]

When I ran HPS I never paid more than 30 bucks for a bulb. Changed them once a year or so. My friend only used high dollar bulbs 100 bucks a piece. I gave him cuts to grow and he never turned out the quality I did. I told him for years to ditch the eye hortilux and use a cheap bulb.

hortilux bulb is not worth the price, they are same PPF as the cheap ones, try Philips, Gavita or USHIO bulb, you will find the different.

 

[Chevy cHaze]

I think the difference is marginal (mainly in spectrum proportions) and most will be marketing?
Also, no HID light I have ever used needed to be replaced after just one grow...
That said, I always went for the cheap Sylvania ones ;-)



I switched to LEDs a long time ago but grew with HIDs long before that.
CC

 

[rolandomota]

I buy the cheapest light bulbs I think container size and veg time is more important how much better can a expensive light bulb be? Not much

 

[Dennis000]

cheap bulb VS expensive bulb

The link will tell you the differences, real grow light only made by Philips, Gavita,USHIO,PARSOURCES,agrosun and Lumenhort, others all cheap HPS street light

 

[Substitute]

I really like the Philips brand lamps. I use their 1000w MP1000 metal halide for flowering all the way through.

Awesome lamp.

 

[Dandelo]

i wonder if this is the case for CMH bulbs too, tempted to see for myself.

 

[madalasatori]

Bump, am curious re CMH lights

 

[zachrockbadenof]

i use phillips in my tent which is 4x3.5- i run '2' 315's , and feel its not enough light...

 

[Ibechillin]

From awhile ago:

FWIW, I use Ushio lamps in my 1000HPS' and change them every 3-4 years. In my 600HPS' I use commercial GE lamps and change them every 2-3 years. I've had some 1000HPS lamps, like Digilux, that needed to be replaced after a few runs. Maybe I got a bad batch. I've tried all kinds of lamps over the past 17 years; Ushio is the best I've used so far. Good luck.

Simon

Thanks for sharing Simon, saw your post in the jacks professional thread about yielding 3oz per sq ft as well. Running bulbs for 3-4 years before replacing sounds crazy, are those yields consistent for life of the bulbs?

I know it sounds crazy when most folks on the forums say their lamps are replaced every few grows. I usually replace the lamps when I see a difference in yield or in the structure of the flowers. They're commercial lamps where durability counts, not grow lamps. My experience with grow lamps isn't great, even when made my a real company like Sylvania, as they tend to loose output too quickly.

My advice, whether someone wants it or not, is to buy lamps made by a real company: GE, Philips, Sylvania, Ushio. Stay away from (HPS) lamps that offer an alternate spectrum, like more blue for supposedly fuller growth.

I do a lot of things differently than many folks on the forums, like never having measured pH in my life. Over time the methodology has proven itself, specifically, when it comes to yield. It's the only thing I care about, plus, I don't like to work too hard. Minimal effort-maximum gain.

Simon

 

[Ca++]

Most of these fancy names, are just marketing. Very few spoke of are manufacturers. It's just rebranding. If you are lucky you might get a sylvania with a gavita sticker on it.

Osram are the best, if you chuck them every crop.
Philips CG lamps are the best, if you run them for a while.
Sylvania will strike on lead lengths the others won't, so will work when others won't. Yields will be noticeably lower (or a lot better than nothing)

Really nothing separating the Osram and Greenpower. Different animals, but it's like comparing cats and dogs. The Osram has the better output when brand new. The Philips is lower by design, but holds steady for many grows. That is what the CG means.

Personally I like the Philips. I know people that swear by the Osram though. Importantly, some of changed camps to Philips, and but non from Philips to Osram. I have not done enough side by side myself, but I have run Sylvania of a few types, an the older Philips agro.

 

[growshopfrank]

The biggest difference that i have seen between premium grow lamps and off brand cheapos is consistency. light up a row of 25 or so with identical ballasts ,reflectors and lamps and generally the premium fixtures will show the same illumination when viewed with the naked eye while the off brands tend to have some visible differences.
This wouldn't be a huge issue with a multi light show but if it were to be your sole light that was a little (or a lot) off it would be a problem