Efficiency
Our 1000w lamp is extraordinarily bright at 100,000 lumens (100lumen/watt), putting it's light output on par (no pun intended) with the leading light sources for indoor gardening. Our light penetrates very deep into the canopy to produce large yields of high quality flowers throughout the plants. Our MH bulbs put out similar amounts of light to HPS, and more light than some other popular MH bulbs on the market!
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Our 1000w lamp covers a 5'x5' space in flowering, and larger (7'x7'+) for veg. It produces 1650 PPFD at 24" distance. With a larger reflector such as a Raptor hood, it can spread wider and be positioned closer, producing 1100 PPFD at 24" distance. Using an air cooled iPower hood, the lamp can be positioned even closer, producing ~900 PPFD at 24" distance.
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Our 600w lamp can be positioned closer to the canopy. It covers a 4x4 space in flowering, and larger (6'x6'+) for veg. It produces 1250 PPFD at 12" distance.
Performance: Light Quantity Vs. Spectrum Quality
Many growers now realize that the plants' actual performance are more important than the theoretical efficiency calculations in many cases. A superior spectrum can outperform a "more efficient" light with an inferior spectrum. We focus on light quality first! (and light quantity, wait till you see how bright our light actually is!)
Your Garden's Electrical Cost:
Many lighting companies are guilty of false or deceptive advertising (wether intentional or not) to make their lights seem more efficient. It's a complex subject, and many people try to oversimplify. We won't attempt to convince you of outrageous stats on just how much light our bulb produces per watt. People try to save money by purchasing a light with a lower wattage, but this doesn't always lower their electric bill. The total wattage of your operation, not just the lamp wattage, must be considered:
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Heat, or lack of heat, produced by different lighting types, can raise or lower your cost of operation, far more than just the wattage of your lamp. Depending on your grow setup, especially in cool climates, basements or air conditioned places, many growers will actually save money on electricity by running MH bulbs, while having a superior garden. For other environments, especially warm seasons, hot climates, or attics, it can be cheaper to run LEDs because of heat.
Rather than measuring only the power consumption of your lamp, you should consider the power consumption of all necessary equipment under each lighting scenario, to calculate the true efficiency and electrical cost of your garden. Here are two examples.
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Example 1 (MH more efficient):
Susie lives in a home in Massachusetts. She grows in a room in a basement, where the ambient air is around 65°F by default. If she wants to use a 600w LED panel in her 5x5 garden, it's too cold, with temperatures around 71°F. Experiencing nutrient deficiencies, she then needs to use a 1500w space heater to bring the temperature up to 78°F with lights on, in order to get her plants healthy. Because of her slower air exhaust (in order to let heat build up) she struggles with high humidity in the garden and has to add a 1000w dehumidifier. Now her garden is up to 3100w running. Instead, she decides to use our 1000w Metal Halide bulb, and turns off her space heater and dehumidifier, saving 2500W! She now has happy plants and a comfortable garden temperature of 75°F. Dehumidification is only necessary during her 3 peak summer months. In this garden, MH is much more efficient, and leads to superior results using less electricity as a whole. Plants under MH can remain healthy in colder temperatures compared to LEDs, too.
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Example 2 (LED more efficient):
Bob lives in Arizona, a hot climate. His grow is in a 2nd story bedroom. Temperatures are regularly 80°F in his home, before starting his garden. If he chooses to run a 600w LED, his garden gets to 86°F, still an acceptable temperature for an LED grow (plants under LEDs require warm temperatures from 78-86°F, but any colder than 78°F and they can get deficient). If Bob wanted to run a 1000w MH bulb, his temperatures may easily approach 90°F or even 95°F, which would be a bit too hot. He would then use an air conditioner to bring temperatures down, adding at least 1000w more to his electrical usage. In Bob's warm grow climate, LEDs are clearly the more efficient option.
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Those are just two examples of how in some gardens, it is cheaper to run LEDs, while in other gardens, growers are saving enormous amounts of money on electricity by switching to Metal Halide bulbs, while increasing the plant health and quality at the same time! Some growers will also opt to use both LED and MH side by side, to get the benefits of MH spectrums and heat in their LED gardens.
Useful Light Ranges - Beyond PAR
Grow lamp efficiency is traditionally measured within the PAR Range of light which covers 400nm-700nm wavelengths. We now know that plants use light that ranges from 280nm past 800nm, as well as the infrared range that goes past 2000nm! New measurement standards can quantify this useful light energy as well, and changes our understanding of efficiency of grow bulbs. Bulbs put out a lot of useful light energy that was not being measured before!
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With new scientifically backed ePAR (Extended PAR) (380-750nm) or PBAR (Photobiological Active Radiation) (280nm-800nm) measurements, we learn that high-frequency MH technology is putting out at least a 10% increase in useful light for plants than the industry previously thought. While most lighting brands calculate their efficiency based on PAR measurements, we know that plants use a lot more than just PAR energy. Using these new measurement standards, we see that MH is even more efficient than many statistics previously claimed.
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Using extended ePar measurements, our MH bulb emits an additional ~75-80ppfd higher than regular Par measurements, while HPS and LED technologies emit only ~10-25ppfd higher in this extended range.) The measured PAR of a Metal Halide could be 600ppfd, while its ePAR measurement would be ~680ppfd. The measured PAR of an LED or HPS could be 600ppfd, but its ePAR would be ~610-625ppfd. This means that between two lights with the same standard PAR measurement, the Metal Halide is always putting out more useful light than LED or HPS. Within the extended range (700-750nm), MH puts out useful light at a greater amount than other lights. This raises the efficiency of MH bulbs higher than traditional calculations claimed.
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Our measurements are stated in standard PAR for ease of comparison and familiar understanding for most growers, even though ePar and pbar measurements would show a higher number and more efficiency on our light!
Aren’t LED’s more efficient at producing light?
It actually depends on what you measure and how you measure it! Efficiency claims are often stating the amount of visible light produced per watt (PAR, 400-700nm), and ignoring the missing parts of the spectrum (quantity over quality, in a sense.) To calculate how much light is produced, we should be measuring pbar (280nm-800nm) or even a wider range. Since these are not yet being used in the mainstream, LEDs appear disproportionately more efficient at producing photons. Companies are simply not measuring many of the useful photons produced by MH bulbs.
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LED lights are not producing energy in the invisible light portions which are responsible for close to 20% of photosynthetic activity! Just outside of the PAR regions, our MH bulbs produce plenty of useful light for the plants, which traditional efficiency measurements ignore.
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While an LED can still use less watts to light the same size space, they are missing out on important light spectrum benefits, as described above. It's not only about the amount of light, but the variety of wavelengths present and their ratios as well, equating to MH having a superior quality of light spectrum.
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Light Uniformity and Angular Light
PAR maps are measured on a 2 dimensional, flat plane, where MH bulbs are emitting in 3 dimensions in a parabolic shape, with much of the intense light used by plants being only measurable at an angle and at varying heights. This makes LEDs seem more efficient and MH seem less efficient, but it's simply an oversimplified and frankly incorrect way of measuring the usable light. MH use angular, direct and reflected light. This isn't measured on a 2d par map which only measures vertically at a set distance. LED light projects straight downward, creating a more uniform PAR map at a single distance in 2 dimensions. Using taller plants around the edges of a MH captures this angular light and produces big yields in the areas that a flat PAR map would show lower readings in.
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Image portraying angular light usage with MH bulb.
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Advantages over LEDs
LEDs might be the right choice for certain grow situations, but not always. There are many downsides: With LEDs, plants metabolize differently, and need a very tight range of parameters to perform properly and stay healthy. Some growers have to spend money on additional electricity in order to run more heat and dehumidification to compensate for LED’s lack of infrared emissions. LEDs also have a spectral curve that is very different from sunlight, with totally incorrect ratios of colors. Also, they are lacking the full spectrum UV and IR, even when supplemented with narrowband UV/IR led chips. It’s not the same as the UV and IR produced by burning gasses, like our bulbs, or the real sun. The unnatural spectral balance of all LEDs is responsible for an altered state of nutrient metabolism in the plants, changing how much nutrition they need and ultimately altering the medicinal compounds produced too.
Many growers note that although LED can produce great quality, potent herb, the herb is sometimes very different from what MH and even HPS can produce, and many of them miss specific qualities. Flavors, effects, and cannabinoids can vary significantly between lighting styles. Many find that old school gas and berry types express much better under bulbs.
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Our light spectrum encourages the plant to behave more as if it were sun grown, and this includes more efficient use of nutrients under a wider range of temperatures. For example, with LEDs, temperatures typically need to be between 78-85° F to keep deficiencies away. With MH, plants can easily stay healthy from ~62-90° F, a much wider range of temperatures before showing nutritional uptake issues. For growers in cold basement spaces or winter climates, this can mean running a grow with little to no supplemental heat necessary. Many LED growers have to run expensive space heaters to maintain plant health, especially in winter or basements.
Environmental Impacts:
We find that under MH, plants can stay healthy for much longer with the same amount of nutrition, compared to other lights. This means you can save on inputs like supersoil or nutrients by using less of them, great for your wallet and easier on the environment. Horticultural demand places significant strain on environmental resources, so the less nutrition you have to use, the better! We encourage using organic soil practices whenever possible.
When our bulb reaches the end of its lifespan, it can be recycled for free at many hardware stores, reclaiming the elements inside and using them again, ensuring they do not end up in the environment either! The entirety of our bulb is recyclable!
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Get Big Yields:
When light levels are measured and optimized with a par meter using our Metal Halide in flower, you can achieve massive yields, as you would with any other lighting type. The most important factor is that the plants have precisely enough light, which is achieved by maintaining proper distance from the lamp, measured above each plant using your PAR Meter. Light intensity changes exponentially with distance, and just a few inches can make a huge difference.
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We also recommend having fans blowing across the canopy to keep air circulating and give plants strength and fresh air. Studies have also shown that plants exposed to air movement will grow larger and stronger than those which are in stagnant air, as many of us have seen in our gardens.
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Why 1000 watts?
*We are now also producing 600w options for smaller grows!*
Serious power produces serious results! The 1000w bulb is for the most intense growers and connoisseurs who demand professional performance. The 1000w bulb has the most powerful output and light penetration and is capable of producing commercial yields that will satisfy. Growers use 1000w bulbs to flower 5x5ft spaces, and can also be used in a 4x4ft space. Depending on your reflector and space, you may be able to cover up to an 8x8 space with our bulb for vegging. One of our growers uses a 1000w MH bulb for an entire 4x8 flowering tent with great results. Our bulb is very versatile, and while we advertise it as designed to flower a 5x5 space, it is generally capable of more than that too. Our 1000w lamp has maximum penetration and can be used to grow very big plants with massive yields for competitive commercial and hobby growers.
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600w: flower a 4x4ft space, can veg up to 6x6ft. This lamp can be positioned closer to the plants and is great for smaller grows where height may be an issue. It also produces 40% less heat and uses 60% the electricity as our 1000w.
Summary:
The topic of light efficiency is actually very complex, and most companies will simplify it in order to find the stats that convince you that their light is best. More important than the efficiency of the light, is the results of the light, plus the total cost of running your garden.
What they won't tell you is what they are leaving out, what they are missing and not measuring, or what is too complex and wordy to explain. LEDs are missing a large portion of the light spectrum, so even though they are very efficient at producing Visible light, the electricity you save on lamp wattage is essentially the same as the wavelengths of light that you miss out on.
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LEDs may require tremendous amounts of extra electricity usage on heating and dehumidification compared with MH bulbs, making their electrical efficiency worthless in grows with a cooler environment such as basements or air conditioned homes.
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We won't claim to have the best efficiency on the planet, but what we will say is that our light is worth running and can compete with any of the leading options, especially when used correctly with our advice. In many cases, our lamps can lower your overall electricity expenses, especially in cooler climates.
Our 1000 watt light can flower a 5x5ft space or larger, with very high yields and the best quality herb you can imagine. Our 600 watt light brings our incredible spectrum into smaller home gardens with the same great spectrum and amazing performance.
Our number one focus is quality. We also take efficiency very seriously. Our bulb is one of the brightest and highest performing of its kind on the market, so you can feel good about the electricity you use and the results you achieve!
Bonus: PAR Charts
We are not a fan of PAR charts for a few reasons. Grow lamp manufacturers can choose any distance to place their light in order to record high numbers. Sometimes reflective tents are used to get higher readings, too. Additionally, PAR is not everything. PAR charts don't normally measure angular light, so they underestimate the light your plants receive from any bulb, while making LEDs look better in comparison. It's an incomplete and biased approach to measuring. However, we have produced a PAR Chart anyways due to popular demand. Keep in mind, the useful energy beyond PAR is not measured here. Also, PAR Charts are in 2 dimensions, while plants grow in 3 dimensions, simply put taller plants around the edges to achieve higher numbers like the ones in the center. We've included standard and angular measurements, as well as a comparison with the Hortilux HPS, showing how bright our MH really is!
