MARS Hydro Review (II 400W LED Grow Light)
The Mars Hydro company is an established Chinese company that has been in the LED grow light business as a low cost light provider for several years. They have a number of lights on the market available through several channels. The company has recently launched their new “series II” set of lights.
Mars Hydro II 400 watt LED grow light review
The company built the new series ll lights with several features that make them a significant improvement over the older generation of Mars Hydro reviews.
- First and foremost, they are all built with the new 5 watt LED chips. Which provides a brighter light that delivers significantly deeper lighting penetration.
- These lights deliver full spectrum lighting from 365nm to 750nm and infrared. This covers the important red and blue spectrum and will support the germination, flowering and vegetative plant phases.
- The LED chips are connected in series so that that if a single chip should fail the other chips continue to operate and deliver light. Several of the lights we have reviewed have LED chips wired in series, which means if one chip fails the entire panel can fail.
- While the LED lighting format produces dramatically reduced heat signature over other lighting formats, these 5 watt chips do produce heat that can reduce the chip life and impact on your heat signature. Mars Series II utilizes over-sized, pure aluminum heat sinks. Combined with two double ball bearing fans to remove the excess heat, a great solution.
While the entry cost for LED lighting is higher that some other formats, we believe LED lighting is the clear winner as the best lighting. The canopy penetration and spectrum offered make this format the best available. The the lower heat signature and the lowest operating cost also seal the deal.
Technical specifications:
LED Output Power:80pcs*5watt = 400 watts
Draw Power:170W~200W
Amps:110V/1.8A, 220V/0.88A
Dimension:340 x 340 x 90mm (13.4*13.4*3.5 in)
Voltage:AC85~265V
View Angle of leds:90°/120°
Lifespan:50, 000-100, 000 hours
Coverage:3’x3′ Standard @24inch
Spectrum:430~440nm, 450~475nm 620~630nm, 650~660nm, IR, and white
flower spectrum:red, white and infared
Vege Spectrum:blue and white
Plug Type:AU, USA, Japan, EU, UK, Swiss,etc.
Height: Germination: 24~30inch; Vegetative:18~24inch; Flowering :12~18inch.
Light Spectrum
When comparing grow lighting options there is a lot of information provided that simply does not cover the important characteristics of the equipment. For example, light “watts”: the watts of a light is a measurement of the power consumed. So it does not tell you anything about the quality of the light delivered. However, Watts can be important for determining your future electric bill, your thermal signature and for comparing the relative size of the light. But not for the quality of the lighting delivered. Hence, the two key measurements that matter in comparing the quality of the light delivered are the spectrum that the light includes (ie, the colors the light creates).
Mars Hydro 400 watt LED SPECTRUM : 430~440nm, 450~475nm, 620~630nm, 650~660nm, IR, and white. And the LUMENS (ie intensity of the light hitting the plant) shown on the below chart. As shown the intensity of the light hipping the plant will vary with the distance the light is above the foliage. So make sure you compare LUMENS of two different lights at the same distance.
SUMMARY
The new Mars Hydro review II LED Grow light is a major improvement over their first generation light that are still available on the web. This improvement is primarily a result of switching to the newer 5 watt LED chips. The new lights deliver great spectrum and intensity for the price. The only factor that is not clear yet, due the newness of the product, is the durability and life of the light. However, this should not be a negative due the the extremely long life of all LED chips and the fact that in these lights the chips are in effect wired in series. So ant chip failure will not impact other chips on the same panel. Finally, we hope you found our MARS HYDRO II 400 Watt LED Grow Light review helpful!
