Neocision Spectra Elite 680W LED Grow Light VS FloraGear FLORA S6 PRO™ 630w Full-Spectrum LED Grow Light
Lights are perhaps the most important bit of equipment for an indoor growing, and can make the difference between a massive yield of the dankest bud, and sub-par little popcorn buds. So choosing the right grow lights is essential. But with so many out there, where to begin?
LEDs have come a long way in the last few years, and might be on their way to becoming the top choice for plants growers. However, there are some things you need to know about them before you set out. LEDs are incredibly versatile — this is their greatest strength. But you can also come across LED lights that will provide nothing of benefit to your plants. So take a look at the information below before shopping for LEDs to outfit your plants grow-op.
What are LED grow lights and why use them?
LED stands for “light-emitting diode”. It is an incredibly energy-efficient type of lighting, capable of emitting very strong light, at a low temperature, for potentially years at a time.
Due to the small size of each diode and the versatility of the technology, LEDs can fulfil many, many functions. From Christmas tree lights, to street lights, to full-spectrum grow lights, they are becoming the obvious choice.
Some advantages of LED grow lights are:
Cheap to run
Cool to run
Full spectrum of light
Adjustable spectrums — one light for the whole grow
Potentially encourages greater trichome development
Saves water (through less evaporation)
Due to lack of heat, you can place them closer to plants, increasing light exposure
Some disadvantages of LEDs are:
Poor-quality LEDs will not produce a suitable light spectrum for plants
Hard to know whether a manufacturer makes genuinely good ones
Lack of heat can be a drawback in winter
Anecdotal evidence suggests LEDs may halt autoflowering plants during flowering (more on this later)
However, with recent developments in LED lighting, if you’re willing to do some research and invest in a good one, it is a very good option for indoor growing.
Neocision Spectra Elite 680W LED Grow Light
Features:
This BVV grow light features 20.6% blue and 45.1% red spectrum, peaking at 660nm, for your flowering plants. This unique spectral combination creates stronger plant uptake of nutrients, maximizing red for increased photosynthesis. Get higher yields, superior bud formation and high cannabinoid production levels. This grow light provides the best spectral coverage — more power for your flowers and maximum PAR output at different distances, plus a super bright light that your plants will love. Specially enhanced 660nm red light accelerates flowering and blooming, ideal for dense buds. No fan noise. Efficient removable drive. High-quality components mean longer light duration (30000 hours) and the light board is sealed with technology so the whole grow light is waterproof. Don’t worry about wet conditions damaging it.
FloraGear FLORA S6 PRO™ 630w Full-Spectrum LED Grow Light
Features:
FloraGear grow light represents the latest in LED grow light technology. Designed for professional growers and row cultivators, it provides high-quality light and even coverage and is durable in any growing environment. It features Samsung LM301H LEDs that are specially made for gardening purposes. The unique combination of its 4000k and far-red (OSRAM) spectral chips gives it a huge spectral “backbone”: more powerful reds and blues, and the spectral depth needed for optimal plant growth throughout the vegetative and flowering stages and color.
How to choose the best led grow lights for indoor plants?
There are many things to consider when purchasing LED grow lights . The coverage area and light distance will help narrow down your search results and ensure your grow space is appropriately covered. PAR output is measured in different ways and misinformation about intensity is very common. The light spectrum that the LED grows light emits is importan. Also, an even light spread will help with growth across the entire plant. Wattage is often confused for light intensity instead of what it actually is — energy consumption. It’s better to go with high-quality diodes and efficient drivers from trusted manufacturers instead of going with unknown brands. Lastly, the warranty that the LED grows light has will offer you protection in case the light becomes defective. Considering these things prior to buying a LED grow light will help ensure your money is being well-spent.
1.Coverage Area & Light Distance
First of all, you need to know the size of the grow space that your plants will be growing in. Measure your grow space — length, width, and height. Knowing what size grow area you will be growing in is arguably the most important piece of information to know when shopping for LED grow lights . A LED grows light manufacturer will design their grow light for a specific coverage area. The most common coverage areas are 2’x2’, 2’x4’, 3’x3’, 4’x4’, and 5’x5’. As you can see, the length and width are mentioned, but not the height. Hang tight. We will talk about the height of your grow space in a minute. Once you measure your grow space and know what area you need your LED grow light to cover, you can narrow down your search results by filtering to show LED grow lights specific to your grow space.
Now, what about the height of your grow space? That comes into play when we talk about light distance. Every grows light listing should state the coverage area as well as the recommended light distance. The light distance is the distance between the grow light and the top of your plants. Light distance is another thing you need to consider when buying a LED grow light. I’ve had several growers contact me asking for advice on plants that grew too close to their grow light — because they did not factor in the light distance when buying their LED grow light. Let’s go over a quick example. Say your grow space is 4’x4’x6’ (L x W x H) and the recommended light distance on your LED grow light is 24”. So, 6’ (height of grow space) minus 2’ (light distance) equals 4’ tall plants? Right? Wrong! You should also consider the grow pot (which often takes up about 12” depending on the grow pot size) and the “lost distance” above the grow lights which is taken up by the grow light hanging kit.
2.Wattage
This is the most common measure of grow light intensity and is a measure of electricity (watt = amp x volt). This measure can be misleading, though. Some manufacturers (the better ones) give the actual wattage the unit uses — the wall plug wattage. Others, typically lesser brands, will give you the max wattage rating of the LED diodes. To use a simple example, a grow light could call itself 90 watts if it has thirty 3 watt LED’s, however, it is common practice to run LED’s at half wattage to reduce heat production (and therefore heatsink cost) and increase efficiency. So, what was called a 90w grow light could really be 45w (or less!).
Bottom line, you want an actual power draw, not an LED wattage rating. It can be good to be suspicious of overly round numbers — you are likely getting the diode rating and not the actual power draw. Knowing the wattage of the diodes isn’t useless, though. You will get a heck of a lot more light out of a 3-watt diode run at 1 watt than a 1-watt diode run at 1 watt.
3.PPF
PPF (Photosynthetic Photon Flux) measures the total amount of light produced by a grow light in terms of micromoles of photons produced per second (often written as umol/s or μmol/s). This is an important number because unlike PPFD (which will be explained below) it can’t be manipulated and tells you the full amount of light coming from the LED grow lights .
4.PPFD
PPFD (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density) measures the number of micromoles of photons striking a square meter per second (often written as umol/m2/s, μmol/m2/s, or μmolm-2s-1).
Full daylight sun at noon in the summer is around 2000 μmol/m2/s. What your plants actually need, however, is likely to be much less than that. In fact, because the Sun’s intensity is only that bright for a small portion of the day and because the angle of that intensity changes throughout the day, providing that much light for an extended period of time would very likely be damaging to your plant. A ‘light response curve’ shows how effectively a plant utilizes light at differing intensities. Depending on the plant, at levels greater than 800–1000 μmol/m2/s the efficiency that a plant uses the light starts to slow. Meaning, you can provide your plant more light than this, but you might not see a huge change in outcome.
It’s worth noting that some LED companies can increase their PPFD numbers by measuring extremely close to the grow light or using spot-light like reflectors or lenses. An LED company should always report what distance their PPFD numbers were taken at (e.g., 24 in, etc.).
5.PAR
This is not a measurement at all, but instead, a type of light that can be absorbed by plants (and coincidentally seen by humans). It ranges from 400 to 700nm.
6.Lumens
This is a measure of the total apparent brightness of a light source and not how many photons are produced. As the cliche goes, “lumens are for humans.” You can think of it as the brightness of a single candle (although the real definition is more complex). By in large, lumens are not a useful measure of light intensity for plants since they overweight colors like green and underweight reds and blues. For instance, 1W of radiant flux at 550nm (green, which the human eye is very sensitive to) is 675 lumens. One watt of radiant flux at 660nm (deep red) is only 45 lumens. The red light will be more easily absorbed by your plant in photosynthesis than the green one, but your eye will see the green light as 15 times brighter than the red light!
7.Lux/Footcandle
This measures how much brightness is striking a unit of area. Contrast this with lumen which is the total amount of brightness coming from the light source in all directions. Lux = one lumen per meter squared. Footcandle = one lumen per foot squared.
Seedlings, clones, mother plants: 200–400 PPFD
Early to late Veg: 400–600 PPFD
Flowering: 600–900 PPFD
Some of you may be wondering about the LED grow lights that produce over 900 PPFD. Will a PPFD higher than 900 produce bigger buds on your plant? The answer to that is yes — only if you run a high CO2 in your grow environment. CO2 is measured by PPM and the CO2 level outside is 400–500 PPM. Plants grow just fine with that amount of CO2. Some advanced growers will add CO2 into their grow room to get the CO2 PPM in the range of 1,000–1,500. Running a higher CO2 PPM like that will allow your plant to absorb more PAR. On the flip side, if you are not supplementing with CO2 and provide your plant with too much PAR, then your plant could encounter problems.
Conclusion
LED grow lights are one of the most important technologies for growers these days. Not only does it enable you to conveniently plant indoors, but it also enables you to manage your plants’ growth and yield.
The best LED grow lights today are quite more efficient than the previous and old-timer forms of light. The best LED grow lights these days produce more output and use less electricity at the same time and in effect produce less heat.
The best LED grow lights do not mean that all the features and capabilities can be found in a single product or brand. One type of LED grow light does not necessarily have all the features every grower out there is looking for.
That’s why this list is made only to find the best LED grow lights in the market but to also help you figure out the best LED grow lights that will fit each grower’s cultivation needs depending on their environmental factors, plants’ necessities, and financial factors.
