Best Full Spectrum LED Grow Lights 2021 – Reviews & Top Picks
LED grow lights are relative newcomers to the world of indoor horticulture, but they offer certain big advantages over the older styles of grow lights people have used traditionally.
The first big advantage is that LED lights run much cooler than more old-fashioned grow lights. While plants need a certain level of warmth to survive and thrive, old-style lights simply give off too much heat – much more than plants can absorb. This equates to wasted energy.
With LEDs, you are just creating the light that plants need without the extra heat, making them much more efficient.
As a result, LEDs are also much cheaper to run. If you run old-style grow lights that are constantly wasted energy as heat, you are using electricity for nothing. For this reason, LED lights can be an investment since they can end up saving you money on your electricity bill.
They have one other distinct advantage, too.
Light is emitted in a whole range of wavelengths, but not all light is useful to plants. The parts of the spectrum that are particularly important to plants are the red and blue wavelengths.
With many modern LED grow lights, they have been specially engineered to give out maximum amounts of light at exactly these wavelengths, essentially tuning them to the plants’ needs.
With regular grow lights, this isn’t possible, and the plants just have to take what they can from the full spectrum without being fed a special “diet” of red and blue.
What Does A Full Spectrum LED Light Mean?
The words ‘full spectrum’ refers to the grow light’s wavelength which is the color of light that a plant needs to photosynthesize successfully.
Photosynthesis is the process that a plant uses to convert light into fuel for growth. Plants are all different, so full spectrum lighting supplies wavelengths that range between 390 to 700 nano-moles.
The Light Spectra
There are two light spectra that you should familiarize yourself with:
The Absorption Spectrum: A plant can easily absorb and use these light wavelengths.
The Action Spectrum: This spectrum is extremely effective for a plant’s ability to photosynthesis and helps to drive the plant’s abilities.
A full spectrum grow light covers all the light spectra that a plant needs for growth. The lights can cover the absorption spectrum and control the ratio of wavelengths in the action spectrum.
The rays produced are all the light that your plant needs to flourish. One of the critical benefits of full spectrum lighting is that it produces only the types of light that your plants will use to grow and wastes no energy-generating useless forms of view, so you’ll conserve money on your energy bill.
The Perfect Spectrum
Many growers want to obtain the ‘perfect’ spectrum of light wavelengths for their plants, but this notion does not exist.
A full spectrum light offers all the main bands of color in the PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) spectrum. These are the wavelengths between 390 to 700nm.
However, the exact wavelength does differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. Also, the type of LED’s has an impact.Even the way that you set the light in your grow room will matter.
Some manufacturers also add infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths to their lighting. Also, some lights have been tailored for a full growth cycle, and others offer only during a plant’s vegetative growth or flowering state.
Reasons To Use Full Spectrum Lighting
Here are three things that you should know about full spectrum grow lights and why you should use them:
Plants grown using full spectrum lights reach much larger sizes and are ready to harvest faster.
The lights mimic the sun’s UV rays which not only reach plants easier but also are more readily absorbed by the foliage.
Unlike other types of grow lights, Full Spectrum LED Grow Lights supplies the same power as the sun.
Pros
Designed for optimum PAR output – delivers the type of light your plants need
Reflectors increase PAR levels – gives 50% higher PAR rating
Different settings for growth stages – includes veg, bloom and flowering modes
Energy efficient – consumes much less electricity than comparable units
Good safety features – designed to stay cool and also fire resistant
Cons
Hangers are not high quality – may bend under the weight
More blue spectrum light than red – better for veg stage
Pros
5w double chip LEDs – bright and more efficient than 1w or 3w versions
Energy saving – uses up to 30% less energy, helping significantly reduce energy bills
Dual lens technology – maximizes canopy penetration and increases PAR by 200%
Inexpensive product – lower price tag than other comparable options
Double cooling fan system – ensures the unit doesn’t overheat
Cons
Questionable coverage – perhaps covers a smaller area than some other lights
Slightly disappointing brightness – seems to be less than the stated power
Pros
High PAR and deep penetration – ensures your plants get the light they need
Full spectrum – suitable for all types of plants and all stages of growth
Advanced heat control system – two powerful fans and a large heat sink
Bead and Zener design – more efficient than traditional reflection systems
Affordable price tag – inexpensive product for what it is
Cons
Heavy on red light – less effective for the vegging stage
No “off” switch – the only way to cut the power is to unplug it
Pros
No reflectors – reflectors can melt, so this model doesn’t use them
Full spectrum – includes blue, red, infrared and ultraviolet light
Veg and bloom modes – can be set according to your plants’ stage of development
Quiet dual fans – two fans work together to keep the unit cool
Covers a large area – one unit can cover 3ft x 3ft at 24”
Cons
Fans a little loud – other options exist that are slightly quieter
Less than discrete packaging – some might not appreciate the large, clear writing
Buyer’s Guide
Choosing to use a full-spectrum LED is a great way to save on running costs for a grow and a great way to keep temperatures and noise down as well.
The tradeoff for this is being a bit wary about how much light is being produced and the spectrum that is hitting the plants. Let’s take a look at some things to take into account when purchasing a full-spectrum LED.
What is Full-Spectrum?
An ideal full-spectrum light will be producing light colors outside of the visible range of human eyes, as plants respond well to UV and IR radiation depending on the stage of growth they are in.
Many lesser brands of “full-spectrum” lights miss out on this aspect of growing plants and leave the purchaser in a bit of a bind when the plants are halfway done growing and start hitting an energy limit.
Lights that have vegetative and blooming or flowering functions tend to be the ones to go for as they have included this issue into their design, though there are quite a few single setting lights that really can produce even in these ranges.
Wattage
So, the wattage claimed by LED lamps can be a bit misleading. Some advertise their “equivalent” to HPS bulb rating while others will show their actual wattage used. Watch out for this and read the finer details.
Two different LED bulbs claiming 700W can have completely different brightness, especially dependent on the spectrum they’re in and the chips being used in the system. In the fine print of most products is the true wattage. As a general rule of thumb, LEDs work at about double the power efficiency of HPS systems. Some are more, some are less, but it’s a good guess.
So, if a bulb is claiming to be 700W, and it uses around 350W of power, then it most likely will be in that power range. However, if it is claiming something ludicrous like 150W use but 700W equivalence, then something is up. This also doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad bulb either, it could just be bad packaging.
Low-Profile and Stealth
One of the key benefits of using LEDs is how low impact their use can be on an electrical bill and the temperature of the area they are in. However, once you start getting into the bigger and more powerful lights there can still be a lot of noise and heat being produced by these systems.
Yes, it’s much less than an HPS equivalent light without a doubt, but as 1200w equivalent LED is still going to warm up a room and potentially be heard from outside the area depending on if any sound-proofing has been added. The power bill will go up as well, these are not small lamps.
It’s a thing to think about when designing a grow-op and deciding how big to expand. Don’t stretch too far, start small and ramp things up as you feel more comfortable.
Longevity
Diodes go out from time to time, but as a whole, LED systems last quite a while compared to other lamps. That is, if they’re well-built. Issues can come up with LED boards that aren’t meant to be run for thousands of hours causing part of them to flare out, making the whole system much less powerful. Depending on which lights, it might affect the spectrum it produces as well.
Well-built full-spectrum LED system does not have this issue, so dig deep into some reviews and see if it’s an issue that other people have faced. Sometimes it can be worth it to risk this as well if you don’t plan on using that lamp for multiple grows.
A cheap LED board might not last and last like a more expensive one, but they can still get the job done for a little while.
Enclosed Spaces
The last thing we’ll talk about with these full-spectrum LEDs is their use in small and enclosed grows. The small heat produced by their low power makes them an ideal candidate to turn a cabinet or small closet into what is essentially a greenhouse.
Lower powered and quiet lamps are ideal here, as even LEDs can heat such a small space. When set up correctly, these spaces can produce some magnificent quality specimens of cannabis, even if the yield is a bit lowered due to the lack of space.
Even the more high-powered LED system can be countered by a bit of ventilation. A good exhaust fan and intake go a long way in a small space, both for filtering smells and keeping the air quality good.
Don’t assume you won’t need to use an exhaust rig, just because you’re using a low power LED, but you may be able to skimp on a fair amount of circulation if you are cautious with your bulb choice.
Conclusion
Full spectrum lighting is the revolutionary future of all indoor gardening. The advantages of the lights far outweigh the negatives.
If you seek robust vegetative growth and an ample harvest, then you should invest in LED lighting.
The three full spectrum lights reviewed in this article are all ideal for most grow rooms.
The seven LED grow lights reviewed in this article have all been proven to be ideal for most indoor grow spaces.
Just consider your indoor garden growing environments so you can optimize the capacity of your spectrum lights and maximize plant yields.