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LED grow lights are a tough thing to understand – there are hundreds of companies selling through different brand names, making outlandish claims, and so on…
What’s a grower to do?
Today, I’m reviewing one of the most accessible options in the industry. I’m talking about MarsHydro, a Chinese company whose very affordable LED grow lights have slowly gained acceptance among growers. As a Chinese manufacturer of lights, you still have to bridge the America-China gap in communication with the company sometimes, but they are coming a long way. And better yet, they offer truly low-cost grow lights.
In this in-depth MarsHydro review, I’m going to take a look at their product line, build quality, and the company itself review from top to bottom. We’ll look at:
- The features their lights offerThe build quality of their lightsAll of the technical specificationsTheir warranty policy and company history
…and much more. Without further ado — let’s dive in to Mars Hydro.
My Quick Take on MarsHydro
If you want my quick opinion, here you go:
Mars Hydro’s grow lights are quite affordable relative to their quality, especially the new version of the Mars Hydro 300W. It uses new SMD technology and they’re able to be daisy-chained. They perform much better than older versions, which has a bigger problem with burnt diodes. It’s a great choice for a beginner grower.
Their current lights are split into these categories:
- Mars Pro IIMars IIMars Reflector SeriesMars Cree COBMars SP (Available soon)Mars TS (Available soon)
There are too many models to individually cover in this review, so I’ve decided to cover the Pro II and Reflector Series, which are their most popular lines.
Recommended Models
The only Mars Hydro light I personally can recommend is the 300w Full Spectrum, as it’s the one that I’ve used in my personal grow room.
- XC3LBI2XC3LBI2XC3LBI2XC3LBI2
The newer version has more red diodes to achieve bigger flowers, larger fruit, and higher yields. It’s got an upgraded power switch, plus you can finally daisy-chain them to allow more scalability to your grow room.
Should You Buy a Mars Hydro Light?
If you’re interested in the MarsHydro 300W, then yes…it’s still a good value. They’re coming out with some higher-end white LED models, which I am going to get my hands on soon for an in-depth review both here on the blog and my YouTube channel.
Company Background
When I was looking up all I could find about Mars Hydro I noticed that they had very little information about themselves in their website. So I wrote them an email expressing my concerns over their lack of information asking them for more, and they answered!
Here are some parts of their answer:
It’s important to remember that there’s a cultural divide between how business is conducted in America and in China, so the practices of a Chinese company may seem strange to us as Americans, but it’s simply a culture gap most of the time…not anything malicious or unprofessional.
What Type of LEDs Do They Use?
Marshydro utilizes mostly Epistar LED chips, but in some of their higher quality models they also utilize Cree or Osram LED chips.
Here’s some information about their spectrums according to their product description.
White LEDs in the ranges of:
- 2700K3000K
Nanometer specific LEDs with the following outputs:
- 455nm460nm465nm470nm615nm625nm630n640nm645nm650nm
Infrared (IR)
Mars also offers centered PAR (micromoles) measurements readings with most of their grow lights.
Further Resources:
- Indoor Grow Lights OverviewHow Do Plants Use Light?
Mars Hydro Warranty
Mars Hydro provides a 3 year true warranty. Whenever you buy a LED grow light, it’s important to check the warranty that the company offers. I can’t tell you how many times I hear about people buying lights and then the light dies on them in the first month of operation. To protect against that, the better companies offer a warranty that covers any initial light failures. The best companies offer even more protection than that. The quality of a light manufacturer’s warranty is a direct signal as to how much they believe in the product that they’re making and selling to you.
Mars has improved their warranty page since the initial draft of this review, adding more information as well as including a full return policy and replacement parts cost sheet.
Product Line
Pro II
This is the latest generation MarsHydro offering, they’re equipped with CREE & Epistar Diodes, Switches to turn “Stage Specific” Vegetative and Flowering lighting.
Mars Pro II Epistar 80 150w
Mars Pro II Epistar 120 250w
Mars Pro II Epistar 160 350w
Decibel value:54.1DB
Mars Pro II Epistar 320 750w
Mars Pro II Cree128 320w
Mars Pro II Cree256 650w
Mars II
Their standard, grow light line up. It’s Powered by 5W (theoretical max) Epistar Diodes. With an introductory price of $155.99 USD for the 400W model (actually 162W), all the way up to $689.99 USD for the biggest model.
Mars II 400
Mars II 700
Mars II 900
Mars II 1200
Mars II 1600
Mars II 900 Veg Spectrum
Mars II 1600 Flowering Spectrum
Mars Reflector Series
The Reflector Series is Mars Hydro’s most affordable grow light line up. Starting at $91.99 USD, they’re designed around using integrated reflectors, and 5W Diodes. They have changed their naming strategy for the better in this series, stating the actual number of LEDs rather than the theoretical maximum output.
Mars Reflector 48
Mars Reflector 96
Mars Reflector 144
Mars Reflector 192
Mars COB 100w
Last but not least we have MarsHydro’s offering of a mainly CREE powered COB LED Light that comes in an IP65 enclosure which offers water protection. It is powered by a Meanwell driver which is actually very high quality, and a combination of a CREE CXB 3590 COB, with their more usual Epistar red and blue diodes around the COB. To ensure the longevity of the COB they cool the grow light actively with a radiator and a fan.
