As you know, there are tons of different brands of LED grow lights and most of them are not very good. In fact, you can count the high-quality brands that actually work the way they’re supposed to on your hands. At the top of the list for me are NextLight and Black Dog.
In the past I might have added Kind or Lush, but both are a bit outdated now. I’m sure that will change once they come out with new product lines, but for now they only have their older product lines that can’t compete with the top brands. But now there is something new on the market.
This new brand is called Optic LED and they make high-quality LED grow lights, but they sell them for a much lower cost than other high-quality grow light manufacturers. Check them out at the link above. These lights are made in China, but they are made by an American company. I should say it is an American brand, whose headquarters are located in Seattle.
They have a number of different lights, but the best is the Optic 6. It is equivalent to a 1000 watt HPS system, like all the other leading LED grow lights. The Optic 6 comes in two versions. They differ only in their color spectrum.
Both versions of the Optic 6 have six COB (chip-on-board) LEDs that are each surrounded by a bunch of five watt LEDs. The COBs have a color spectrum of either 3000 K or 5000 K. This is where the difference between the two versions comes in.
One version has only 3000 K COBs, the other has a mix of four 3000 K ones and two 5000 K ones. As you can probably guess, the one with the mix is a full cycle light, since the 5000 K COBs give it a lot of blue spectrum light that is great for vegging and the four 3000 K COBs give it light perfect for blooming. The 3000 K version is a flowering specialist.
The 5 watt chips that surround the COB LEDs are mostly red and dark red, along with some IR and UV. This makes for a great boost during the bloom cycle. During vegging you would run only the COBs and then during bloom you switch on the 5 watt chips and really blast your plants, which absolutely maximizes yields.
This technology makes the Optic 6 an incredible light for growing anything. Naturally, most people will use it to grow marijuana, but it works just as well for growing orchids or tomatoes or even tea plants. You can grow whatever you want with this light. It is always going to be up to the task.
Optic LED is a bit of a newer company, but these lights are selling like crazy already. They are backed with five year warranties, too.
Apart from the Optic 6, Optic LED also has an Optic 1, an Optic 2, an Optic 3, an Optic 4 and an Optic 8. As you might guess, those numbers refer to the number of COBs on the fixtures. The Optic 3 and the Optic 1 have only COBs, while the others have COBs along with the five watt supplemental LED chips.
If you’re looking for high quality LED grow lights, but don’t want to spend upwards of $1500, which is what you would be spending on a high-quality one generally, then Optic LED makes the lights for you. The Optic 6 sells for only $749, making it an absolute steal. I’m almost certainly going to get one of these for my little orchid garden. How could I not?