The INCREDIB(ly) Affordable Gavita 1700e LED Grow Lights

July 2019, the days are long and hot in Los Angeles, CA and I’m daydreaming about starting my own Cannabis company in the PNW. It’s not too long after, we're conditionally approved for business by the state of Montana that I am ready to start selecting and purchasing our grow equipment.

With the aid of some experienced bay area growers who do this on the “real” scale, I’ve budgeted out a posh way to spend $35,000 on equipment and grow some very good CannaWhat! We had settled on HPS (high pressure sodium) Duel Ended lights as they’re fairly inexpensive to buy and are generally regarded as the best flowering lights for producing quality yields in CannaWho! But the lighting equipment is arguably the most exciting grow product to pick out. The rest of it’s just… guages, switches and stuff… in my opinion. :)

So I started reading about the battle between new school LED technology and the undisputed, industry dominant HPS lights and low and behold Gavita International, who had long held out against entering the LED lighting market was weeks away from releasing their next Gen 1700e, 1000 watt, Osram and Samsung LED grow light to the general public… “Interesting!”

To be honest, the unit price point here was a legit turn off because I could grab x4 high quality 1000w HPS lights for the same amount of money and thus fill my canopy space and leave a lot of $$$ for feeding/watering automation which would equal a lot less work and time in the garden. AND, there’s not quantity discount or sale pricing anywhere as of this publish date (1/16/20)

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However, aside from simply getting into the MMJ industry early, I think a company still needs to stand out, heads above the rest to have a fighting chance at survival and with LED’s being the future of lighting, it was probably a bullet I needed to bite. A few other options presented themselves but I ultimately settled on grabbing x6 of these units and the corresponding controller and light adapters which offer some additional functionality such as dawn/dusk (15 minute ramp up/down light intensity to simulate a natural sun cycle) and extreme temperature controls. This was far and away the biggest spend of the grow setup. A cool $10,000 went into the newest lighting tech on the market and a few days later they were delivered and ready for my electrician to wire in my new drops. I justified the spend by assuming that my long term electricity bill would be cut in half every month. The lights themselves only use 60% of the wattage needed to power the HPS’ and they also generate a tiny fraction of the heat which would allow me to exhaust and cool less across my rooms.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing. The adapters are likewise used on previous Gavita lighting models and the required cable type was not included with my order. I had to get in contact with an account rep (very nice and knowledgable fellow) who promised to overnight me the cable. The “overnight” turned into a couple weeks of excuses about warehouse employees and shipping issues but it did eventually show up, free of charge and we daisy chained everything in. It’s worth noting that these lights can be operated w/o the controller, they simply are OFF or ON at 100%.

Aside from feeling like I was helming up a state of the art grow operation, I had to see how my vegging plants would react. Manufacturer reco is to keep these approx. 18" above the plant canopy but my gut was telling me that would be too intense for my young girls (at this point, I had no idea if they were girls or boys) so I used the controller to set the lights at 60% intensity with a 23 hr ON / 1 hr OFF light cycle. This further lessened my electricity costs and the plants seemed to thrive for nearly 2 months of veg.

*The dangling thermometers can be seen in the above image. They must be covered with their plastic umbrellas else the intense light will fubar your temp reading.

I got a lot of surprised admiration from grow forums and discord channels when I would post progress reports of my garden but one of the problems I had was that no one else was experienced with the lights. Seriously, just look up the hashtag #gavita1700e on instagram and you’ll only find a couple accounts (one of them is me — @montana_canna FOLLOW ME!! — Shameless plug). I mean, these were literally brand new to the market when I bought them and we put them immediately to work so you can rest assured this is one of the first real harvest field tests for the 1700e’s. That’s part of the reason I wanted to write up this review so that others can skip the informational blackouts I went through when installing and operating the lights throughout our harvest.

So, that kinda brings me to today! January, 16th 2020. Day 1 of the flush. My lights have been running since October 30th and on a 12/12 since December 4th. We’ve got roughly one week left to fatten up the buds and can truly see the finished product the Gavita’s produced in my environment. But I’m also curious what you think and I’m available to answer questions. Instagram is probably the best place to inquire but you can try me here and I’ll likely be back soon for an update.

The pros/cons breakdown below points out my overall thoughts.

PROS

• $$$ Saving on electricity — My monthly electric bill is less than $300. That’s UNHEARD OF for a grow op. Nearby gardens are well into $600 / month for a similar size canopy with HPS lights. At this rate, I should most definitely see an ROI on my decision to go LED. BUT, I’m not here to save money on the grow, I’m here to produce world class cannaWhat!
• My environment stays warm but not hot — The lights definitely heat up but they don’t seem to radiate and it doesn’t feel like they’d do significant damage or fry the canopy right away if I let it grow too tall.
• Easy to raise/lower and control — The EL2 is simple and effective. What the manual lacks in explanation, the functionality makes up for in its straightforwardness. The lights raise and lower easily enough even in a crowded room.
• They look cool as Heaven — Let’s be honest, when I’m showing off my products and my process, I’m out to impress my customers and peers. This sure helps! AND I don’t have to stare at blurple every time I’m checking on the girls.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY, THE PLANTS LOVE THEM — Again, I’m not doing a side-by-side here and I’ll have to wait one more week to truly see how the plants finish (bud size, trichome production, overall yield) but see the progress pics below and judge for yourself.

CONS

• There’s no inherent way to mount the adapter to the light fixture — We ended up just zip tying the adapter to the tent cross poles. To make matters worse, when I proposed this question to Gavita on their social media channels, no one got back to me. When I called my sales rep, he didn’t really understand the issue. You’re telling me I’m the first person to point out that the lights need to be raised and lowered as the canopy grows and the adapter is just supposed to hang in the air??!!??
• They’re wide and I bonk my head — Yes, the fixtures are so low profile and they don’t breath hot air at you so it’s fairly easy to forget they’re right above your head. I’ve smacked into them multiple times.
• Incorrect equipment shipped with the purchase — as I mentioned above, the cabling was wrong and it took weeks to get the correct connectors and terminations to utilize the controller system.

Overall, I love the lights and I’d but them again. I’m thrilled to be one of the product pioneers and will be buying at least 4 more in 2020 as we expand. (You hear that Gavita Green Thumb Community? Hit me with a discount!) I can’t wait to get into future harvests and really push the umols and what the lights are capable of.

Thanks for reading. Give me a follow @montana_canna and stay tuned for a forthcoming Youtube grow and business channel as we roll down the road to national recreation. Be safe, go forth and stay in touch!
-Montana Canna :)

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