Amazon indoor plant grow lights tested | Spoiler - They are junk
Vložit
- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- Testing the most popular plant and herb led grow light kits from Amazon. I setup each light fixture over a standard size test area of 15" x 9" or 38cm x 23cm (a standard size for a garden seed tray).
Each light was the same height of 9 "or 22cm above the test area and using an Apogee SQ500 quantum sensor.
The target PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation or a measure of the light that plants use) for seedlings and young plants is about 250 PAR.
Unfortunately these fixtures are not anywhere near this performance and in my view are not going to work. How they have the ratings on Amazon is a mystery to me.
I tested these as part of market research into releasing a seedling light, the ARAY 1 which delivers 360 PAR over three times the area so it has enough output to grow seedlings on reduced dimmer settings all the wat up to flowering or fruiting plants in a small area.
Link to the ARAY 1 here: migrolight.com...
Bulk orders: Contact us at info@migrolight.com for a quotation
Follow us:
Instagram: / migrolight
Facebook: / migrolight
TikTok: / migrolight
Join the MIGRO community on our Discord server and share knowledge and growing experience with each other. We have grow diaries, Q&A, growers help topics, giveaways, monthly prizes and more.
Join our server here: / discord
I said this before I bought my grow light based on your recommendation.The importance of this channel is priceless because buying the right light in this horticulture business is everything.👍👍
Pretty perfectly said!! Greetings from Finland!!
Comparing them yourself is very difficult. One product will give you only the PAR and the other will give you PPFD, Lumens, or Lux. I may sound stupid here but I'm learning and this is still a little overwhelming for me.
Alot of people may not know how fast a plant is supposed to grow, so they may be satisfied by the little increase in groiwth from these lights. Also for example the click on light i think people for example use for house plants and such that require very little light to begin with, and may just be used suplementrary.
I've used the tripod with 4 spring arms for a few years (just recently stopped working), and the basil it grew was very leggy and slow-growing. Keep in mind the basil plants were placed on a window-sill as well, so maybe the grow light wasn't doing anything at all lol. It's kind of a huge relief watching this video because now I know there are grow lights out there that work much, MUCH better
Household LED's for The Win! Much better, fuller spectrum and over 1.0umouls/Watt better efficiency than these LED's shown today, and promoted for "Growing"..?!
I was totally blown away Shane. Really great video today! Almost unbelievable, even!👍💯✌️🙏
Hopefully you were able to save folks some money after watching this episode. I run the Aray 1's for my clones and seedlings. Excellent light, good price, and solid build. Go Shane
I have had an Areo Garden for almost 3 years. Herbs, petunias and some leafy greens. No comparison to a real grow light. Great work Shane.
This made my day :) laughed sooo much!! Thank you, Shane! You are really heaven sent to us growers!! :)
@Normal Walter Brooks Russians are our nr 1 enemy
I’m sure every so many packages they send a “give us a good review for a 20 dollar gift card” to farm good reviews. I’ve gotten at least a dozen of those over the years and it’s always on the junkiest items. So then I review and after I get my card I edit it to full honesty. Feels shady but they started it 😂
LOL, at least your honest here 😆
People simply don't understand light ratings or the requirements of a plant to grow efficiently. Glad to see your data presented in micromoles / PAR.
Received your Migro Aray 8 lights this week, have them up and running. As an automotive engineer specializing in electrical connectors .. this is a TOP NOTCH Product, I am very impressed with the quality of this system.. the sealed LEDs, sealed connectors with overmolded cable assemblies, all great stuff and well designed!! I plan to buy MORE of these Aray 8, and one or two Aray 1 lamps.
I was gifted one of them clips ons but has the long lights on exactly like the one on the stand.. been using it for cuttings and seed starts and has been doing the job 🤣🤷🏽♂️ I have some seedlings under it now and they doing fine. I didn't expect much to be fair. But it's surprised me none the less. Why don't you actually put them all to the test on a side by side ? Obviously will be some slight variables but could make for some interesting content all the same 🤷🏽♂️👊🏽✌🏽💜
Congrats winner 🏆🏆 of our monthly giveaway package *************** ✅
I do use lights with around 50-100 par for rooting clones and keeping small mothers in solo cups. I put three 4 foot long led bars per shelf and can root thousands of clones his way one one rack. I fit 72 to one standard seedling tray with 95-99% success rate. Lights with this low of par are nice because they keep my mother plants growing slow. I can keep a mom in a solo cup bonsai style for 5 months or more growing slowly under cheap low par led lights. I buy the t5 style led replacements for cheap tho.
This sounds like total BS.
If you are growing 74 plus clones per shelf at a time.
You need bigger mothers than what someone could grow in a solo cup.
My 4 mothers are 4' tall.
I have 8, 23 site aero cloners.
Two for each mother.
With the mothers at this height. I'm able to take 46 clones off of each mother every 20 days.
And the mothers thrive with this rotation.
If the mothers were even a foot smaller, there is no way I could take 46 clones off of them.
The rotation of 20 days is due to the fact that.
After I take my clones.
I start seeing roots in 5 days.
They all have roots in 10 days. And I let them go 17 days to establish a good root system.
Then I have 3 days to clean all the cloners. Then on the 20th day I take more clones.
I can't possibly see how you can keep a mother in a solo cup.
Unless it's taking months for your clones to establish a good root system.
@@assog5737 I do the same thing as Organic Greens said, I keep my mothers very small bonsai style until I need clones for them. Then I let them veg under stronger lights for ~2 weeks and by then they have enough growth for about 30+ clones. After taking the clones I cut them down to that bonsai style again and feed at 50% strength under weak lights. It's great because you don't have to keep massive plants around, you only grow them out when you need them.
@@MinesanityServer
That seems counter productive. To me at least.
And not very cost efficient.
I don't know I've never thought of doing it that way
Seems like a waste of time.
I set up my operation on a 2 week rotation.
Every 2 weeks I harvest 46 plants. Which in turn means I've got to have 46 clones ready to take their place. Which in turn means I've got to take 46 new clones to put in the cloner.
The 2 weeks gives me time to process the product I just harvest.
So it's a never ending loop.
With no dead time.
Very cost efficient.
But to each their own.
Whatever works for you.
Good luck and take care.
@@assog5737 I could share pictures if you want. I generally can get 4-8 clones per solo cup mom until they grow back and then I can take a second or third round of cuttings. Then i let em regrow twice from the bottom nodes I leave on and pitch em and make new mom solo cups of said clones once they get too root bound for a solo cup. I have four two by four shelves with about 14-18 solo cup moms on each shelf. I clone in lose pure coco in standard 72 cell seedling trays. I take thousands of clones this way and hold onto over 40 strains in a very small space. There is no cheaper or easier way to clone imo. And of course you can keep a mother in a solo cup. You can clone of of literally anything that is long enough to get a node under the soil/coco . If you want pictures feel free to ask although I haven't taken the time to start my youtube or instagram yet.
@@assog5737 gotta keep in mind not everyone is trying to produce a ton of clones. Some of us are home growers who wanna hold onto the genetics and use them at a later grow. So this slow down method is great for that.
I cut my plants down to a single node to completely slow down growth, then that single node basically becomes a whole plant over time but it’s a lot slower so you don’t need to prune as often
It's amazing what people will buy, and that probably answers the question of why these products exist as well. I assembled some "grow lights" using cheap cool blue CFL bulbs for my girl in her small grow tent, she keeps getting/buying these cheap lights thinking they will be better. Every time I get a laugh.
I'm absolutely cracking up here looking at the par maps Shane , I would completely loose it if you had pushed the sensor around under them 🤣🤣🤣
You're doing God's work with these videos! Your channel is superbly informative and educational, thank you for your efforts!
I love the thumbnail face. I know it's silly but it actually did grab my attention. Thanks for the great video content as always!
Congrats winner 🏆🏆 of our monthly giveaway package *************** ✅
Hey Shane thanks for the array 4! I just hit my biggest yields with it. 317g from 2 autos 🙌
Thats a great yield 💪
gooodgods that include the steam lol some cant get that from one photo let alone 2 autos lol ....i bet great genetics had ALOT TO PLAY in you grow ...noun the less grow fam thats nuts
@@soulprice5428 🤣 nah dried and trimmed weight that is. I made the switch back to autos, the colas I'm getting I just don't get with photos. Photos are a million times easier. Autos are like out of control on steroids in comparison. That was in 70 days from pop in 15litre of soil airpoots advance nutrients. Gorilla cookies
@@bananas7479 I read your comments and wanted to reply. You seem to have similar thoughts as myself. Autos do have different colas compared to photos. I also agree photos are much easier to grow, autos are very tricky to the point of different nutes and different levels for certain strains, different mediums effect them more and lighting intensities . I do believe also they are the future of indoor, home grows.
It is extremely difficult to rely on Amazon reviews. Notoriously fake a lot of them. I spent an awful lot of time in the beginning researching lights and got completely bamboozled. Until i found Shane's channel & Migro. I was originally hoping to cheap out and get something below the €100 range but decided against. Straight out of the gate I went for the Array 2! Am on my 3rd grow and for the first time I have the perfect canopy in my SCROG set up. Each of the grows went swimmingly with a decent return but I'm overly excited about this 1.
Thanks Kev,
Good luck with the current grow.
Glad you posted this 😁 there's a lot of interest with folks I know thinking this might be an interesting start for them - a simple easy intro to the world of plant light boosting for north facing windowsills - there's definitely a market for the cute hydro-pod (ideal present material) if only it was pulling 30 watts ! 🤔
I've been trying a few of the "budget"amazon LED lights for my houseplants and none of them cut it. All my succulents are stretching.
I would love to find one that also can meet the wife approval factor for use in my living room.
I was gifted a clip on one with red & blue leds on 4 bars flexi stem like the amazon stand one, found it useful for mounting at the side of the undercanopy to get a little more light to the secondary growth as a supplimentry light. for seedlings i find a good quality full spectrum household low energy flurecent bulb mounted sideways in a homemade reflector works fine. Much better than cheap led's .
Exactly! I bought two of those red/blue flexi tubes because they came with an old school Analog time controller that I did need, and was shopping for anyway. $1 dollar more than just the timer itself, so why not..?
This review actually surprised me more than I could have imagined, with these terrible efficiencies..?!
All I could think was "Household LED's", and Shane's video looking at their spectrum, output, and efficiency, right from the very beginning of this.
He didn't say it, but you certainly did! That's why I came to the comments. Seeds, clones..?! Two, 100W equivalent (12W..?) LED Household lamps, work pretty good to cover a regular size 48 site propagation tray, especially with some reflective siding, like Aluminum foil even.
Done right, this will keep most of the light on the canopy of the plants.👍💯✌️🙏
@@timturk1899 i prefer flurescent bulbs for cuttings/seedlings & early veg growth ,much bushier plants with closer internode spacing. But led bulbs work ok with the plastic diffuser caps cut off. much brighter then.
I bought a set of the growlights with the 4 adjustable lights, was sceptical so as an experiment i sowed 2 trays of Antirrhinum, both germinated in a heated propagator, once germinated one tray has gone by a south facing window and the other under the lights, surrounded by a foil lined box. All i can say is the seedlings under the lights are way ahead of the ones grown without and looking far healthier and not at all leggy. How would you explain that?
$30 LED shop lights work fine.
I'm just starting seeding and cloning, I bought a spider farmer sf600 for a cupboard set up, worked well on my first seed to veg
Congrats winner 🏆🏆 of our monthly giveaway package *************** ✅
I'm guessing the successful reviews had the units setup in a sunny window.
I suspect you are correct...
I expected them to be bad but holy crap! People should see this.
Great video brother. Thanks for all the work you put in these video's
What if I get 2 or 3 of the second one, saw off the light, and put 'em under my Maxsisun MF2000? 😆
Wanted to come in and thank you with a like and comment because I appreciated your spoiler in the title.
Congrats winner 🏆🏆 of our monthly giveaway package *************** ✅
After a long day I needed this laugh from the title of the video 😂
I have a South facing window I both keep house plants in AND start seedlings in. I currently have a JCBritw cheapo light in to supplement and also have and entire room setup with commercial grade lights and I really want to try this light as a supplement replacement for my starts now. I will hopefully be back here with a review by spring!
The LetPot countertop hydroponics system is the ounly countertop hyrdo systems I have seen people actually use effectively and enjoy.
I have that stand. 5 'arms'. Its totally more 'flash in the pan'...lol..live n learn.....Being impulsive 'costs' at times....The 1st lights i did buy from 'The Great River' were ONEO brand. I was also impatient but they were cheapish( if i recall) and they have been decent. Update....i checked the tent today(days later) and half the lights on one light went out. Swapped both out for 1 Sf1000. Thanks again!
Best channel for led lights testing on the internet.
Congrats winner 🏆🏆 of our monthly giveaway package *************** ✅
Nice to see you testing some of the rapidly expanding product lines in desktop gardens. Keep them honest!
A teacher at school uses one for cherry tomatoes on a cabinet. They grow bonsai monster bushes that grow into the lights and around it. At least those hydroponic ones. If your into having fresh herbs or cherry tomatoes in your office I guess it works. They have something a little different then those ones so maybe it's better.
wilkos sell a cute grow pod for a tenner thats grown 2 stardoggies for me, i have the light touching the leaves
Thanks for the warning, I love your Content.
Thanks🤩💨 ! feel free to reach out I have something for you ******************** ✅
Hey man you should review the Amazon brand farmlite, they have a couple of pretty good grow lights with good components and awesome pricing. The bar style can compete with anything in the under 150 dollar range. I've tested it and I'm impressed
They look horrible...
I've been following you for a long time and I've never commented, this is my first, so thank you for sharing your videos and conferences with Dr Bruce...🙏
a lot of relevant information, instructive and based on experiences and tests. Perfect all that.
I recently bought an Aray 8, (it's been 3 months) and I should go and put a comment somewhere... very positive and very happy to have made this investment... so thank you for everything, for being yourself you and see you soon
Thanks for sharing!!
The difference between a great grow light and an ok grow light is insane the plants need the great grow light don’t waste ur time with the cheaper ones guys
I believe these are designed for crime prevention and do work as intended :)
I got an "Aerogarden Harvest" hydroponic unit with a 2V 12W board (5000K+ far red and royal blue), it was for free and for what I´ve used it it did okay. Haven´t used the hydropot but mint cutlings and persile grew pretty decent also starting chillis went fine as well, but I kept the lamp a lot closer at about 10cm.
jeah so i bought a 10w led flooder with cold white leds for starting. It cost 5€ and puts out plenty of light. I have no idea what your array costs, but these lights are available in all wattages for 5-15€ on ebay ...
Migrow; I have a question in terms of energy consumption; say you’re running a spider farmer 4k or any other led with a dimmer knob; the specs say your light draws 480 watts, but if you are running the light at 50% on the dimming knob, are you only consuming about half that (240watts) or is the light still drawing 480 W but only outputting 240… I’m trying to draw calculations on energy consumption and determine the most efficient veg light. Thank you for your time if you see this
Hello I also saw this as options on a few brands
Type R with 32 Deep Red
Type FR with 24 Deep Red & 8 Far Red - Emerson Effect
Type BR with 28 Deep Red & 4 Royal Blue
Type BFR with 24 Deep Red 4 Royal
Blue & 4 Far Red V Bar -
4000k whites with 32 Royal blue
Shane as you can imagine* for the average joe this is ridiculous, don't get me wrong I know what different wavelengths do to plants but out of these options in your opinion what do you even consider for overall with a list so expansive.......?
Thanks in advance
I wonder what the spider farmer unit puts out they have a lil herb hydro grower as well.
I'm gutted Shane, I was hoping you were going to say those octopus style ones were ok, I'm looking for some added light for my baby cacti plants in the kitchen which doesn't get direct only reflected and refracted sunlight but for heavens sake you'd getting better off an old incan lamp lol, oh well ay. Liking the new MIGRO light systems, been with you on this crazy grow light journey 5/10/15/20? years now, where we've come from #BlurplePeopleEater LOL
I bought a light on eBay for £27 and I honestly think it's incredible value my plants are happily growing under it
Congrats winner 🏆🏆 of our monthly giveaway package *************** ✅
Forgot to mention yesterday, at least for the quantum boards in the hydro units it´s obvious to my why they don´t performe well even in theory there´s no reason not putting out good light: in my case the board simply is underpowered and running way below the efficiency sweetspot which usually is the rated voltage and 40% power (good light output, not needing too much cooling, longivity), I´m sure if my 12W board would be running at 25W it would be doing way better, but since there aren´t any heatsinks nor ventilation in that cheap plastic the regular board power would melt the plastic so they underpower it delivering poor resoults (when listening to 20-22cm distance; depending on light hunger 5-10cm max with those things). But the poor resoults at 22cm might be good to use it for rooting? Having just 50-90mol should be great for that.
I thought the sansi grow light were the most popular on amazon. Have you tested them?
People who are really into houseplants use these. They want a dark room but still grow plants, and then they add some lights, and they want it to look elegant and pretty.
Just another reason why I purchased an Array 8.
Thank you sir!
Thanks Will
I wish someone would do a proper review of the Sylstar lights. I have one of their quantum board sitting around and would appreciate knowing if they've cut corners or if it's worth using.
So they could absolutely start a little plant or maybe some succulents. I was surprised to see the canopy even at 100.
I own the third one. Yet to have turned it on after learning so much from your videos. Instead, I went with Phillips CorePro E27 lightbulbs as a budget option for seedlings. £13 a bulb, 3.5k lumen from 23watts and a good spectrum. Beyond that, it's the Aray 3.
I'll force myself to use the standing one on houseplants instead.
Glad to help
its worth talking about mmol to lux as lux is measurable by almost all smart phones
unsure what their sensitivity is maybe the stats are findable online. seems a good estimate at least
I was optimistic and fell for one of the ugly bar setups to experiment with overwintering some ivy and geraniums from last year in my basement. I tried with just two pots. Well, it's March and they are pretty much dead from etoliating all winter under these lights. The little begonias I have are barely hanging on, but are sickly and have little to no chance of survival if I put them back under regular intense sunlight. It would have been kinder to these plants to let the frost get them. Do not get your lights off Amazon.
Congrats winner 🏆🏆 of our monthly giveaway package *************** ✅
Im no rocket scientist but anything that is going to power 4 lights through a USB you know its going to be a toy.
The reviews are coming from people who produce the lights, buying their own product under pseudonyms and then just giving them back to the company to re-sell without having used them.
One quick question.. I cant find any info on if it is daisy chainable.. That would be a nice feature. Do you know if it can be?
Thanks for all the honesty still loving my spot on par meter it was a total game changer for me 💯‼️✅🎯👍🔥 see you later foxtails PS got it for under 300 before taxes 320 tops love it
I'd love to post a pic...
So far my seeds are popping... The timer on my clip on isn't working ( or I'm not setting it right))
I think you are probably the most ethical person doing this work.
I would like to see a show on how to use led lights, what par settings to use, and when, and what is overkill par. Why you built the Araya this way
I trust you more than anyone on CZcams, so why have I bought 2 p4000 and 1 ks5000 ?? When I have been thinking of the Araya. Ignorance? More power got to be better right?
Hi,
Not really, power doesn't mean much if the fixture doesn't have the efficiency to back it up.
Thanks.
Do they not put out different nm for the different colors?
Sorry buddy, i've been using these wand lights for years and they are very efficient and effective.
I'm thinking youre not using it correctly or your expectancy bar is set way too high.
Have a good day.
What about "for seedlings" 🌱 do you not understand?
Do you think that the new big find of Lithium in Iran will change the whole micro grow light situation?
To my shame, but in a fit of enthusiasm I bought something similar to the third product you looked at, no tripod but similar design, description etc. Thought it would be handy for seedlings.
Won't say what, but started a seed off, left it in sunny window for a couple of days after sprouting then moved it under those lights. After 2 weeks I should have had a fairly bushy little lady. Nothing, she moved barely a centimetre, no new leaves, nothing.
I use the lights for mood lighting behind the headboard of my bed now 😂 all they're good for!
They work great to backlight my big screen TV
@@gordusmxus6588 😂 beats using them as a back scratcher
A flexible table light with a 100 watt equivalent from a dollar store LED works well.
Chinese manufacturers of those 4 flexible head lights say it is 40w. How is it that it gives you 14.4w of consumption. That would be the real consumption and that of the false manufacturer? the power source that should be a 5v 8 amp source so that it consumes 40w (supposedly) . ?
Have you ever reviewed the Kind X750. How does it perform vs the Photon Tek 600w x pro led
Thanks for this fun review of these Amazon lights :]
You should test the Barrina T8 strips
I bought the one with the bendable arms that are ugly for my carnivorous plants. They are terrible.
Most of these Amazon equipment are not really legal in Canada be carful if something happens t your home the insurance will not pay
Thanks for sharing this information. I’m very interested in seeing you do one for marijuana LED grow lights.
In today's hilariously predictable news: presenting the Jeff Bezos of grow lights.
Have you ever tested Linqool grow light would love to know what you think
This is why I own a migro array
Well, you just saved me some money, so thank you sir!
I have a question please well 2 in one and we only wanted to ask you. What is some lights for a - 2.4m x 1.2m x 2m
Or does it have to be 2
Finally for a 3x3?
Really struggling to find the most amazing par levels for these sizes.
Regards hope your well
Stay lifted
Hi,
For the 2.4m x 1.2m x 2m we recommend two ARAY 8's
migrolight.com/collections/all/products/migro-aray-8-480w-530w#
And for the 3x3 we recommend the ARAY 3
migrolight.com/collections/all/products/migro-aray-3-270w#
If you have any further questions please send us an email and we will be happy to answer them.
info@partechled.com
Thanks.
@@MIGROLIGHT thank you for your time
have you tested the TNOLED cosmorrow kits from secret jardin ?
Hey Shane, love your videos, I've been watching them trying to figure out what lights to get (switching from HID and trying to set up a mother plant environment).
I was wondering if you could suggest a lower end light (price wise) that would be good for slow growing mothers. I'd likely only be taking cuttings a few times a year, so I'm wondering what the bare minimum would be for that.
Viparspectra
Hi Nate,
Send us an email and include the area you wish to cover for your mother plant setup.
info@partechled.com
Thanks.
Can you help to design a tall free standing grow light , that is foe large lily and large mlney tree etc.
They are tall .
Many ppl living in rent room space and can not drill holes on wall
The “H” in herbs is silent btw.
Love your lights Shane!! I own one of these lights… although they may be junk, they care for my 80 year old pothos and mini monstera quite well…. Why?
Maybe the ambient light is good enough?
@@MIGROLIGHT well to me and countless others, you are in fact the light light scientist! My wife and I have an entire room of plants of all types so finding a light that can reach them all is limited as you probably know. We decided on lights that are movable and small enough. We also are not able to hang lights from the ceiling so that is an issue also. If I could hang them, your lights would 100% look amazing and definitely would do that job! If I find a way to install a light without damaging my ceiling then yours would be first choice. Thanks for everything you do for us!
hi Shane just looked at your sight and Fakespot are showing it a dodgy. I would reach out to them if i were you.
Great video👍😀!!! Thank you ever so Mutch!
Where can I find the PAR graphs for different plants and/or seedling/veg/flower stages like shown at 0:30?
He does the PAR readings.
Could you, Shane, build something to compete in that market? I assume it's giant and clearly full of crap.
Hi, yes we have released the ARAY 1 seedling light, link here: migrolight.com/collections/all/products/migro-aray-1-seedling-grow-light#
The stand lights look like junk i got something similar made by leoter with 80 leds and had good success with house plants and seedlings. House plants are definitely happier and encouages my house plant to flower.
They send people amazon gift cards for 5 star reviews to get that rating. I've received many of these over the years, and would give them a 5 star and once i got my money i changed it to a 1.... EVERY item i've ever gotton with one of those cards, the items broke on me 100% of the time.
grow light gimmicks thats all they are.. thanks for sharing this 😎
reviews are bought and paid for.
I'd say they get the good reviews from people who put the grow units in front of the window. That's the only way anything could grow using them
Yeah most likely
Thank you Shane 🙏
Aren’t these same lights for plants as red light therapy for humans?
I’m using a LED light that I purchased on Amazon and I’m wondering if you can share your opinion on the manufacturer it’s a Phlizon 450 watt light with a dimmer switch results have been good so far
Hi Mike,
It looks like an ok grow light, I would be surprised if it actually has the efficiency they state.
The manufacturer states this covers a 5x5 in flower but at 450 watts it is more suitable for a 4x4 area in flower.
Thanks.
Thank you for your comment I’m actually using two of them in a 4 by 8 tent
i have two clip on light 15w from sansi light 4000k. i am using it with one orchid phalaenopsis and 3 carnivorous plant drosera and everything look good and flowering. at 12inch distance