If you’re an indoor gardener who has been shopping around for a new LED grow light, then you have probably come across the Viparspectra 600W LED Grow Light at some point in your research.
If so, you may have noticed that it seems to get a lot of really good reviews even though it is not one of the more expensive, top-of-the-line brands currently on the market.
Let’s get to know more about this grow light in this Viparspectra 600W review.
Looking at the price, you may be wondering, can its quality really be that good? Similarly priced models are certainly not always worth the investment, and though it is on the cheaper side, if you are on a budget you don’t want to be throwing your money away.
As it turns out, the Viparspectra 600W Grow Light is a great product. Want some specifics?
Let’s take a closer look at our Viparspectra 600W review.
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Viparspectra 600W Review: Who Is Viparspectra?
Viparspectra was founded in 2011 with the goal of providing affordable, innovative products specifically for indoor gardening.
They did so well in their first few years that by 2015 they were able to upgrade their equipment and expand their manufacturing plant to accommodate more products.
They have since established service centers and warehouses in multiple countries, including the US, Australia, and the UK.
Even though they have been busy with all of their facilities, they claim to have only a 0.1% defect rate, which is probably one of the reasons they have over 20 million satisfied customers.
Product Specifications
- Dimensions: 15.3 x 12.8 x 3 inches
- Weight: 11.6 pounds
- HPS Replacement: 400W
- Power Consumption: 260W±3% at 120V
- Input: AC100-240V
- Amperage: 2.17A at 120V, 1.18A at 220V
- LED Bulbs: High Intensity 5W Epiled/Bridgelux LEDs
- Full light spectrum: 12+ wavelengths of color
- Coverage: 3 x 3 feet for vegetative coverage, and 2.5 x 2.5 for flowering coverage
- Lifespan: 100,000 hours
Let’s go over some of these specs in a little more detail:
PAR Output And Coverage
For a grow light that is on the smaller side, the Viparspectra 600W Grow Light (or V600 for short) provides a good balance between coverage and PAR.
This unit is part of their reflector series, and these fire-resistant reflectors work to increase PAR output by 50%.
According to the manufacturer, this grow light is ideal for a 3 x 3-foot area for vegetative coverage when hanging at 32 inches, and a 2.5 x 2.5-foot area for flowering coverage when hanging at 22 inches.
As you can see above, when hanging from a 24-inch height, the PAR value in the center is 488µmol. As you begin to move away from the center, this number changes to between 305µmol/m2/s and 332µmol/m2/s at the corners within a 1 x 1-foot square, and then from 47µmol/m2/s to 64µmol/m2/s at the corners of a 3 x 3-foot square.
Looking at these numbers, the PAR value is not nearly as high at the corners of the 3 x 3-foot square.
Therefore, if your garden has a high light requirement, you would probably be better off having this grow light cover only a 2 x 2 area.
That being said, if you are growing plants that don’t flower or need quite that much light, then you should be able to easily cover a 2.5 x 2.5-foot area.
LEDs
The generally high PAR values from the V600 are primarily due to the fact that the unit has been equipped with high-intensity 5W Epileds/Bridgelux LED chips.
Many similar grow lights come with just 3W LEDs so that the V600 can penetrate deeper below the canopy than others.
While grow lights with 5W chips are more powerful than the ones with just 3W, there are units out there that offer 10W or even 15W LEDs.
Viparspectra has addressed this and defended their decision to use 5W chips, saying that LED wattage is simply a system input that doesn’t tell you much about the performance. The fixture and LED efficiency can vary depending on many factors.
Instead, they say that growers should be focusing on the PAR output of the system and that 10W and 15W LEDs don’t necessarily outperform the 5W LEDs they use in the V600.
While we can’t speak for every grow light that has these more high-powered LEDs, we can say that the V600 does indeed produce an intense light with good canopy penetration. You can certainly get similar results in any 400W HID system.
Cooling System
Since the V600 uses 5W chips, which tend to run a lot hotter than the 3W ones, it needs to have an efficient cooling system.
This unit comes with an aluminum heatsink and two high-speed fans for effective heat dissipation.
If you want to do your indoor gardening discretely, you thankfully don’t need to worry about these fans being overly loud as they can be with some brands. Customers say that there is minimal noise.
Daisy Chain Function
An efficient cooling system is even more important if you have multiple lights in your indoor garden, and you can achieve this easily with the V600.
This unit has a daisy chain feature, meaning you can easily connect it right to other grow lights without having to use any other wires or cords.
The US power cord that this light panel comes with can be used as both a power plug and a daisy chain cable, so no other cords are necessary.
To be safe, the company says you should only link a maximum of two extra V600s or other lights with similar or less wattage.
Viparspectra 600W Review: Full Light Spectrum
With the V600, you get an optimal full spectrum of light ideal for all stages of plant growth.
There are 12 wavelengths of color output: 440nm, 445nm 460nm, 475nm, 580nm, 595nm, 615nm, 630nm, 660nm, IR730nm, 3000K, and 7500K.
This grows light also comes with separate veg and bloom switches so you can change the light intensity according to the growth stage of your plants.
For example, during the acclimation and young vegetative period, the company recommends turning on just the veg switch, which gives you predominantly blue light. Then, for the vegetative and flowering stages, you should also turn on the bloom switch to add in more red light.
Customer Service
Viparspectra lists product quality and customer service as their top priorities and offers a 3-year US warranty and 30-day money-back guarantee on this V600 grow light.
While there are customers who have had bad experiences with their customer service team, especially when it comes to simply getting a hold of a rep, it seems that there are others who have experienced the opposite.
A lot of people have had an easy time getting replacements and advice from the team when needed, which is always nice to know when purchasing this type of product.
Disadvantages
There aren’t a lot of major downsides to the Viparspectra V600.
It’s mainly just missing some features that are nice to have, such as a timer. This isn’t a huge deal as you can get your own timer on the side, but it is a nice and helpful feature.
Another thing missing from this grow light is a dimmer if you like to customize the light that is shining on your plants. It does have the veg and bloom switches, to help adjust light intensity, but if you are looking specifically for a light panel with a dimmer you will need to look elsewhere.
Finally, the V600 grow light is not waterproof. If your grow room is indoors this isn’t much of an issue, but the lack of waterproofing means you can’t use it outside in a grow tent or greenhouse.
Viparspectra 600W Review: Final Thoughts
Overall, if you are interested in the Viparspectra 600W Grow Light, then our advice is this: get it! It seems to live up to the hype.
It has good PAR output and coverage, high-intensity LEDs, an effective and quiet cooling system, daisy chain capabilities, and offers a full spectrum of light that is suitable for all stages of plant growth.
With these specs and at this price, it manages to perform just as well if not better than some of the more expensive brand names out there!
If the fact that this is a 600-watt grow light is the only thing keeping you from buying it, then you will be happy to know that they do have more powerful versions available. You can also get this light in a 1200-watt version if this suits your needs.
Also keep in mind the lack of certain features with this product: there is no timer, no dimmer, and it is not waterproof.
Though some indoor gardeners may not care too much about these features, if any of these things are an absolute requirement for your indoor gardening needs then you should probably keep shopping.
