Whats your favorite MH/HPS brand?

12 years ago

Im looking for a replacement 600w MH bulb. With a grow light kit I received an MH and HPS bulb, both "hortilife" bulbs. The MH is rated for 10k hours, but after about a little over 3k, the bulb has dimmed so noticeably that Im searching for a quality replacement that will last longer.

An example of the dimming: I have two 4 foot 4 tube T5HO fixtures on either side of the reflector with the MH in it. The MH is rated at 55k lumens, and the T5s combined at 37.6k. Running each separately, the T5s are very obviously producing more light than the MH.

The inner bulb is also grimy and the electrode areas turning blackish.

Anyway, what is your favorite and/or most recommended MH/HPS brand based on quality, life span, etc?

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Comments (5)

Miguelovic
12 years ago
Hortilux and Ushio. I believe Philips also makes good 600w bulbs. They are a bit expensive, but quality always is. Never use a dimmable ballast (shortens lifespan considerably) and keep the bulb clean of dust and oil (hands) by periodic cleaning with a lint free shammy.
cherokee_
Original Author
12 years ago
I have a dimmable ballast, but Im not using the dimming options. Does that still shorten the life?

I ended up buying a digilux bulb. I did look at hortilux, and they were definitely expensive. All I could find with Ushio were conversion bulbs for HPS ballasts, or something like that. I didnt know if they would work with mine, which is an ipower ballast.

After 7 days with the new bulb, Im impressed by it. Very bright, great spectrum, and the plants are responding very well to it.
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Miguelovic
12 years ago
It will be fine, there is nothing wrong with the ballast, just firing a specific watt bulb at varying watts. Different spectrum, waste of energy.

The only time I would use this function is with a bulb rated to a dimmed option. ie. 600w bulb to 600w dimmed from 1000w.
beauto
12 years ago
Hortilux is the best IMHO. It is also US Made. I like the bulbs made in Europe but stay away from the Chinese bulbs.

Horilux bulbs can be had with deep discounts on ebay.

I pay 65 bucks for a 1k
2h1o
12 years ago
Made in the USA... becoming more & more of a rarity in our modern times.