VIPARSPECTRA XS2000 LED Grow Light VS ECO Farm G2 Series 240W UV&IR Quantum Board Grow Light Reviews for Indoor Plants

For decades, indoor growers have relied on artificial light sources such as HID, High-Pressure Sodium, and Fluorescent to mimic the sun’s rays in an indoor environment. Whether used for soil-grown plants, hydroponics systems or aquaponics systems, these light sources all have varying degrees of effectiveness.

Now there’s a new player in the game, LEDs (Light-emitting Diodes). It’s a technology that’s been around for decades, mostly as instrument panel indicator lights, but only recently are LEDs being applied to higher intensity light uses such as indoor growing.

The primary benefit of LED grow lights over the more established light sources is significantly reduced heat and reduced power consumption. Because they produce less heat than the more commonly used HIDs, then they are more energy efficient and require significantly less expense to ventilate and cool. Commercial growers and home hobbyists have begun to recognize these benefits and are now equipping greenhouses and indoor spaces with the best LED grow lights to cultivate their crops.

•  Plants have a different use for a different wavelength. Blue light is mostly associated with plant growth as it helps the plant in springing leaves and growing. On the other hand, red light is the most important light color for flowering and stemming.
• However, photosynthesis is not enough. Many plants need the natural change of light to grow. Natural change doesn’t mean a sudden absence of light. If you ever spent a couple of hours before the sunset in the natural light, you must’ve noticed that a change in light occurs gradually as  the sun sets. So, if you are growing indoors you will need a perfect emulation of sunlight. You can’t just flip the switch and expect your plants to be happy with it. Remember when you were a kid, and your dad comes in and turns the light off? Did you like it? Well, surprise! Your plants hate that too.
• That’s where LEDs come in handy. Since a LED lamp consists of many individual LEDs , you can buy one that has both blue and red light and just change the tone of light as the day goes on. Your plants will be happy and they will reward you accordingly. If you are a cannabis lover, LED lights represent the best solution for your gentle weed.

VIPARSPECTRA XS2000 LED Grow Light

I am extremely satisfied with this product. Yes, it is not top-of-the-line unlike some other lights, but it is very well-constructed, and seems pretty durable and is just very impressive for what it is.

It makes little heat when growing plants in a grow tent. At the price matter for this unit, it is undoubtedly a great value and certainly worth what you pay for.

• Economical price-wise
• Heat is not an issue
• Sturdy design
• Full-spectrum
• Efficient
• Bulb is detachable
• Provides great coverage
• Great for small house plants

ECO Farm G2 Series 240W UV&IR Quantum Board Grow Light

A very great light! A little more intense than you’d maybe expect. It has a lot of red light spectrum so most likely I will be utilizing it as a flower booster.

ECO Farm LED grow light are much dimmer than others due to diode ratios. These lights really focus on the infrared end of the spectrum, which can cause them to appear dim.

In addition, it only generates a small amount of heat, thereby low power usage and the best LED grow light for small space. The lighting pattern is just about straight down with very little sidelight.

Overall, this LED grow light outperforms those more expensive models, in my opinion.

• Bright light
• Worth the price
• Full-Spectrum
• Has Infrared
• Generates little amount of heat
• Ideal for boosting flower development
• Energy efficient

Now that you know what the different types of LED grow lights are and which are some of the best LED lights in the markets, let us take a closer look at some of the things that you must always keep in mind before you buy your grow lights. These are important because grow lights are quite an investment and one needs to ensure that they are getting what they pay for!

Here are some of the factors that you need to look at before you make the purchase:

• Electricity Consumption: One of the best reasons as to why you should be purchasing an LED lights is that they do not consume electricity as much as the older types of lights do. Most non-LED grow lights consume as much as 30% more electricity than their LED counterparts. However, you must always take a closer look at the electricity consumption and the wattage of the light that you are buying! Given that the LED grow lights that you are going to buy have to run for about 8 to 10 hours every day, you need to make sure they don’t cost you a bomb in electricity costs.

• Spectrum: Plants need ‘light’ to grow. This light can be of any type and can come from any source. However, there’s a difference between just light and optimal light. In order for the process of photosynthesis to happen at an ideal pace and rate, one needs to ensure that the lights that they are using are full spectrum LED grow lights, which can actually replicate the natural light of the sun. Plants need not only the red and blue spectrum lights, but also infrared and ultraviolet rays. Hence, it is essential that for a good growth of your plants, you get a full-spectrum LED grow light.

• Heat Output: A pro-tip for those looking forward to buying new LED lights for growing marijuana indoors is that you must always look for lights which provide a low heat output. While heat is critical for the growth of your plants, you must not forget that too much of heat is the easiest way to kill your plant too! Even lights which have a low heat output need to be placed at an appropriate distance from the plants so that they do not provide too much heat. Lastly, a low heat output is good because lights with a higher heat output have a smaller lifetime as they ‘burn out’ rather quickly.

• The Semiconductor Chips: Semiconductor chips form a critical part of LED grow lights. While their basic job is to convert electricity into light, they form the core of what provides the light to the plants and hence you need to ensure that the semiconductor chips that your LED panel is using is of a good quality. Brands such as Samsung can always be trusted to provide a long-lasting product which will not be easily burnt-out. Light panels that feature a chipset of at least 3 watts should be the minimum that you must aim for otherwise the light will be too weak for a suitable growth.

• Growing Space: Another thing that you need to keep in mind before you purchase  your LED grow lights is the actual grow space that you are going to make use of. If your grow space is large and your plants are well spread out, you would require a larger number of lights, or you would need lights which can cover a larger area – you also need to keep in mind that the larger the area a light covers, the lesser the heat it will provide to the plants – hence, all three things including the area your plants are spread in, the amount of light that the LED can provide and the heat need to be considered. A basic mathematical calculation here is that you require 32 watts of power per square foot of growing area for high-light plants.

• Ease of Use: One of the most important things that people often do not consider is the ease of use! Especially the first-time growers need to ensure that the lights that they are buying are simple and easy to use. First-timers don’t need much more than a light which is as basic as plug-and-play and offers essential features like daisy chaining where you can plug one light on to another. You also need to ensure that your lights are flexible in terms of use and you can adjust the intensity of the lights so that it is easy for you to manage the different growth stages.
• Durability: One of the biggest problems with older types of lights is that of durability. For those who have grown in the older setup, it used to be a common problem that the lights (especially the cheaper ones) would tend to burn out and sometimes even the glass would just burst because of voltage related fluctuations causing the chemical vapors to go unstable. However, an LED lamp built using good quality materials can last you for as many as 10 years! Another important thing that we need to talk about here is the lifespan of the lights – a good quality LED light can offer you anywhere between 40,000 to 50,000 hours of light. 50,000 hours is basically continuous usage for 5.7 years – and considering that most growers don’t need more than 12 hours a day, it would mean the lights can last your for as many as 10 years! This is a huge benefit over the older types of lights which used to burn out in as few as 8,000 to 15,000 hours.
• Brand: While there’s an old adage in the markets that ‘the brand doesn’t matter’, that is actually incorrect because the brand does matter. It is not just the quality and durability of the lights but also the after-sales service and supports and companies which have a good reputation in the markets are usually better when it comes to repairing your lights in time and offering you proper refunds and replacements as opposed to a random company which you’ve seen off Amazon with like 2 good reviews!

• Price: The money that you are going to invest is obviously important. A good LED grow light can set you back by a couple of hundred dollars but when you look at the fact that you need multiple such lights in order to cover your entire growing operation, you need to give it a serious thought that are the lights worth it – or would you rather work on traditional old-fashioned lights. However, the one thing that comes in the favor of these LED grow lights is the fact that they basically pay for themselves in terms of the savings that they make you when it comes to electricity costs when compared to older lights.
• Warranty: Last but not the least, warranty services are pretty important and they are something that you must keep in mind before you purchase an LED grow light for growing marijuana indoors. The warranty is an essential element of after sales services and you need to ensure you get the most out of your brand with regards to this!

When it comes to what brand of light you’ll ultimately decide to invest in, no one can make that decision for you.

The best thing you can do would be to research as much as possible.

Make sure you understand the environment you intend to grow in and what that environment will require.

Sizes, watts, the number of lamps – these things all depend on how many square feet you’re trying to cover.

What other gear you’ll need will also depend on what your light is already capable of providing for you.