According to Mars Hydro’s 2022 sales report, the best-selling product in the field is undoubtedly the TS1000, while the most popular in commercial projects is the FC-E6500. However, to our surprise, the lights with the most repeat customers are the SP3000 and SP6500.
We collected reviews of these two lights from websites and stores, interviewed customers who had made bulk repurchases of the SP6500, and finally discovered the reason for their high repurchase rate.
Versatile SP3000 For Both Medical And Tropical Plants
“This thing is as bright as the sun in a good way. If your trying to light hungry or tropical species this is a good way to get your plants to love you. Used it to nurse many pitcherplants from nepenthes to trumpet pitchers(which love 12 full direct sunlight) and they grew like weeds under this thing”
“This light is incredible. I’ve been able to grow massive tropical plants in my basement office by running it at half power at night for 12 hours. At full power I could place plants anywhere in the room and they’d still grow well. The quality of the build and light is top notch.”
Mars Hydro officially recommends SP3000 be applied in greenhouses for medical weed. However, we generate positive reviews from tropical plant growers worldwide because of its superior performance in growing tropical species. The wavelength and intensity pleased the tropical plants and grow them well. SP3000 is made full spectrum with spectra “650-665nm, 2800-3000K, 4800-5000K”, where the wavelengths 650-665nm are what we call the deep or dark red spectrum. No matter what type of plants you grow, it contributes to the entire flowering stage and leads to amazing advances in bud size, flower color, leaf size, flower flavor, and fruit weight.
On the other hand, SP3000, in the official recommendation, is a perfect fit for 2×4 grow tents and it proved that by the amazing harvest returned.
“This light is excellent. I’ve been consistently hitting at least 7oz dry with 2 plants in a 4x2x5 foot tent. I recently upped some of the nutrient levels in my DWC buckets, and it has made a dramatic increase in growth. The pictures in this review are my current plants under the Mars Hydro. Based on their growth rate, they should easily top 8oz each. This is a very good light. It doesn’t get very hot. You can mount the power supply outside of the tent because they give you a long enough cord to do so… unlike most other lights. Most of all, it has a very good and even light distribution. The light is almost 4 feet long but only a few inches wide, yet it covers a 2 foot wide canopy very well. The light is worth the money!”
But our creative customers took advantage of its efficiency and made a saving by using two SP3000s to light a 5×5 grow tent.
“I have two these SP3000 lights in my 5×5 tent and they work great. I highly recommend this light. Originally I bought only one and used it in a 2×4 tent. When I upgraded to the 5×5 tent I had looked at other options—I would have had to spend a lot more. Then I wondered if two of these would cover the 5×5 space—perfectly they do.”
In a word, it is the versatility of the SP3000 that made it popular and appealing to whoever used it.
The Mars Hydro SP6500: Light Penetrating Warrior
“I took a gamble when I first bought them”, Mitchell recalled,” but they pay off. And now I want 35 more, my friend plans to buy 60 SP6500 after seeing my results.” Mitchell stated he made great success and grew wonderful results under SP6500 in his grow room. So we had an interview with him and knew the reason.
“Everybody wants the fc6500, but they don’t know what they missed. The fc6500 same wattages as the sp6500, but it has 8 bars, and each bar is less than 100 watts. The sp6500 is like one bar but 650 watts. You know why the sp6500 yields better? It is the penetration, the light intensity and penetration. It is like 2 Gavita double ended HPS side by side. Penetration is what you need to get the bottom buds big. I had an experiment that one room with 4 FC6500 and another room with 4 SP6500. You know what? The SP6500 gave me 30% more.”
So what exactly is light penetration and why does it work? Some would say that penetration is the ability of light to go deep through the top of the canopy. Not accurate. penetration is not exactly the light’s ability to push through leaves, but the difference in light intensity from the top of the canopy to the inside or lower part of the canopy. Light penetrates vertically and horizontally.
The vertical penetration mainly depends on the light intensity and spectrum design. Higher-intensity fixtures or full-spectrum fixtures that include green spectra and are enhanced in dark red (650nm and above wavelengths) are able to push light farther down into the lower part of the canopy vertically. Horizontal penetration is easy to understand because it is part of the reason why growers always put their plants in a grow tent. Light will come to the plants from different angles thus the lower part of the plants can absorb enough light.
As a result, growing in an open room with several SP6500s will allow better vertical and horizontal penetration as the light comes in from several angles with high intensity.
The same principle, then the SP6500 must also be loved by greenhouse growers. This has been confirmed as well in the reviews.
“In order to prepare for the coming winter in Australia, I bought 7 SP6500, which is very suitable for our greenhouse, although I hung the light very high, my plants can still absorb the light they want.”
To Round Up…
Now we know the reasons why SP3000 and SP6500 are the most popular among returning customers. Because of their versatility and high penetration, growers get exceptional results compared with other brands and other lights, so if you grow tropical plants, tall plants, or in a greenhouse or places where cooling performance is needed, SP3000 and SP6500 are the best options for you.
