List Price: $409.95
Sale Price: $288.95
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This is my first review at amazon. I have used countless cheap led grow systems for seed starting as well as using cool florescent lighting. This light is amazing! I have it placed approx 3 ft over my seedlings and they are growing like wild fire. The other led lights i used did not provide enough light intensity. Please don't be like me and invest in a hundred dollar 13w or 25w light system that make these false claims of high output. This is definitely the light you want for about a 2x3ft area. I have run this light about 20hrs a day and 7 days a week without an issue. Great Product!!
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50,000 hours is what the manufacturer and distributor/seller state the 240 watt units will do, are rated for. That's not factual, that's a horribly optimistic estimate. In fact, in our communications, they've confirmed "known" issues. They offer a one year warranty, which most folks will need. One year continuous, however is just shy of 9000 hours, nowhere near 50K.Better than 50% of my lights had mechanical failures within months of being received, some in just a few weeks and one unit died within a day. One had a power pack die, one had a fan die, two lost half the leds, one had full led panel failure, one has a cord socket problem and a few have defective issues with center lights where "burning" occurs.
Most of these lights were 2012 models, "240 watt" units, a few were 2011 models (240 & 180 watt units), one was a UFO that died near instantly (135 watt). The manufacture year/model does not seem to have any bearing on quality control. The new units' appearance and manufacturing materials change frequently even within a model year.
The retailer worked with me for a while on keeping many issues under control. We'd communicate. I'd open a unit up, t-shoot at their request and they'd have me install parts. In some cases we'd ship lights back and forth. They were fairly agreeable for a while, but even so it was sad to become a misled guinea pig investor for what amounts to the units' field testing.
Like chips, you can't have just one because a back-up light is required when one malfunctions, and better than 50% of them break in some way, often.
When I was alerted by/to other folks on the internet who are having issues, I contacted the retailer again. All units were within warranty at the time. They said another particular issue that 3 of my units were experiencing was "known" and had since been "corrected". They said they'd replace, to send in, or keep an eye on them. I cut them some slack, figured it best to watch them and see so as not to be wasteful. Ultimately, 4 months later, another one died, but the retailer retracted their offer and at 4 weeks said "out of warranty". Guess that's true, but so much for the prior communication and turn-around time. Had I known then they'd not honor their offer later, I might have sent the lights back immediately rather than "keep an eye on them" or not at all.
This is a case of "buyer beware" it seems. False claims, false specs, known issues, user-intensive, high-maintenance, disposable short-life nature, etc force caution when considering these lights, currently.
They are what they are. They were designed to work well enough to at least get into the wallet and stay there. When working, they can be pretty cool, but honestly, it's a short ride better than half the time.
In my experience, Blackstar LED grow lights from Lighthouse Hydro still have a long way to go. They are worth consideration if you've got money to burn. In my opinion, they're not worthless, but they're not worth the retail price when new yet either and the specs are just plain silly. It is best to have a UPS account for when return shipping is needed and to allow for the added cost and down-time.
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2nd LED light from Blackstar and both lights only light on half of the LEDs. Might give them one more chance. Might not.Honest reviews on Lighthouse Hydro BlackStar Veg/Clone LED Grow Light, 240-watt
i bought this because they say it's 80% less on my electric, i will let u know more after i get my electric billFind helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lighthouse Hydro BlackStar Veg/Clone LED Grow Light, 240-watt
I've never had an issue with Blackstar. I've owned my oldest one for two years, this model. Plenty of horror stories, but I've never had a bad experience with them.Vegetative growth is great, but you may want to opt for the flower model, I wish I did. I have two of these, and an old school lighthouse hydro flowering led (all red around a 120w draw, same as this one), along with a few others (one modular Blackstar FSF/flowering too new for a comparison). Depending on how you view this, the red led sped up ripening during the flowering phase. This light the Blackstar veg took a few weeks longer to ripen during flower. More growth, or slower growth? With comparable yields, I'm opting for the slower flowering. Not surprising though; these are veg lights.
These days I use a 600w MH for veg, two of these leds for supplemental, and get great results. The MH has a much more cost effective imprint, imo. Don't really need the two Blackstar veg's. LED's seem to shine during flowering, no pun intended, and you can use most modern flowering lights during the vegetative stage with few problems (they've added more blue to the equation since the old days of flowering LED's, for the same reason I tried these veg panels during flowering). My all red light (lighthouse hydro, but not Blackstar) actually seems to induce flowering in some of my plants; slowing growth, a stiffening of the stems, etc... Modern flowering LED's don't do this so much, my FSF doesn't at least.
Just my experience with Blackstar, I hope it helps.
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