@NextLight Report (As Promised)
420h Quad Board
So the picture shows the very smallest, very most bottom bud on the biggest Strawberry Banana auto, grown under the 420h. The five autos - 4 Strawberry Bananas and 1 Gelato, all spent every moment of their lives under this light. They did not go outdoors. That was the whole point - to assess the light. I promised the NL folks I would give an honest assessment. Now that the rig is dark (temporarily, hehe), it's time for that.
I pictured the very most bottom bud on the densest plant of all for a reason. These are the buds on your plant when you harvest that are always flarf. They get little or no light. They usually stay completely green, or often, instead of changing colors like the buds which get light do. They often feel a bit moist - like junk. That's the usual bottom of the plant buds, I would argue, for most of us, regardless of our skill set. And of course you get varying degrees of these flarfy buds, both regarding their "quality" and their physical appearance. But the point is that most of the time this bud would be junk.
Not under the 420h.
One of the ways that I assess the effectiveness of any light is it's penetrating power. How far through the plant leaves do those photons travel? How deep towards the bottom of the plant does the light actually have the desired effect, and at what point do the lowest buds become flarf? This is all about the spectrum of the light and the focus of your LEDs, independent of your particular choice of how you use the dimmer or whatever. But most of us, for flower anyway, would be running our lights at 100% power. This one ran at 100% from day one of seedling. I prefer to always run at 100% and adjust the canopy distance instead of using a, what's it called, dimmer?
This bud is dense. Frosty. Complete looking in it's appearance. Properly shaped. Just as colorful as the colas. Equally well balanced in terms of it's red/green distribution. Is it as dense as the colas? Not quite. But it's WAY close to it. And this bud, in theory, got hardly any light at all. It was buried in a dense mass of central buds that had to be carefully cut apart to dry them - it was bigger than my closed fist. I mean buried. This bud should be flarf.
The 420h has some SERIOUS penetrating power. Especially for a quantum board.
Also having shown several of the finished buds of the plants now, you can see how there's a uniformity to all of them. Yes, different phenos maybe, but very consistent across the board in terms of density, color, shape, etc. What this tells me is that the footprint of the 420h is very very solid within it's preferred range. In my opinion, that range is 3x3. This light would certainly work in a 4x4 or you could even stretch it and make it work potentially in a 5x5....but imho, it is best suited and most effective in the 3x3 square. That's the size tent I'd use it in. Not that you see a lot of 3x3's. Lol. Just saying in my opinion that's where the magic of the footprint is. Even in a 4x4 I would try to keep my plants within that 3x3 block.
The light isn't really advertised as being for a 5x5. It's very accurate to it's stated numbers. In my opinion, the NL guys got the marketing of this light correct. By that I mean they tell you the REAL information, not any trumped up par numbers or anything like that, as you will find with lesser quality lights. This is also a big plus. It's nice to be able to depend on the numbers that come from the folks who actually make the damn thing.
The weed is all very pungent, very dense, very VERY frosty, and very good. On every level this is a nod to the 420h. The plants LOVED the spectrum, obviously. Which is important considering it doesn't change.
The dimmer, for real, works amazingly well. You will find many lights with dimmers that don't. They'll cut out altogether at about 20% sometimes or something of that nature. Not this one. Full sweep, 0 to 100, with discernible to the eye differences exactly where you'd think, and discernible to my Phototone app 100%. Lovely for those who use it.
Set up couldn't be easier, and it's extremely well balanced and very solidly built.
I am going to go as far as to say this is the best quantum board I have ever used for it's size. It's simply an amazing light. For what NL charges for it, imho, it is an extremely good value.
Oh, how did it yield? Not sure yet, but close enough to get close. Five autos, minimally trained, no intention of going whole hog on them. Knew they'd be smallish plants. Knew I wouldn't get super high yields. Was okay with that cuz this was a quality assessment grow. Well, the first two SBs are 2 z's apiece. 3 and 4 are likely 3 z's apiece. And the Gelato is likely 4. I'm estimating 14 ounces from these five plants under the 420h.
Almost a pound. From a quantum board. In my experience that's damn okay.
There is no downside to this light. If you have it, or maybe if you recently won it as I did, you are one very psyched guy or gal.
THANK YOU SO MUCH NEXTLIGHT for your amazing sponsorship and support for all of us. I feel safe speaking for the group when I say that we all really appreciate it. Awesome job.
EDIT: DUH, it would help to actually post the picture. Lol. Here you go.
