Horticulture Lighting Group HLG 100 Rspec Quantum Board LED Grow Light Veg & Bloom | High-Efficiency Upgraded LM301B LED's

I'm a little different from the most users of this light. I use mine to grow a fairly considerable subarctic garden every year. On a typical year, I produce over 700 garden starts for my subarctic garden.I started my LED migration with DIY COB system that I built, which I still use and love to this day. I was an early adopter of "quantum board" LED technology as it offered an easy way to get into the power and cost savings of LED without all the DIY fuss. I also own two of HLG's non-RSPEC version of this light. With the addition of two more of these R-spec versions, my indoor grow lighting is now 100% LED.I found HLG almost entirely by accident. I was originally looking at some Chinese brand of quantum boards, but tariffs & resulting price increases caused me to start looking for alternatives. I dig HLG because they are American made, have an actual warranty, are fully tested and come with a manual you can easily read. I don't have to worry if the LED's are Chinese knockoffs, you can expect legit Samsung diodes and a proper Meanwell power supply. Now that I've found HLG, I won't even consider those "off brand" unitsCompared to the much older CFL technology I used for many years, these quantum boards are a very worthy upgrade. They increase my available garden start production space by nearly 50%. Two can easily cover a 2x6 table with less than half the power usage of my older, 8 bulb CFL' that could only cover a 2x4 table. It should also be mentioned these HLG's provide more than twice the available light at two feet from the plants, compared to my CFL's right next to the bulb. They aren't even in the same league as traditional CFL technology.It's a much better competition to compare them to my DIY COB's, though. My two main COB rigs feature four Citizen CLU-048 1212 COB's each. They are run at about 50% for efficiency reasons, for a total of 200 watts per rig and I use them to cover a 4'x'4 grow tent. It's a solid, reliable setup that produces amazing quality garden starts.Put simply, there's a reason why I'm now on my second pair of quantum boards from HLG and not building more DIY COB lights. While I love my COB's, these are about 90-95% of the COB's at a very competitive price point. Performance-wise, I do see a little more out of my COB's, but it's not "far and away" better. Plus, I don't have to mess around with any complex figuring for LED drivers or all the DIY stuff. Just hang them and go. If I need additional indoor grow lighting, I will continue to purchase these HLG quantum boards.If you're new to these high power LED's, be aware that they can produce enough light to kill plants. I don't have a good way to measure PAR, but I've come up with sort of a "safe" range for raising small plants using LUX. I find I need to dial in LUX to about 20,000 to 25,000 lumens at the plant tips. (For reference, this is almost double a CFL right at the light!) This is typically about 24 inches from the plants and happens to also be what is recommended in the manual. I use a free light meter app on my cell phone to figure it out.As for the "RSpec" - the main difference from the non-RSPEC version is the addition of four 660nm "red" LED's. This bumps up the "red/orange" spectrum of lighting and is typically good for "flowering" applications. The addition of these LED's also increase the power draw by about 5 watts, putting these units power draw at 95 watts vs. 90 watts of the non-RSpec version. As such, the RSPEC version of these HLG lights are a little bit warmer than the non-RSPEC versions. I really didn't need this in my particular application, but I do like flexibility should I decide to do any full-cycle growing.For heat generation, they do produce a bit. But, it's comparable to my CFL bulbs and a far cry from the heat of HPS/MH incandescent bulbs. I quite literally use mine in my living spaces, and heat production is an important factor, but I have nothing to complain about. I see maybe a degree or two increase in a decent sized room. While I don't use these lights specifically in a grow tent personally, I do use my COB's in one and barely "need" my exhaust fan to maintain sub-80 degrees Fahrenheit.What I love most is that these lights are super "portable," allowing me to easily store them over the summer/winter when they aren't in use. I literally just place them in a Rubbermaid tote and pull them out when I need them. This is much improved over my bulky CFL's, which I had to store outdoors. They are super light and can easily be suspended from a makeshift PVC light hanger, which I use over my temporary grow tables.These lights are somewhat "crude" in appearance, they certainly aren't going to win any aesthetic awards. The "bunch of LED's strapped to an aluminum heatsink" is about as utilitarian as it gets. The light hangars are equally crude, but do well to offer the gardener a single attachment point for hanging. To be fair, I'd say almost the exact same things about my "coveted" DIY COB lights.I don't have long term data on these RSpec lights, but my other pair of HLG's are on their fourth season. My COB's are on their 8th season. I expect very little maintenance or other problems, modern style LED grow lights have been incredibly reliable for me. No bulbs also means I'm also saving $15-$30 a year in replacements of my CFL's.My only other desire is that I wish these had a replaceable C-style power cord. You have to use an extension cord to get these up and over your grow space. I would overall prefer just a single extension cord as opposed to having to make an electrical connection halfway.I skipped the whole "early gen" LED technology, and rightfully so, but this is LED tech you can't skip. If you're still on CFL's or (for goodness sake) incandescent HPS/MH technology, the electrical savings alone make it worth the jump. I no longer recommend messing around with COB's, just go with these quantum boards. If you're looking to provision out a grow space for an indoor garden or raising garden starts, you can't go wrong with these. If you're looking to grow "umm, tomatoes?" these are also right up your alley, too.You can further judge the quality of these lights from my garden starts and resulting garden for yourself!

Works

I bought this grow light to replace the fluorescent grow lights (four 20-watt tubes total) I was using. This LED grow light is rated for about the same light output as the other grow light I am still using. This other light uses four 55-watt high output fluorescent tubes. The LED light and the fluorescent lights are side by side. My eyeball estimate is that the LED light is brighter.The LED light does run a bit warm. By feel, I estimate about 140°F in an ambient of about 75°F. I have an extensive electronics parts "junk box". I found a 24 VDC electronic equipment fan (fan rotor just over 4" diameter) and a 12 VDC "wall wart". Running the fan at half its rated voltage still produces good air flow with much less noise. Power consumption is also reduced to less than one watt. I tied some stings to the fan and hung it over the light using the same hook that holds up the light. With the fan blowing down on the light, the temperature of the light dropped significantly. It now runs at less than 110°F (estimate). This cooling should increase the life of the light by about 50%. Light output should also increase slightly.

No adjustable brightness and no timer. Took only a minute to hook up and was very easy. Works like a charm and haven’t had any issues with the light! Worth the buy! Might need some external accessories depending on what you wanna do with it.

This light is amazing for any grow beginners or advanced . I did the research and searched far and wide for an affordable light for indoor growing and this was my solution! My previous light was just not getting the job done. Switched to this light and my plants are loving me! Very Bright like looking into the light of heaven. Driver and light can get hot but nothing too bad, I can touch the driver while it’s running and it doesn’t burn to touch or anything like that. Buy this light! You won’t regret it!

I liked that the "HLG 100 Rspec" had 301H/351H (Horticulture) was assembled in America. I didn't do anything to get the money [$1400 was suddenly deposited EIC3], so I'm spending it on as many American products (if they are indeed superior), to encourage business and service in America. I'm not as crazy as some...I simply have an American flag magnet on my Honda ( which is so old it would be unlikely to have been assembled in America. I'll look into it.) Any how, I'm not crazy about america, but do hold hope mainly based on biological combinations that previously were frowned on.LOL, If you wanna buy American buy this light, otherwise wait tile FSGTEK 1000W has a $15 => to get it for 75-80. You won't regret that light either. Meanwell driver (with dimmer and daisy chain) I'll be glad to get some for my veggie tent in the future. Right now I'm using a coated interior large amazon box, which is too small now for anything and the corner blew out ( I have four 5 gallon buckets in there).HLG - please lower your 100W light to <$100 I am going to write a trust pilot review about HLG after two or three months (to get the big picture).

Awesome LED for the footprint and price point. I got the 3000K spectrum so I’ll use this for veg and flower. Right now I’m growing zinnias, corn, and sunflowers under it in a 2x2’ grow tent. I’m getting some really nice growth. There is some heat produced, as there is with all lighting, so you’ll need at least a small 4” vent fan to expel the heat from your tent. If you’re not growing in a tent, then you may not need a fan.I would definitely by this product again and recommend it to others. I’m happy with it and everyone I know who buys HLG lights are happy customers. I plan on getting one of their larger lights for my 4x4’ tent.

As long as you have good airflow by the light and what it is hitting this is a amazing light. I managed to go through 3 trays of veggie seedlings in about a week with everything germinating. Hung about 12" from the seedling dome it produced enough heat for me not to need a seedling mat