Alphalite Plasma Grow Light – Topanga Light Source Review
Product Specs
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42,000 lumens
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Full color spectrum
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Weight – 32 lbs.
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Large scale growing
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Multiple functionality
We try not to take price into consideration when we’re testing products, but we couldn’t resist writing this Alphalite Plasma Grow Light review for the simple fact that it is far more expensive than most other grow lights on the market.
If we’re talking about plasma replacing HPS (go here) one day, it’s our job to explore any and all additions to the cannabis grow light market to see if any of these lamps are able to live up to the hype, even if they cost $2000.
Design
The Unit weighs over 30 lbs.
The first thing we noticed about this grow light is the sheer bulkiness of it. The unit weighs over 30 lbs, which can be quite cumbersome to install in a grow room. It’s also pretty big all around, measuring almost 2’ tall and about 1.5’ wide We needed multiple hangers and hooks just to make sure this bad boy would stay in place.
Interestingly enough, the light source itself looks quite small compared to some other commercial grade grow lights, but plasma doesn’t necessarily need to use reflectors like HPS and MH bulbs do, so no surprise.
Function
We were pretty pleased with the brightness of the light source.
Once we turned this light on, we were pretty pleased with the brightness of the light source. This fixture utilizes the Topanga Light Source, which is meant to be more energy efficient than some other light manufacturers. They claim that you’ll only be using about half the energy you would need for a 1000 watt HPS bulb, which would be awesome if the price tag wasn’t multiple times more than an HPS lamp.
We were a little disappointed to learn that this unit burns pretty hot compared to most other plasma grow lights. Although the heat diffuses on the side of the fixture help somewhat with the temperature, we had to cool the grow area down even more so while using this lamp. Given that this lamp is made for large scale grows, it’s a little hard to imagine the amount of cooling required in a room that consisted of 10 or 20 of these lamps.
Worth the Price Tag?
We can’t say that this is our favourite plasma light. The biggest question about this product is whether or not this grow light system is worth $2000. Most other grow lights, whether they’re HPS, MH, LED , or plasma, usually don’t cost nearly as much, so it’s a little perplexing that commercial growers would ever opt for this model.
Alphalite can only promise that this unit can serve as a replacement for a 1000 watt HPS grow lamp, but given how well HPS usually performs, we simply can’t justify paying 10 or 20 times the amount for something that essentially does the same exact thing, if it even does what Alphalite says it does. Even the other Alphalite Plasma Grow Light, which we’ve tested, only costs a fraction of what this costs, and can deliver results that are just as good.
