Okay first this is not yet an official item of the day.  But I just got a referral on them from a listener named “Chuck” and after doing some initial research I just ordered a set for my own use this coming seed starting season.  I have been recommending the Kingbo Grow Lights for a few years now.  I recommend them for starting seeds not growing out plants.  They are great for that, thousands of them have been purchased for that purpose, I have not had any complaints.

They do have their limits though.  Chiefly they need to be VERY close to the plants, if you do that they can even do a decent job growing plants to a decent size.  Again though they are limited, as I have always said.  I have been looking for a new light to start recommending for the same purpose (seed starting) yet with more power so you can fully grow with them as well.

It simply stands to reason that after three years time now tech should have gotten better and we should be able to get something better for about the same price.  It looks like we can get something a LOT  better for a LOT less which is frankly awesome.

I found a few videos of people using these Barinna Grow Lights that Chuck recommended, all seem happy with them.  They seem to me like especially for indoor growing of greens, etc. they would be exceptional.  Chuck grew an um, “traditional herbal remedy” indoors with them.  He also did this with the Kingbo’s and said,

“They did a much better job than the Kingbo lights for the full, long term growth of the plant to harvest.  Let’s just say that the plants I grew, did much better with these lights than Kingbo, following the seedling phase.  The Kingbo just didn’t have the output.”

Looking at the specs that is exactly what I would expect. The simple fact is when I started recommending the Kingbos nothing like this was available for this price.  Because check out what you get with these, you choices are…

• Six 2′ Barina LED Lights 24 watts each, 144 watts total for $59.99 (41 cents a watt)
• Or Six 4′ Barina LED Lights for 42 watts each, 252 watts total for $99.99 (39 cents a watt)

Compare that to the Kingbo’s which are a single 45 watt light for 27.99 or (62 cents a watt), but it gets better.  First the Kingbo’s are square, at about 1 foot square it takes 2 to light a 2 foot shelf and 4 to light a four foot shelf. The Barina’s are shaped like a T8 fixture, so you can use two of them to light a shelf of the same length.  Meaning the 6 pack of either would fully light three shelves of equivalent length.  Next up they Barnia’s daisy chain link so you can have all 6 of them running on one timed outlet with out a bazillion cords to manage.

Frankly I am sold and just ordered a set for myself to set up a new system with.  So why are they not an official item of the day?  Well I have not personally trialed them yet, that is why.  I totally trust the listener’s recommendation, the product seems to vet out well, but I have not yet trialed it, so it can’t be an item of the day.

So why didn’t I wait until I did trial them?

Well, you guys follow my recommendations and it is always a balance for me with finding new items.  The very day I put out a new item, 2-3 people will likely email me with something like, “man I just bought 5 of the old item two weeks ago, wish I had seen this first”.  It happens, there is no way to prevent it.  But what I can say for these lights is I have NO DOUBT they work better than the Kingbo’s.  I mean absolute zero doubt about that, and they cost a lot less per watt.  Given we have been discussing hydro, it is winter (indoor growing time) and we are headed into next year soon (seed starting time) I wanted to head this off at the pass so to say.

I do not recommend the Kingbo’s over these, even though I haven’t tried them yet.  I am going to post an update on the Kingbo page saying not to buy them and link it to this post.  I can’t yet say you can really run an “indoor hydro farm” with them, I am betting you can, but I can’t say that yet.  I can say for starting these would be my go to.  Coupled with simple cheap shelving and may be even a mini greenhouse indoor shelf system like this guy used, (note I recommend to lights to a shelf level, you will note this guy used one and he plants are a bit leggy) these are going to be my absolute new go to with seed starting systems and small indoor systems.  I am thinking they will do more, but I am holding my official endorsement until I get to give them a shot.

What I didn’t want was a guy looking to do a three shelf system 4 feet wide buying 12 Kingbo’s for 336 freaking dollars when that same guy could get a 6 pack of 4 foot Barina’s for 99 bucks!  For crying out loud you could buy 2 six packs, run 4 lights a shelf and still save 138 bucks.  I just didn’t want that to happen only for me to come back in January and say, “hey here is my new grow light recommendation”.  I mean we are not talking a small savings here, nor a small jump in quality.

So there you go, not yet fully “Spirko endorsed” but I am sold enough to spend my own money on them.  They are a fairly proven tech and have been out quite a while.  People who use them seem to like them and the price is just awesome.  I do think in the coming years LED tech will continue to get better and cheaper.  There are so many indoor grow operations that economy of scale is going to keep this trend going.  For now though I have to say these look like one hell of a great deal.  Of course the beauty with Amazon is if you don’t like them or get a dead one out of the box you can just return it.

Anyway if you have Kingbo’s don’t get rid of them, use them for what they are good for, but if you are looking to expand, grow indoors, start seeds, etc. I say give these a chance, they will save a ton of money and will be at least as good, likely a hell of a lot better.

P.S. – That indoor Mini Greenhouse is on a FREAKING HELL OF A DEAL TODAY FOR 29 bucks.  You’d want the 2 foot lights with it, but man you can start a ton of seed with that set up for a total of 80 bucks.  If you are doing hydro, you have three shelves and room for a sump tank at the dang bottom to boot.  Damn it, now I have to get one of these things too!  Don’t forget to get a timer to go with it!  Let me add this thing is LIGHT DUTY, I wouldn’t even use it in direct sun, it will get too hot.  I see this as a good item to start seeds with, not much more. Tune in today for more on this.