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I have been been running everything in two laboratories with controlled environments. I use an Apogee Quantum Par meter sq520 and several other sensors for testing. Nutrient delivery is computer controlled and precisely monitored by dual Growlink systems and an AutoGrow Intellidose system (I'm super redundant). Over the last 18 months I ran experiments in DWC hydroponics, STERILE, DWC "Bennie", Aeroponics, Ebb and flow, ebb and drain, Kratky method, and full aquaponic systems. DWC hydro with elevated co2 consistently produces the largest yields with highest quality in the least time for the vast majority of fruits and vegetables.
I state all this because when I say "a plant grows well under this light", I want it to have some scientific reasoning. When I say "grows well" I am referring to fat, thick, COSTCO sized fruits and/or vegetables. Some other reviewers show skimpy, thin, stretched out, nutrient deficient plants, and say "this light grows it well". Everyone has different standards.
Over the last few months I tested the LEDGLE 300watt LED on two plants: the two "Special 100" sweet baby tomato plants that appear in the video. The two tomato plants are grown hydroponically in a deep water culture system. They were vegged under another LED. The entire BLOOM cycle (which is much more demanding than the veg cycle) was conducted under this single 300watt LEDGLE LED. This light delivered solid results while running highly efficiently.
Again, some people plug the grow light in and play with it for a couple days, say "OMG ITS SO BRIGHT AND PURPLE", and give it a 5 star rating. I do not believe that is a honest display of a product's capability.
The design of the LEDGLE 300watt LED is similar to many other panel style "LED grow lights" on Amazon, it shares a similar build construction and feels ok.
When I received the unit it came boxed with a printed note stating: "during shipping internal power connectors may have come loose and can prevent the LED from operating. If this occurs please unscrew the LED and simply plug the connector back in".
I thought this note was slightly odd but remaining scientific I truncated it down to the seller being over-cautious in the pursuit of "doing the right thing". If you have ever watched "package delivery fails" on youtube, you should understand. I also am understanding of cultural and language barriers between the US and our friends in China and can understand that sometimes an honest message can get lost in translation. My LED worked fine from the start and is working months later, so as I've stated in other reviews... I can't ding a star for something that hasn't occurred.
The LEDGLE 300watt LED comes with a standard grounded (3 prong) plug, the cord I received is 5.5ft long. It also comes with a mounting clasp and mounting wires. Although this is called the LEDGLE 300watt LED, on Full spectrum mode (all LEDs on), it only pulls 89w from the wall. Obviously using the Veg mode or (solo) Bloom mode would result in a lower power draw as less LEDs are on. The name "300watts" comes from a naming convention meaning it can replace a "300w HPS bulb equivalent". In my parts of the world this roughly equates to less than $7 in electricity costs a month to run this LED. With LED panels consuming this little of power I tend to place my cost assumptions on the higher estimations. Your electric costs may vary.
One single Cherubs cherry tomatoes container at my local grocery store costs $5+/-. I have harvested several (3) containers worth each month (2 months now) so for me this makes some small frugal sense in my mind and justifies my Amazon purchases to my wife.
The tomatoes are fresh, pesticide free, "fresh to table", and taste absolutely delicious. Are they better than the genetically perfected Cherubs brand? Yes! They are very sweet right off the vine. I grew the tomatoes at a solid 5.9 PH while adding (all raw) calcium, magnesium, iron, yucca, and a few grams of sugar during the bloom process.
The LEDGLE 300watt LED stands out amongst the others due to a couple factors. First, at 12" by 6.6" it has a rather small size (here it comes)... but don't let the small size fool you, it is a very capable grow light (you can skip all the reading and just read the Apogee PAR readings below) with fantastic efficiency. However I must note, it is intended to cover a smaller footprint.
When choosing any LED grow light is important to understand your plant's requirements. The LEDGLE 300watt LED covers all ranges of typical grow light uses within smaller spaces. It is not a commercial growers light. Why? Basically it's size is the main reason, it simply wouldn't make sense to stack dozens of these to achieve the spectral coverage needed for a commercial operation. Not to say it isn't very capable, just not "commercial". This is excellent for greenhouses, closet grows, supplemental indoor plant lighting, grow tents, or small laboratories.
It can be used for germinating/sprouting, seedlings, microgreens, main lighting or supplemental, assistive in vegetative growth and it is completely possible to bloom properly under this LED as shown in the video review.
With a laser temperature probe the back side of the panel (which is metal) registered at 98f on the hottest spot in an ambient temp room of 82-84f. This is completely acceptable and on the cooler side when compared to some of the earlier LED grow lights I reviewed. You can safely touch the light on any location even after it has been on for extended periods of time. The LED has two 80mm fans drawing air into the enclosure and onto the heatsinks for the LEDs.
The LEDGLE 300watt LED has a very low thermal footprint. In other words It will not dump noticeable heat into your grow tent or grow area. You can safely touch your plants foliage to the glass surrounding the LED (as long as the plant can sustain the max μmols) but I wouldn't recommend getting it that close. For my two tomato plants I had to constantly trim back branches from growing into the side vents of the LED, this is a good problem to have, plants that are growing too vigorously!
Using an Apogee Full spectrum smart Quantum sensor the SQ-520 measured:
2500 μmol at 2 inches
1900 μmol at 4 inches
1550 μmol at 8 inches
1200-1300 μmol at 12 inches
1000-1100 μmol at 14 inches
650-750 μmol at 24 inches
350-400 μmol at 36 inches
Notice the phenomenal performance from such a little light? I can't say the "downside" of the light is the coverage because it IS a little light, it is simply made this way. What I mean is that by the design itself, it is made perfectly to cover a 2x2 or 2x4 area. Two of these in a 2x4 grow area would be great, and at a great price for the performance, it makes sense.
Any gripes or complaints? No. This is a decent LED with excellent efficiency and good power output. With the proper environment (not for wet environments) the panel should run until the lifespan of the LEDs run out in many years (30,000-50,000 hrs). If anything changes or if the LEDs burn out early, as always, I will update this review and let everyone know.
You can use the following calculation to determine the hourly PAR. Substitute your actual instantaneous PAR measurement for the '55µmol’' below:
Hourly PAR= (55µmol / m^2s) ( 60s / 1min) (60min / 1hr) (1 mol / 1 x 10^6µmol) = 0.36 mol / m^hour
In case anyone isn't tracking along, I like to include some horticulture definitions:
Humans use Lumens. Don't measure a lights effectiveness by it's luminosity (LUMENS).
Plants use PAR, PAR stands for photo-synthetically active radiation (PAR). PAR is NOT a measurement or “metric” like feet, inches or kilos. Rather, it defines the type of light needed to support photosynthesis.
Photon Efficiency....Photon Efficiency refers to how efficient a horticulture lighting system is at converting electrical energy into photons of PAR. Many horticulture lighting manufacturers use total electrical watts or watts per square foot as a metric to describe light intensity. However, these metrics really don’t tell you anything since watts are a measurement describing electrical input, not light output.
Oh and I mention Micromoles quite a bit (looks like this µmol ) – Intensity of a light is measured over a fixed area to understand the ability of a light to cover an area with that intensity (coverage). Micromoles of photons per square meter per second (µmol/m2/s) measures the intensity by taking measurements in a consistent 4 x 4 grid. Rather than measuring light intensity by lumens per watt with a lux meter, growers should use a quantum PAR meter (like the one I use) to measure the micromoles of photons per square meter per second (µmol/m2/s) at the canopy level. To best calculate PAR light intensity coverage using PAR mapping 4 x 4 grids, be sure and measure at various heights. Spot readings (PPF) metrics are misleading. Growers use PPFD per square meter to accurately measure intensity and coverage of that intensity.
If you're like "whoa dood, I'm just trying to grow baby tomatoes for grams and you're going Bill Nye on me", I'm simply saying: This is an efficient and powerful Full spectrum LED light in the "150-300w HPS" range. This should be considered a good LED for all applications....sprouting, seedlings, cuttings/clonings, microgreens, main lighting (smaller areas) or supplemental, vegetative growth, or full bloom.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review, I appreciate it! If you found this helpful please give me a vote or a follow, it is why I make these reviews! Follow my reviews on my Amazon profile page: https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AEHSZ3A2L54BPC4ZX6WNPI4JV7MQ?preview=true
If you'd like to know which LED grow light is the current "King of the Hill" for a specific power range or have any questions regarding grow lights or related fields, please just ask!
If you'd like to browse/shop for plants on Amazon by lighting requirements (Full light, Partial light, Low/No light) check out this cool page: https://www.amazon.com/b?node=18776623011&pf_rd_p=7ac3e749-92e1-4779-8373-7c3d1ea08b9e&pf_rd_r=JN8ZDAHKZ84BFHVEH80F
