Mars Hydro finally jumped on the quantum board bandwagon and released several full-spectrum white LED grow lights.
In fact, they released two lines of lights: the SP series and the TS series. They are very similar, but they do have a few key differences, which I’ll cover below.
The important thing is that both use mostly full-spectrum white LED diodes, with a mix of cool white and warm white.
They supplement that white light with additional red diodes. The SP series also adds in IR and UV light.
This mix of light gives them a spectrum that is very similar to the HLG quantum board lights or to COB LEDs, with additional red. It is the perfect spectrum for plants and the biggest strength of Mars Hydro’s newest fixtures.
Let’s take a look at each light in the SP and TS series, before we get into a more in-depth review of each series.
Full Spectrum White Mars LED Comparison Table
Note: because there are frequent sales on these lights, it is impossible for us to stay updated on the price. Clicking the dollar signs takes you to Amazon to see the current price.
| Model | Size | Wattage | Coverage | Bloom PAR | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SP 150 |
Weight: 5.9 lbs. Dimensions: |
Actual: 140 watts HID Equiv: |
1.5' x 3' | 696 umol/m²/s @ 12 inches |
Check Price |
SP 250 |
Weight: 11.3 lbs. Dimensions: |
Actual: 245 watts HID Equiv: |
2' x 4' | 944 umol/m²/s @ 12 inches |
Check Price |
TS 1000 |
Weight: 3.8 lbs. Dimensions: |
Actual: 150 watts HID Equiv: |
2' x 2' | 552 umol/m²/s @ 18 inches |
Check Price |
TSW 2000 |
Weight: 7.7 lbs. Dimensions: |
Actual: 310 watts HID Equiv: |
3' x 3' | 1613 umol/m²/s @ 12 inches |
Check Price |
TSW 3000 |
Weight: 11.3 lbs. Dimensions: |
Actual: 450 watts HID Equiv: |
4' x 4' | 1825 umol/m²/s @ 12 inches |
Check Price |
TSL 2000 |
Weight: 7.9 lbs. Dimensions: |
Actual: 300 watts HID Equiv: |
2' x 4' | 1436 umol/m²/s @ 12 inches |
Check Price |
Mars Hydro SP Series Review
This review focuses on the Mars Hydro SP 250, but everything written here goes for the SP 150 as well, apart from the individual specifications. The table above shows the differences in specs.
Features
- Uses 245 watts — save about 50% on your electric bill over HID lights
- Equivalent to a 400 watt HID system — but costs less to buy AND to operate
- Ideal spectrum for plants — the perfect light for all stages of growth, with peaks on red and blue and a lot of light in every other color, plus UV and IR
- Highly efficient — great output from a low power usage (2.7 μmol/J)
- 2 by 4 foot core coverage — the coverage for vegging is a bit larger at 3 by 5 feet
- Epistar diodes — not the best on the market, but very good and keeps costs down
- Meanwell Driver — the industry standard; it is dimmable and can be removed from the unit and placed outside your grow tent to keep heat down
- Rated for 50,000 hours — 4-5 years with no bulb changes
- 3 year warranty — and a 30 day money back guarantee
Advantages
The three strongest points of the Mars Hydro SP Series are the color spectrum, the high output per watt consumed and the low cost.
Let’s begin with the spectrum. The industry is finally moving away from the blurple color spectrum and moving to spectra that contain at least some white diodes. Many lights have mostly white, and some use nothing but white.
I am so happy to see Mars Hydro join the “white light revolution”.
They do so using white SMD diodes from Epistar, which makes them very similar to the quantum board lights.
But Mars actually went one better, by adding IR and UV diodes to round out the spectrum in the areas where all-white LEDs fall a bit short. In the SP 250, they also added red diodes. The addition of red, IR and UV is similar to what the top COB lights do.
Basically, Mars uses the quantum board spectrum, but fixes that spectrum’s biggest weaknesses: the lack of UV and IR. Plus they add some red light to the SP 250 for good measure.
The end result is the perfect spectrum for every stage of growth. It is very similar to natural sunlight, with added red and blue light, since those are the colors of light plants need the most.
The Epistar diodes are driven by a high-quality dimmable Meanwell driver. It drives them at around 245 watts at full power and is highly efficient (2.7μmol/J), giving you an output equivalent to a 400 watt HID system.
Specifically, it achieves a PPFD of 944 umol/m²/s dead center at 12 inches from the canopy, which is how high you would hang the light during bloom, for a 2 by 4 foot coverage area.
During the vegetative stage, you would hang it around 18 inches, where it achieves a PPFD dead center of 632 umol/m²/s.
I have included the PAR footprint provided by Mars Hydro (at an 18 inch hanging height), so you can see some of the PPFD numbers as you move away from the center.
For some reason, Mars only took measurements for a square coverage area of 2.5 by 2.5 feet, which seems odd given this light’s rectangular coverage area. They’re doing a lot better as a company than they used to, but sometimes their choices still baffle me.
Apart from that, the long rectangular form factor of the two SP series lights is a big advantage to some. If you have a small, square grow tent, it probably won’t work for you. That’s where the TS series comes in (see below).
But if you have a larger operation, with several rows of plants (perhaps even stacked vertically), the long form factor can be a huge advantage.
It allows you to install the long lights directly above each row of plants and not waste light by lighting the aisles, as square lights often end up doing, because their coverage is wider than a row of plants.
The large size of the fixtures has another major advantage. It gives you a more even coverage. A smaller fixture emits light from a smaller point. The light then spreads outward. It has to travel further to get to the corners of the coverage area, which means the light is much less intense in the corners.
A larger fixture means the light does not travel as far to reach the outsides of the coverage area, so the light does not lose as much intensity. This results in smaller PPFD readings in the middle, but higher ones around the outside. In other words, a more even coverage.
In the past, customer service was always a huge disadvantage of Mars Hydro (as with most Chinese manufacturers), but now that they have service centers in the US, it is much easier to get help, if you need it.
That’s why this is now an advantage, especially when compared with other budget lights.
And to add to that, Mars now gives you a 3 year warranty and they let you return the light for a full refund within 30 days of your purchase (that is obviously not enough time to try out the light for a full grow, but you can at least test it and see that it is as powerful as advertised).
Disadvantages
As just mentioned, the long form factor could be a disadvantage, if you have a square tent, or one that is too small for one of these long lights.
Apart from that, probably the biggest disadvantage of the SP series of lights is the heat output. They use only heat sinks, with no fans whatsoever. This means a silent operation, but it also means that the lights can get pretty hot.
If you are growing in an enclosed space, you’ll probably have to include some extra ventilation for these lights. Not as much as you’d need for an HID system, but definitely more than you’d need for a similarly powered LED grow light.
SP Series LED Grow Light Review: Final Verdict
The Mars Hydro SP 250 LED Grow Light and its little brother, the SP 150, are a great addition to Mars’ lineup. More than that, they are easily the best lights in that lineup (along with the TS series reviewed below).
They give you a color spectrum similar to the quantum boards, but add in IR and UV light. In the case of the 250, they also add more red light. This gives them a very similar spectrum to the top COB grow light manufacturers on the market (Amare and Optic), as well as Green Sunshine Company.
But at a much lower cost.
The only lights that can compete on price are the Spider Farm SF LED grow lights reviewed here. They are very similar in terms of price and spectrum, but they are an actual quantum board light, with Samsung chips and Meanwell drivers. As such, they use higher quality components than Mars, but they do not have UV diodes.
And now that Mars Hydro has service centers in the US, you don’t have to worry about dealing with a huge hassle to get your light repaired or replaced if something goes wrong. Help is much easier to come by than it used to be.
Given the high efficiency and ideal spectrum of this light, and the great price, it gets a Grow Light Info rating of 4.7 out of 5.
Mars Hydro TS Series Review
The TS series has four lights: the 1000 is the smallest, the 3000 is the largest and the TSW 2000 and TSL 2000 are both in the middle and about the same, differing mainly in their form factor.
The TSW is almost square and gives you a square coverage area, while the TSL is long and gives you a rectangular coverage area similar to the SP series of lights.
This review focuses on the Mars Hydro TSW 2000, but everything written here goes for the other three lights as well, apart from the individual specifications. The table above shows the differences in specs.
Features
- Uses 310 watts — save about 50% on your electric bill over HID lights
- Equivalent to 450 HID watts — but costs less to operate
- Ideal spectrum for plants — the perfect light for all stages of growth, with peaks on red and blue and a lot of light in every other color
- Highly efficient — great output from a low power usage (2.35 μmol/J)
- 3 by 3 foot core coverage — the coverage for vegging is a bit larger at 4 by 4 feet
- Epistar diodes — not the best on the market, but very good and keeps costs down
- Meanwell Driver — the industry standard; it is dimmable and can be removed from the unit and placed outside your grow tent to keep heat down
- Rated for 50,000 hours — 4-5 years with no bulb changes
- 3 year warranty — and a 30 day money back guarantee
Advantages
Most advantages of the TS series are the same as those of the SP series reviewed above. For that reason, I will only cover the differences here.
As with the SP lights, the TS lights have a great spectrum for any stage of growth. But their spectrum is a little different than the SP spectrum.
The TS lights do not have any UV and IR diodes. That’s not a huge deal, to be honest, but may matter to some.
The truth is, UV and IR light may make a small difference in yield quality, but it has not yet been definitely proven. All things being equal, I would prefer a light with UV and IR, so I would probably go for the SP series.
That said, it is easy enough to just get a supplemental light that provides UV and/or IR. Since UV light really only has an effect during the final few weeks of flowering, it may even be better to just get a cheap UV fluorescent bulb instead.
Overall, the great spectrum is still the biggest advantage of these lights. And without the UV and IR diodes, there is more space on the fixture for white diode, which actually makes these lights even more powerful than the SP series.
There’s always a trade-off. Lose UV and IR, but gain power.
The other big difference is in the form factor. While the TSL 2000 has a similar form factor, and thus a similar application, to the SP series, the other three TS series lights look very different.
They are all square, which makes them well-suited for use in a square grow tent or growing area. They are still large lights, so you get the same benefit in terms of even coverage. It’s just that the coverage area is square instead of rectangular.
Disadvantages
While the SP series is appropriately named (i.e. the SP 250 uses about 250 watts), Mars Hydro is back to their old tricks in naming the TS lights. Sure, they do not say “1000w” or “2000w”, but naming these lights the “1000” or the “2000” gives the impression that they are referring to wattage.
And they know that full well.
To be fair, it is not only Mars Hydro that does this. Most manufacturers do it, especially the Chinese ones, who do it more blatantly than the rest.
Because of that, not misnaming your lights will actually cost you sales, because the average consumer simply is not very well informed. Just look at the perception Black Dog has, because they name their lights honestly.
But just because everyone does it, that does not make it right. That’s why I will always list this under the disadvantages of a light, even if I don’t really take it into account in the ratings (how could I, if just about everyone does it?), unless it is especially egregious (I’m looking at you Roleadro/Galaxyhydro).
Apart from that, the only other disadvantage that the TS series has and the SP does not is the lack of UV and IR diodes. But, as mentioned above, not using space for those means more space for the more powerful white diodes, so this is not necessarily a disadvantage. It just depends on your needs.
TS Series LED Grow Light Review: Final Verdict
The Mars Hydro TS 2000 full-spectrum white LED grow light is one of the best lights on the market and the same goes for the other three TS lights. The TS and SP series are, without a doubt, the best lights made by Mars Hydro, by far.
Yes, they cost a bit more than other Mars lights, but the difference is well worth it. If you compare the cost to the quantum lights, like HLG and NextLight, these are far cheaper. And they actually have a better spectrum!
That is why I give the TS series the same high rating as the SP series: a 4.7 out of 5.
I’m curious about the differences that the UV and the IR provide. I recently picked up TSW 2000 for my Colocasias and Alocasias (Elephant ears) and I’m wondering if I should bring it back back for the upgrade.
The jury is still out on that. Either way, I don’t think the difference is THAT huge. You can always just get a separate UV bulb.