MARS HYDRO 2025 New FC-E6500 Foldable LED Grow Light 5x5ft 730Watt, Full Spectrum Grow Light Bar Commercial Plant Growing Lamp for Vertical Farming

I posted a very long review that didn't get approved, so I'm going to make it short and sweet. This light draws 800w +/- 5% but the driver consumes 70w. So, 730w of LED power is what you're actually putting out. That being said, I have never had happier plants. I went from having an extremely hot tent with a 1,200w HPS to having a 5x5x6.5 tent that never cracks 85°, even with the exhaust fan turned to the minimum. The LED puts out less actual ePPF than my HPS but it's much wider spectrum and MUCH more evenly spread out. My entire tent at 12" doesn't get below 823ePPFD at the minimum. The average at 18" is 1,064ePPFD according to my quantum sensor, and 1,321 ePPFD average at 12". However I like to keep it at 18" so that the light spread it more even, and I don't want to burn my plants as I am not using supplemental CO2.Anyways, the driver thing was explained to me in an email from Mars. I got this grow light on sale for $560, so there's no way I could ever get a better deal on a light like this. My only gripe is that I bought it RIGHT before they put out the FC-E1000w which I would have rather purchased. Oh well, this one is still good for my purposes! If I decide to supplement CO2, I'll lower the light.My power use immediately dropped very significantly just from having this light for 2 weeks out of the power billing period. I'm glad, because power rates in my area are about to go from $0.1205/kWh to $0.24175/kWh at the start of January. I can always lower the light and dim it to cut energy consumption if necessary.I give the light a 5/5 in all categories, but like all companies; MarsHydro overstates the performance of their product. At 12" I only get a total of 1,933 ePPF and they advertise 2,100 PPF Which it seems is never the case in any reviews. As long as you're cool with that, this light grows plants like no fixture I have ever used. The 8 100w blurples from Marshydro that I was using 2016-2019 couldn't get anywhere near this performance or efficiency. Also, the efficiency is much lower than claimed by Marshydro. I get 2.416 EPPF/J. 1933/800=2.416. If we go by the output wattage, I get 2.65ePPF/J, which is less than the efficiency of 2.8 PPD/J that they advertise.All in all, I don't regret my purchase, I will save around $2,000 in the next year on my power bill because of it, and my flowers have never grown so densely and happily. Great job Marshydro, just be more realistic in your ads.Update 1/15/2023: This light has saved me $100 on my power bill compared to a 1200W HPS. My usage statement on November 13 was 1145kWh consumed, December was 13th statement was 1209kWh, This month's statement shows 687kWh consumed.The light will pay for itself in 4 more months. Then we're just saving money.

Why did you pick this product vs others?:Great light. Ladies love it! Be careful if purchasing usb Mars-Hydro iConnectu dongle as it is quirky and will log you out if you disconnect it or mess with the dimmer dial on the light. Logged me out and I went 7 hours of light longer than my 12/12 schedule I had set up. Worked well for couple weeks but something happened yesterday when I removed the Bluetooth iConnectu. Anyway it’s a great light but the app for the optional iConnectu device is confusing. Not a fan…

Awesome light, on the large side, you can grow 4-5 plants easily. Very easy to use, plants are happy. I got lucky; a friend came over to build it and hang it. Not hard to do, but the instructions are terrible; a few YouTube videos helped. Unexpectedly having to put it together. Mars is a quality light, no matter what one you buy, no regrets.

Purchased this light in 3/2023. This new FC-E6500 was to replace my lower-wattage Vivosun lights.The FC-E6500 was very bright and had what seemed a promising future. But alas within a few months, the light died; actually it turned out to be the power supply, and the company replaced the power supply.I had several weeks of downtime without a light, and then the new power supply showed up....though this time it had different connectors. I tested the new power supply with the light, and it worked once again. So, with that said, I reinstalled the light in my growing area, and again within a few months, the light stopped working. This time the connector had a burnt prong inside, and even smelled burnt. Note, the light setup had it's own dedicated power, not commingled with other electronics.At this time I requested a full refund and was denied. Instead, they insisted on sending me a new connector, to which I responded with a hard NO, and they said they would send another FC-E6500 but it wasn't new but they denied that it was refurbished.I reverted back to my previous setup with Vivosun lights, though less wattage than the FC-E6500 but much more reliable, and without a product that has potential fire hazard being an issue. At this time I have requested a full refund as this is unacceptable.Update: As of 11/1/2023, the company issued a full refund. I refer to it as "company" as it's not clear if this is actually MARS HYDRO or a licensed retailer, who sells shotty products?? Caution advised.