Final Review and Opinion on the Advanced LED XTE 300 series grow lights:
Hey everyone! I wanted to do a final conclusion of my grow with the Advanced LED XTE 300's and recap on my experience with them. I am writing this review as if I were talking to a good buddy as I always do and so I don't want anyone to think this is swayed or biased in any way. Here is my honest review. (I will review the EX-VEG 200's on a different post)
Company Lighting specs from XTE Series LED Grow Light - USA Made 5w LEDs - Advanced LED Grow Lights
Proudly Announcing: The All-New XTE Series with True USA 5w CREE XT-E LEDs
Building on the success of our flagship Diamond Series, our new XTE series uses the cutting-edge design and materials from our USA partners and suppliers to create the highest level of performance available anywhere. With hundreds of hours of research in the Advanced LED Lab this light has proven to beat over 15 different contenders including the orignal Diamond Series.
To give you the very best in LED selection, the XTE series comes with high-output 5w CREE XT-E LED running at 3.9 watts each (2x higher than other 5w LEDs) and the OSRAM 660nm to create the most powerful LED grow light available on the market today. The XTE allows you to control your spectrum output and intensity unlike other grow lights with a single switch or no controls at all.
Exclusive New XTE Features:
NEW - Premium 5w and 3w LEDs from CREE and OSRAM - 79% Higher PAR than other 5w grow lights!
NEW - XTE Optics: We took the Diamond Series Optic built-in reflector to throw even more light at your plants.
NEW - ColdFlo Heat Dissipation Technology: Cools these powerful 5w LEDs like no other system can.
NEW - Upgraded Color Select Controls: You now have 100% Control of Seasons, Spectrums and Intensity.
Features of the NEW Super High Flux 5W LEDs:
113% Higher PAR/Watt than a 600w HPS (XTE-200: 14.71 vs. 600w HPS: 6.90)
79% Higher PAR/Watt than competing 5w LED grow lights. (XTE-200: 14.71 vs. 5w Competitor: 8.10)
36% Higher PAR/Watt than the California Lightworks 200. (XTE-200: 14.71 vs. Solarflare 200: 11.02)
28% Higher PAR/Watt than the Kind L600. (XTE-200: 14.71 vs. Kind L600: 11.47)
PAR/Watt compared to HPS and Metal Halide grow lights
Advanced LED XTE 400: 16.85 @ 18" – 14.46 @ 36" – 12.31 @ 48"
400 Metal Halide: 4.90 @18" – 3.68 @ 36" – 3.21 @ 48"
400w HPS Light: 8.68 @18" – 5.26 @ 36" – 4.16 @ 48"
Model Total Coverage Core Coverage LED Specs Avg. Power Draw
XTE-300 3.5ft x 4ft 3ft x 3ft 5w CREE XT-E, 3w OSRAM SSL 2 52w
Here are the official PAR readings from Advanced LED for the XTE 300 series. These readings were taken with a LI-Cor par meter according to Advanced LED.
PAR per watt
@ 18" 17.49
@ 36" 17.09
@ 48" 15.42
PAR sum
@ 18" 4531
@ 36" 4426
@ 48" 3993
Heat 98
Running wattage 259
Center Par
@ 18" 1535
@ 36" 1154
@ 48" 600
My Initial Impression:
When I first received the shipment I was very excited to open the boxes and see these newer panels from Advanced. Advanced LED has been one of those companies that has been around for a while, and I was always curious to try them so I was very happy to have in my hands the XTE 300s (2 of them) as well as the ExVeg200's. As my review video showed the boxes were well packed and discrete and inside were all needed cables (power and daisy chain) as well as the wire hangers and clip.
Upon firing these XTE-300's up to do my initial kill-a-watt tests I noticed an issue with both panels. On one of the panels just 1 single diode was out, one of the white ones, but all others were working. On the other panel a section of 4 modules (red channel) was out. Since I've dealt with issues with electronics before, it didn't concern me much as I called up Kyle to discuss the issue. I have to say they are very very professional and have great customer service and had a pick up for the lights arranged next day, and I got the new lights (not repaired ones) about 1 week later so it was really no hassle what so ever. Advanced LED and Kyle were polite, concerned and took care of the issue as any good company should, customer first type attitude so I was very happy with the process as it was of little no inconvenience to me at all
***also this was before the lights were even avail to the general public.
Overall was a very fluent process with no hassle what so ever to me, and of top notch service.
The Build:
The lights were built very well and solid with a heavy duty frame but still somewhat light for the size of the lights. It seems to be a steel of some type with a nice what looks to be powder coated white finish which makes it very smooth to the touch. All the seals and seams are nice and flush and the light feels very secure. Each module of LED's has a separate heatsink with nice # shaped pattern which really does a nice job of keeping this light cool, even at 100% drive. Each light featured 2 large fans with a screen dustcover to help keep the inside clean and they circulate a lot of air over the heat sinks but remain very quiet in the same. Each light has 2 knobs to control the intensity of each channel (one red channel, and one blue/white channel) which allows for dimming, color shifting and allows you to control the blend of spectrum manually for your garden. Each light also has 1 plug (AC in) and 1 daisy chain connector.
The LED Chips:
The Chips in the light feature OSRAM and Cree as well as Dual diode IR Chips which I believe may be Epistar (not many companies make IR chips). Cree and Osram are some of the best brands in the LED diode industry right now and are known for amazing lumen effiency, excellent lumen maintenance over time, and minimal color shift as well as long life, so I am very confident with the cool running design and good thermal management these chips will last a long time.
From visual inspection and comparison I believe these are the chips used.
OSRAM OSLON SSL 80 Hyper Red (646-666nm)* based on possible BIN numbers, source OSRAM Data sheets
Cree XPE Red (Not 100% sure but seems to be this chip) (610-630nm) * based on possible BIN numbers, source CREE Data sheets
Cree XTE White (not sure what color temp, most likely a neutral around 4-5k)
Cree XTE Blue (450-460nm) * based on possible BIN numbers, source CREE Data sheets
IR dual diode chip (looks like an Epistar) not many LEd companies make IR chips. (720-740nm) * based on possible BIN numbers, source EPISTAR Data sheets
Now by the looks of it, there are 2 different combinations of modules in this panel.
One module contains: 1 Cree XTE blue, 1 Cree XTE white, 5 OSRAM SSL 80 Hyper red, and 2 Cree XPE RED.
The other module contains: 2 Cree XTE blue, 5 OSRAM SSL 80 Hyper Red, 1 Cree XPE RED, 1 (dual diode) IR chip (most likely epistar)
Here is the full view of the panel with only the Red Channel ON:
Here is the full view of the panel with only the Blue/White Channel ON:
Here is the full view of the panel with all channels ON:
The company:
Dealing with Advanced LED and the staff has been a very pleasant experience. Kyle was my main contact at Advanced LED and was extremely helpful with any question I had, any concern and really knows his products well. You all know me I am a LED geek and he had an answer for everything I asked. Being that I was part of the Advanced LED "advocate" program I want to point out that I worked out a deal with advanced to do this grow, but they had absolutely no say or input on my grow, posts or anything shared here at 420 mag or any other of the places I share my grows. It was a completely hands off grow on their part which I really liked and then just let me do my thing.... but if I had a question, always were just a phone call away. Overall I think Advanced LED offers that top notch customer service and knowledge on their products you would expect from any good company and I really had a pleasure dealing with them, even with the slight bump in the beginning of the grow. Based on my interaction with the company I would definitely say it was a 2 green thumbs up experience
The LED Performance during Grow:
I have to say there is not one bad thing that I can say about these lights. They impressed me in every way. They use quality chips, they are extremely bright, they run very cool, and allow for spectrum and intensity adjustment. What is one not to like
Advanced says these lights coverage area on the website is 3.5'x4' and for core coverage 3'x3' and I would say these seem to be pretty accurate numbers. I would say maybe for core coverage, depending on height it may be closer to 2.5'x3' but still is pretty accurate as the PAR numbers from these lights show how insanely bright they are
So my plants really seemed to love these lights and performed very well as my Gram/Watt was the highest I have done so far in any grow with any light source including HID, and other LED's. With my final yield being the best for all of my LED grows, and with slightly less watts, I am definitely impressed with how things turned out. The Ogiesel that I have ran now for a few different cycles under different lighting sources filled out more than it ever has with very nice dense buds, and had better flavor than it has in the past. My GSC also has been run through numerous light cycles with different sources and also yielded heavier than every before under other lights, and also had a much more intense flavor, so its safe to say my plants really liked these XTE lights as well.
Final thoughts/Conclusion:
Like I said before I have absolutely good stuff to say about these lights, how the grow went and I will definitely be running them in my next grow.
I am not going to get into the "is this light better than that light" because it really can't compare to many other lights on the market due to the Advanced LED XTE's using premium LED chips (cree and Osram) which wouldn't make it a fair comparison on price point vs Par or any other comparison...premium chips cost about 4x-5x more than regular ones, but they last almost double as long according to data sheets.
But if you ask me the question, would you buy Advanced LED XTE panels, I would 100% say yes as they worked extremely well and you won't be disappointed in any way
Well done, either way!
