There are so many different grow lights available on the market that it can be a bit overwhelming to decide which are the best for your indoor gardening needs.
And grow lights can be pretty expensive, so you don’t want to go through a lot of trial and error to find what you’re looking for.
To help you navigate the world of grow lights, today, we will be looking at the Advanced PlatinumLED Grow Light review.
This series has many different models to choose from: the P150, P300, P450, P600, P900, and P1200. They share many of the same features, making the decision even more difficult.
The one that may be right for you mostly depends on how much power and coverage you need for your indoor garden.
Want to learn more? Let’s get into our Advanced PlatinumLED Grow Light review!
Table of ContentsShow
Who Is PlatinumLED?
PlatinumLED is an American-owned and operated family business based out of Kailua, Hawaii.
They claim to have the highest-level PAR per watt over all their competition in the world of LED grow lights. This is highly debatable.
But let’s look closer at their product features and specifications to judge for ourselves.
PlatinumLED Grow Light Review: Product Specs
There are many different models to choose from in the Advanced Platinum Series of grow lights.
We will only review the specs of the Advanced Platinum Series P300 as an example; it is arguably the most popular unit in this series.
This should give you an idea of what to expect from the other models.
- Dimensions: 19″ x 8.5″ x 3″
- Weight: 12.8 pounds
- LED Type: 3W LEDs from US manufacturers like Bridgelux and CREE
- HID Replacement: 400W HPS Light
- Power: 300W (100 pieces x 3W)
- Spectrum: 12 band full light spectrum, including UV and IR
- Coverage: maximum coverage of 4.5′ x 3.8′, core coverage at 3′ x 2′
- Voltage: AC85V-260V
- Lifespan: 100,000 hours
Now, let’s take a closer look at what goes into these grow lights:
PAR Output And Coverage
Unfortunately, PlatinumLED doesn’t give out PAR charts. The charts would help enlighten you on how their lights should perform.
This lack of information is fairly common among grow light manufacturers. Instead, they provide just a single PAR number. It’s at the center of each model’s veg and bloom coverage areas at various heights.
See the table below for the values at 18″ from the top of the canopy.
| Model | Bloom Coverage (feet) | Vegetative Coverage (feet) | PAR (µmol/m2/s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced PlatinumLED P150 | 3 x 1.5 | 4.5 x 3.5 | 545 |
| Advanced PlatinumLED P300 | 3 x 2 | 4.5 x 3.8 | 1050 |
| Advanced PlatinumLED P450 | 3 x 2.5 | 4.5 x 4 | 1385 |
| Advanced PlatinumLED P600 | 5 x 2 | 6 x 3.75 | 1535 |
| Advanced PlatinumLED P900 | 5 x 3 | 6 x 4 | 1615 |
| Advanced PlatinumLED P1200 | 5 x 4 | 6 x 5.5 | 1827 |
There are different values for vegetative and bloom coverage.
That’s because plants don’t need as much light when they are in the vegetative stage. You can move the light further from the cover, giving you a large coverage area.
You do need to keep an eye on your plants, though. Once they start the blooming stage, you will need extra light intensity. You’ll have to move the light closer to the plants, decreasing the coverage area.
You can see the light intensity is pretty great with the Advanced PlatinumLED series. But you must be familiar with the average PAR values for these types of LED grow lights.
These lights are almost equal to the more expensive top brands in light output. That makes them superior to most other LED grow lights at this price point.
PlatinumLED Grow Light Review: LEDs
The Advanced PlatinumLED grow lights use top-bin LED bulbs from Bridgelux and CREE.
Those in the gardening world know them to be quality manufacturers in the US.
These quality diodes are an essential factor. They help ensure you are getting an effective and reliable product. And they do this while still maximizing output.
Each diode also has a 90-degree secondary focusing lens. It helps collect and evenly distribute the light throughout the entire coverage area.
These diodes are also Zener protected, which can help guard against line surges.
There are stronger diodes on the market today, but PlatinumLED uses just 3W LEDs.
The company claims its 3W diodes can outperform any 5W, 6W, or 10W. They say the diodes can even beat COB LEDs regarding consumed wattage due to an improved efficiency curve.
It is debatable if this is true or not. You may be wondering why you would choose to go with a grow light that uses a 3W diode instead of a more powerful option.
In short, the stronger the diode, the more heat it gives off.
To ensure effective heat dissipation, the manufacturer must equip the grow light with fans and heavy heat sinks. That’s where things get expensive. Speaking of which…
PlatinumLED Grow Light Review: Keeping It Cool
It doesn’t give off a lot of heat, to begin with—thanks to its 3W diodes. But the Advanced Platinum Series of LED grow lights come outfitted anyway.
They have aluminum cooling heatsinks and fans for effective heat dissipation.
Keeping your grow light cool also contributes to extending its lifespan. That is an impressive 100,000 hours.
PlatinumLED Grow Light Review: Full Light Spectrum
Look at the first graph. The engineers developed PlatinumLED’s 12-band spectrum to match the absorption rate of various kinds of chlorophyll.
The second graph shows how their competitors stack up regarding the chlorophyll absorption rates, and the difference is noticeable. They do not provide the same peaks in the red and blue ranges of color that are important for plant growth.
You can also see that the PlatinumLED brand provides small peaks in the UV and IR ranges.
That’s contrary to some of its competitors. This is denoted by the small purple peak at the far left and the small red peak at the far right, respectively.
The Advanced PlatinumLED has veg and bloom switches on their grow lights. It allows you to customize the lighting to match the stage of plant growth and even save power.
With the Advanced Platinum Series P300 grow light, turning the veg switch on only draws 93W of power.
Then, when your plants are in the flowering stage, turn the bloom switch on to draw the full 180W of power.
This kind of system allows you to give your plants what they need when they need it. It also allows you to save power and money on electric bills.
Customer Service
You’ll be spending a fair amount of money on your grow light. Right off the bat, PlatinumLED offers a five-year warranty.
There’s a 90-day money-back guarantee on their grow lights—which is far better than some of their competitors.
As for people and their experiences with PlatinumLED’s customer service, the reviews seem to be a bit mixed.
Some people say their customer service is amazing. They have had their questions answered, and any replacements sent promptly. Others seem to have had a more challenging time getting a hold of their team.
More of the reviews seem to be on the “amazing” side, though, so that’s a good sign!
Disadvantages
The Advanced PlatinumLED grow light series doesn’t have any major disadvantages.
There are a few minor things like it doesn’t appear to have daisy chain features. Also, it’s not waterproof. Thus it may not be ideal for large gardens or those with outdoor grow tents or greenhouses.
There’s one other minor disadvantage. The coverage area is slightly smaller than that of top brands.
Arguably though, the price of the Advanced PlatinumLED grow lights makes up for the lack of coverage.
PlatinumLED Grow Light Review: Final Thoughts
If you decide to invest in an Advanced PlatinumLED grow light, it will not disappoint you.
At this price point and with this kind of performance quality, it’s hard to beat.
They may not be the cheapest units around. But you will still be getting the performance that compares with top brands at a fraction of the price.
So, if you are looking for a grow light that gives you a high PAR value, decent coverage area, separate veg and bloom switches, low heat emission, and a full spectrum of light using top-quality American-made LEDs, look no further.
You should be satisfied with any of the offerings in the Advanced PlatinumLED Grow Light Series.
But if you are someone who needs a waterproof grow light with a daisy chain function, this may not be the unit for you.
Our final verdict is this: it’s unlikely you will find a better grow light for this price!
