I’ve been looking online to research and do some comparative shopping for my first grow. I understand that if I wanted a bomb proof setup I should go with well made stuff from reputable dealers like HLG and GGT but I’ve seen so much stuff on Alibaba and Aliexpress for pretty bottom dollar prices. I don’t expect it to outperform their more expensive counterparts but I’m seriously wondering if these 150 dollar QB’s and 40 dollar grow tents are any good? Again I know they’d probably last only a cycle or two but I’d be more comfortable dropping serious cash if it’s something I know I would be interested in for the long haul.
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Had similar approach, did see some stuff online about those cheaper HLG style lights, the boards warping from heat over time.
The cheaper tents would also be problematic due to dodgy zips breaking, and excessive light leaks on poorly sewn seams.
Thanks for y’all’s input it’s greatly appreciated
Actually it doesn’t beat it. I have used Alibaba lights for 3 years now without any problems. About a month ago, one light started cutting out and I emailed the company I bought it from, they gave me an email with a QR code for me to send the light back to them to be fixed for NO CHARGE! Just got the light back and it looks like it is a brand new light. Their customer service, at least who I bought my lights from, was top notch. Thats from my personal experience… The lights are really nice if you know what to order. All top-bin diodes on my lights for less than half of what HLG costs. I bought an HLG light and an Alibaba light to test the differences for my commercial outfit. The lights are super solid and produce the same ppfd as HLG lights. IF you know what to order, you can get quality lights from Alibaba. Check out the Geek Light 288 QB’s…. I personally run the V4’s now with UV and IR and the quality I am producing just completely blows most commercial cannabis out of the water.
As for tents, I will only buy a Gorilla Tent from now on, after purchasing over 10 different tents from other Amazon sellers, with 95% of the off brand or lesser known brands had pin holes in them. The zippers are also trash on the cheap tents. I highly suggest you don’t use the cheaper ones when it comes to tents. The quality is def different with a cheap tent vs a Gorilla Tent.
If you have the money I would go with the HLG. I had a couple of those lights and they worked fine but one had a blinking diode in a month and it was hell trying to get a replacement board from them, still haven’t switched it out I hate that blink. I do however love my 730nm qb52s I got from over there. There is really no alternative offered in the market here of the size and wattage I wanted but that was just for my emerson effect setup.
BTW another big factor is shipping. When ordering a 150.00 light you are guarentted at least 70 dollars in shipping cost. So if you bought 2x qb260s shipping would be 140 to 150$.
79
On my 2x qb 52s shipping was more expensive then the lights. They were around 39.00 each with 40 dollar shipping.
you need to haggle price, especially on shipping. I had 26 of the Alibaba version of HLG 550’s shipped to the US for $320. I also bought my 2 testers and had them shipped for 80, for both lights. You need to haggle with them. Most of the time you can at least get 5% off of shipping, sometimes 10% if you know how to haggle, like myself lol
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in growing for 10+ years is that CHEAP STUFF IS NOT CHEAP!
You might save yourself a few bucks on the front end, but you almost always LOSE BIG PILES of money on the back end.
Going with cheap stuff might save you a few bucks up front, but then you’ll be working with LOWER PERFORMING GEAR that is also WAY LESS RELIABLE.
Is saving a few bucks worth having lower yields?
Is saving a few bucks worth having lower quality?
Is saving a few bucks worth having a light/tent that lasts half as long?
Is saving a few bucks worth increasing your risk of losing an entire crop when your gear fails?
I can tell you first hand… its absolutely not worth it. Spend a few extra bucks getting good quality gear, you’ll be glad you did.
In my experience, investing in decent gear is always worth the money, especially when it comes to the key stuff like LIGHTS, TENTS and VENTILATION. These are all areas of your grow where its definitely worth investing in good stuff!
You can get good stuff without spending a fortune too! You just gotta be smart about your purchases.
Personally I feel the best VALUE gear comes from companies that balance quality with cost:
-Gorilla Grow tent makes the best tents in the biz. The “Lite” tents in particular are a terrific value!
-HLG makes the best value LEDs in the biz. The DIY Kits give you a TON of bang for your buck without skimping on quality!
-AC Infinity makes the best ventilation fans in the biz. Durable fans, Great service, and an advanced controller to better dial in your environment, all at a very affordable prices.
I chat with tons of growers and it always breaks my heart to see new growers struggling with crappy gear (its something that comes up almost every day when I’m helping people!)
Over the years this really started to bug me so I decided to start a company to help new growers get started. Starting out with great quality gear makes growing both EASIER and MORE FUN, so I’m super proud to work with the companies I listed above to help provide great quality gear to our community!
You can find more info about these products (and guides to help you get started) on my website: http://www.GrowersLove.com
If you have questions or want to chat about getting the best VALUE gear for your grow, get in touch! Helping new growers get started with great quality gear (without spending a fortune) is totally my specialty, and I’d be happy to help ya!
Soup,
I appreciate your contributions here, but need to interject a little on the lights.
HLG doesn’t produce any LEDs. Samsung produces HLG’s diodes at the same factory and on the same line they produce the Alibaba diodes. Assuming the same bin and driver, an alibaba lm301h diode will produce the same amount of ppfd as one from HLG. Many users in various LED build groups have done side by side testing HLG vs Ali and there is no difference in ppfd produced.
HLG likes to wave the American flag and claim that this makes them superior, however I do not believe most of their production is happening stateside. Their new diablo boards are made in Korea. The 60w supplemental light bar I bought from them has a “Made in China” sticker on the actual light. With how long HLG is out of stock on numerous items, it seems pretty safe to say they are not doing the picking and placing of diodes on all of their boards but rather just middle manning goods from Asia. It is my belief that HLG does not have the capability to produce a light with both white and red diodes on the same PCB (which is the majority of what is sold currently) based off of what HLG has posted to their social media.
My biggest gripe with Steve is that he hasn’t come out with a side by side comparison between HLG and Alibaba but he will waste no time trashing other companies. HLG has all of the expensive equipment to conduct this test whereas 99.9% of growers do not. If your lights really are that much better, prove it. Show me the numbers!
Maybe what you say is true. But the customer service with HLG is gonna beat the China connection every time. If your only light goes out do you want to wait for a month or get something sorted out fast. HLG customer service is worth it. YMMV
Peace!
Actually it doesn’t beat it. I have used Alibaba lights for 3 years now without any problems. About a month ago, one light started cutting out and I emailed the company I bought it from, they gave me an email with a QR code for me to send the light back to them to be fixed for NO CHARGE! Just got the light back and it looks like it is a brand new light. Their customer service, at least who I bought my lights from, was top notch. Thats from my personal experience… The lights are really nice if you know what to order. All top-bin diodes on my lights for less than half of what HLG costs. I bought an HLG light and an Alibaba light to test the differences for my commercial outfit. The lights are super solid and produce the same ppfd as HLG lights. IF you know what to order, you can get quality lights from Alibaba. Check out the Geek Light 288 QB’s.
Man SOUP, your saying crazy stuff like, “Is saving a few bucks worth having lower yields?
Is saving a few bucks worth having lower quality?
Is saving a few bucks worth having a light/tent that lasts half as long?
Is saving a few bucks worth increasing your risk of losing an entire crop when your gear fails?” You don’t even know ANY of this is factual SOUP. No offense or disrespect, but when you have influence over people, even in the slightest way, you should focus on posting facts instead of your hunch or opinions. I have personally tested to see the differences, and literally had almost the exact same light for less than half the price. And I got to customize my spectrum… Their customer service was top notch as well. Replaced an entire light with a newer one, I didn’t even pay to ship it back to get it fixed and the new one arrived in 3 weeks, during this CV-19 times, none the less…
HLG has a unique relationship with Samsung because they helped them develop their horticultural LED program. This means HLG gets first pick when each new batch of Samsung diodes comes out. This means they get the best BINs and better quality diodes than any of the alibaba knock off brands. Diode binning REALLY matters, and HLG always gets to buy up all the cream of the crop before the other companies even get to look.
HLG also uses much better manufacturing processes than most Chinese manufacturers when it comes to mounting the diodes to the boards. This costs them more, but it leads to much better pcbs that run cooler and have much lower failure rates.
These are all documented facts, not my opinions.
I’m glad you are happy with the lights you got off alibaba, but that doesn’t mean its a good idea for most growers.
I also just wanna add… I’ve bought my fair share of cheap knock off leds too. I’ve personally bought cheap lights, hung them in my garden, and suffered the heartbreak when they failed. I speak from experience when I say I don’t think cheap lights are worth the risks or the trade offs.
You can disagree with me all you want. I’m totally cool with that. 🙂👍 But please understand Im not just spouting opinions, my recommendations are based on a crap ton of research and many years of personal experience.
Your post was featured on episode 1092! Thanks for your support!
Okay, I will present myself as an example. Started out about 2 years ago and bought a cheap all-in-one kit. I’d be embarrassed to say exactly what that was. Fast forward to today and I have replaced every single component at LEAST once.
Soup said it: Don’t skimp on lights, tent or ventilation.
When you buy quality the first time it only hurts once.
Look forward to seeing some dank nugs down the road. Good luck.
Howdy not A Cop, I’ve actually never heard of alibaba fwiw. Anyway we set up via Amazon for the most part, for our first effort. We’ve got two Vivosun tents and fans, and three of their LEDs and some ancillary stuff. The quality of items seems fine. Best of luck with your project! 🙂
MC
saving a few bucks now will only cost you more in the long run.
quality gear makes quality buds/funky gear makes funky buds.
Whatever you put into the girls, they give back.
You can definitely get good value for lights off alibaba. All LEDs are produced overseas. Very few American LED companies have the ability to produce their own boards. HLGs new diablo boards are made in Korea. If the diodes are the same brand/model/bin they will perform nearly identically. My last purchase from HLG had a “Made in China” sticker on the light (it was the 60w supplemental bar for anyone wondering).
Kingbrite and Meiju seem to be popular alibaba companies in the led build groups I am a part of. Rita Fang is a well known salesperson for Meiju that works with a lot of American light builders (can be reached via Facebook). Many builders suggest buying your lights/heatsinks from Ali and sourcing your drivers locally to save on shipping (a meanwell driver purchased here or overseas will be he same).
There are definitely some issues with the alibaba platform, but much like American Ecommerce sites, alibaba has its customer ratings for each product front and center. If you do enough digging, you can definitely get a deal. If I were building out a large room I would absolutely buy a bunch of the 240w fixtures off alibaba. You can get five or six of those for the price of one HLG650. I’m also a proponent of numerous smaller drivers over one larger. If the driver goes out on your HLG650, you get no light. If your driver goes out on one of your 5 240w alibaba fixtures, you can simply spread the others out until the problem can be fixed.
I would not buy a tent from Alibaba.
Ok so take it from someone who plead the same mindset but didn’t ask first. Ok so I purchased a $108 pair of QB with driver fro. Alibaba it arrived on time and worked when I plugged it in. It gives off light. And decent light. Now the driver getting so hot you can barely hold it for longer than a second, the diodes being misplaced on the board and the wires getting hot and the heat sinks not being large enough so the boards got hot. .l…. like I said it turned on though. My 4×3 tent was at the upper 90s with that system. With a hlg 300 that is in a 3×3 is almost the exact same. None of these issues have came up. Temps at 80 with lights on and small 4 inch inline. You get what you pay for. Alibaba says the warranty is good except you have to pay the same prices for shipping and replacement parts that the light actually cost. Just food for thought man. Don’t make the same mistakes I made. I made them for you
You don’t pay to ship your stuff back, at least with Geek Light I didn’t have to. WHO you order from, makes a big difference. Sounds like you bought from a random company without checking the lights specs, or didn’t fully understand the lights specs. I’m guessing you might have assembled them improperly because not a single kit I have from them gets that hot. And I have the HLG 550 equivalents…
I purchased an HLG board less than a year ago. Recently, it started acting like a strobe light. All I had to do was send an email to HLG, explain the situation, send them a picture of my current driver & Proof of Purchase (so they could verify it was still under warranty) and 5 days later I have a brand new driver ready to be installed.
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Luckily for me, I was just about to shut down the tent and flip it to a dry/cure space… I suppose this type of interruption may have been an issue mid-flower.. however… do you think I would have even gotten a response from Alibaba? Let alone a replacement driver? I doubt it.
At the end of the day, I’m glad I went with HLG.
Actually it doesn’t beat it. I have used Alibaba lights for 3 years now without any problems. About a month ago, one light started cutting out and I emailed the company I bought it from, they gave me an email with a QR code for me to send the light back to them to be fixed for NO CHARGE! Just got the light back and it looks like it is a brand new light. Their customer service, at least who I bought my lights from, was top notch. Thats from my personal experience… The lights are really nice if you know what to order. All top-bin diodes on my lights for less than half of what HLG costs. I bought an HLG light and an Alibaba light to test the differences for my commercial outfit. The lights are super solid and produce the same ppfd as HLG lights. IF you know what to order, you can get quality lights from Alibaba. Check out the Geek Light 288 QB’s.
👍 customer service ftw