VIPARSPECTRA Pro Series LED Grow Light Review

I recently reviewed the VIPARSPECTRA P600 LED Grow Light. I unboxed it, explained its features, and tested its power consumption and light output.

VIPARSPECTRA provided me with 2 of these lights at no charge in exchange for my honest review. Last year, I switched to SANSI LED grow lights, which did a really good job for me, and I’ll use them again this year. But like many of my fellow YouTube creators with gardening channels, I’m constantly approached to test new grow lights. I say no a lot, but I said yes to VIPARSPECTRA. I purchased one of their previous generations of lights several years ago and had great results. I passed that light onto a friend last year, and it’s still working great. I wanted to check out one of their newest models and compare results with my SANSI lights.

The P600 is part of VIPARSPECTRA’s Pro Series. It’s the most affordable in the series, with 2’x2’ coverage. I grow my seedlings on 2×4’ tables, so 2 of these lights are perfect to cover one table. All six lights in the Pro Series have a similar design and features, with coverage up to 5’x5’. Let’s unbox.

VIPARSPECTRA shipped these lights directly to me. No outer box, just the two product boxes lashed together with strapping tape. Overall, grow light manufacturers haven’t adopted premium packaging like other electronics. I was wowed by the packaging of the Output Frontier studio monitors I recently purchased, including drawstring bags for each speaker. Here, there’s just brown cardboard and styrofoam. Takes some of the fun out of unboxing, but at least it keeps costs down. I do wish companies would stop using styrofoam, which can’t be easily recycled.

After more fumbling, I’ve finally extracted the light. It’s much heavier than I expected. The body is all metal, with large aluminum heat sinks for cooling, instead of a noisy fan. The lighting elements are protected by a thick layer of clear silicone to keep water out.

Not much else in the box. There’s a hanger and power cord, a one-sheet user instructions and info card. When attaching the hanger, I found it a little difficult to get the clips attached, because the holes are not very close to the edge, and also because the clips and housing are both metal, I was afraid of scratching the bright green paint. Luckily, that didn’t happen.

The instructions include safety information and specifications. There are some suggestions on height, hours of use, and brightness settings, but I’m not sure how closely I’d personally adhere to them. 

There’s only one control on the light, a dimmer switch that cycles through 15% to 100% brightness. No on/off switch. Unless you’re using an external switch, the light is on whenever it’s plugged in. This quantum board light has four different types of LEDs — 3000K Warm White, 5000K Daylight, 660nm Deep Red, and 730nm Infrared. The IR diodes may look like they’re aren’t working, because human eyes can’t see light in that wavelength. 

My state-of-the-art test lab consists of an old mic stand, a cutting mat and our dining room table. That’s where I tested power consumption and light output. The unit uses 11.7W at it’s lowest dimmer setting, and around 94W at the max setting. That matches the specs. In comparison, the 100W SANSI LED floodlight I reviewed last year drew 67.1W.

I don’t have a pricey PAR meter meant to specifically measure output from grow lights, but I do have a simple light meter that takes readings in LUX and foot candles. I took the same readings I performed last year with 100W SANSI light as a  comparison. All readings were taken at 100% brightness.

Although the SANSI and VIPARSPECTRA lights use different technology, the light output per watt is actually quite similar between the two. The VIPARSPECTRA light is quite a bit brighter, but at the expense of higher power consumption. Now I’m not using these grow lights to grow plants to maturity, so I don’t need the highest output lights for good results.

I’ll be comparing results between the VIPARSPECTRA and SANSI lights throughout the seedling growing season, and posting updates on the 7 Pot Club YouTube channel. 

I planted my hot pepper seeds a few days ago, and soon I’ll be ready to start transplanting seedlings and moving them down to the basement, where each of these lights will cover a 2×2’ area with 36 plants.

If you’d like to try a VIPARSPECTRA Pro Series light, you can use the code Pro7potclub to get an extra 5% discount when you purchase any Pro Series light on Amazon, and an 8% discount when you purchase directly from VIPARSPECTRA. Links are below:

Save 5% on VIPARSPECTRA Pro Series LED Grow Lights at Amazon with code Pro7potclub

P600
P1000
P1500
P2000
P2500
P4000

Save 8% on VIPARSPECTRA Pro Series LED Grow Lights at viparspectra.com with code Pro7potclub

VIPARSPECTRA Pro Series Grow Lights

As an Amazon Associate and VIPARSPECTRA affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.