Mars Hydro SP 6500 VS GeekBeast 630w Pro Grow Light Reviews

LED grow lights have become increasingly popular over the last several years and anyone investing in a personal indoor garden or larger commercial grow operation wants to choose the best LED grow light for their needs. LED grow lights are considered some of the best indoor grow lights available, but with hundreds of models making hard to sort through claims that they’re the best flowering or vegetative grow light, the best full spectrum grow light, or the top rated grow light of the year, you need reliable information from LED grow light experts to make a decision about what grow light is best for you..

Whether you’re new to growing indoors altogether or just new to growing cannabis plants with LED plant lights, you may not be familiar with some of the unique characteristics of LED lighting. Here are the main factors you want to check on when purchasing LED horticultural lights for your cannabis grow.

The factors are listed in no particular order. Only you can know which one is most important to you, given your specific growing situation.

Real Wattage And Theoretical Wattage

You may have noticed that most LED lights have two different wattage figures. One of these is the potential wattage and the other the actual wattage. The potential wattage is the wattage the light could run at if the LED chips were running at full power. For example, a light with two hundred 3w LEDs has a potential wattage of 600.

LED chips are never run at full power, though. Doing so would considerably shorten their life span. Generally, they are run at 50 to 60% of their potential power. This is their real wattage and is the amount of electricity the light will actually consume.

The 600 watt LED grow light from the example above would probably have a power draw of 300 to 400 watts. And lights listed as 300w don’t actually have a power draw anywhere near that much either, especially if it’s a Chinese brand (they tend 

to exaggerate a lot).

Light Spectrum

Most indoor horticultural LED lights use LEDs in multiple colors. The majority will be various shades of red and blue, with the better lights also using some white LEDs as well as some infrared and ultra-violet ones.

This mix of colors gives you all the light plants, including cannabis, need for every stage of growth: cloning, veg and bloom. It is referred to as full-spectrum light and is generally what you want. All of the fixtures above, from BestVA to Phlizon, offer some variety of this light spectrum.

There are a few exceptions. If you are looking for a light to only grow clones or to just veg plants, then you might want to check out one with mostly blue LEDs. If you are looking for a light to supplement your existing setup to give your plants a boost during the flowering stage, you’ll want one with mostly red LEDs.

Finally, I need to mention all-white LED fixtures. These lights use only white LED, which gives them a spectrum similar to natural sunlight (which is also a mix of the HPS and metal halide spectra). Proponents of white light claim it is best for plants, because it gives them the light they are used to from the sun.

More and more, the indoor cannabis industry as a whole is moving toward white light. White LED grow light fixtures are becoming much more common on the market as a result.

And white light does work well to grow and flower plants. But it includes a lot of light in the yellow and green ranges, which is light plants do not use much during photosynthesis. Thus, it goes to waste, right?

That has been the case made by manufacturers (and fans) of fixtures with mostly red and blue LED lights. They say these are more efficient, because you are not using any of the electricity you paid for to produce light that plants don’t want.

But plants do want that light. Sure, they don’t want as much of it as they do of light in the red and blue wavelengths, but they do still want it. That is why the best-selling LED grow lights these days all include white LEDs on their lights. And many use mostly white LED light.

Light Intensity

For LED lights, the most widely used measure of intensity is PAR (technically, it is PPFD and not PAR, but most still refer to it as PAR). It stands for Photosynthetically Active Radiation and is used to measure the amount of light in the wavelengths that plants use for photosynthesis. Some brands will list the lumen output, but that isn’t all that useful for grow lights.

Some brands give PAR readings for their indoor plant lights; others do not. Those that do often only give one value, which doesn’t really tell you much about its effectiveness for vegetative growing, much less blooming.

That value was taken dead center beneath the light. A large value here means you have a powerful light in the middle of the coverage area, but it tells you nothing about the strength of the light around the edges.

Ideally, manufacturers will provide a PAR footprint that shows PAR readings throughout the coverage area. Most do not do this, however, so you will often have to look to tests done by third parties, such as review sites, for this information. For white LED lights, lumen output can have some value. For others, it is mostly useless.

Coverage Area

This refers to the area a grow light can cover while still providing enough light for the plants in that space. For the flowering stage of growth, plants need more light, so you will have to move the light fixtures closer to the canopy. This increases the intensity, but also decreases the coverage area.

This is why LED lights have a smaller coverage area for the flowering stage than they do for vegging. Always make sure the space given by the manufacturer is for blooming, unless you only plan to veg with your light.

Cooling System

Te best LED grow lights give off far less heat than HID bulbs, but powerful LED diodes still emit enough heat that they require cooling. Any larger LED fixture must have heat sinks to reduce the amount of heat emitted and internal fans to disperse whatever heat remains.

You want to make sure that a LED light’s cooling fans and heat sinks are adequate for the amount and strength of diodes in contains. If it isn’t, this will considerably shorten the life span of the LED chips and make them far less efficient.

Another issue to consider is noise. Fans can generate a lot of noise, so fixtures with multiple fans will be much louder than you might think.

When you add their noise to that of oscillating fans and exhaust vans for your tent, you can end up with a fairly high noise level. If this is a concern, consider a fixture with fewer, or even no, fans.

The SP-6500 is 42.5 inches long and weighs 20 pounds. Unlike the less expensive Mars Hydro TSL-2000, this SP-6500 has a heat sink, and it’s also IP65 waterproof. The LEDs are Samsung LM301B plus Osram 660nm red diodes.

The SP-6500 consumes 650 watts of power, which is too strong for a 2x4 foot area, but better for 3x5 feet or even 4x6 feet during veg.

One great feature that’s been carried over from previous Mars Hydro grow lights is the removable drivers. I haven’t seen this on other brands and I think it really helps set Mars Hydro apart.

I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me about getting grow tent temperatures under control, and being that the drivers produce a lot of the total heat, being able to keep the driver 5 or 6 feet away from the grow light (and outside your tent) really helps. You can do that with the SP-6500 as well.

• Best-Selling Samsung LM301B LEDs- 3144 x Samsung LM301B and Osram 660nm LED chips. These chips are higher quality and more efficient than other LEDs.


• Upgraded Full Spectrum White- The spectrum is beneficial for plants at all stages - from veg to bloom.


• Large Yield & Increased Crop Quality- Expect up to a 50% higher yield and higher quality compared with the old blurple lights and/or HPS lights. Turn an average yield up to 2.5 g/W.


• Daisy Chain Dimming Functionality- The new model has a dimmer knob added which makes dimming more convenient. Up to 15 lights can be daisy-chained and controlled through just one light.


• No-Fan Design, Aluminum Heatsink, and Removable Driver- The no-fan design means no noise or moving parts to worry about. Optimal heat dissipation while using a thick, sturdy aluminum heatsink. It also has a removable driver, which allows you to upgrade in the future, and a 2 meter ( ~6 ft) power cord.


• IP65 Waterproof- IP65 waterproof rating makes for a worry-free grow in high-humidity environments.


• Flexible 180 degree movement- Slim design that is foldable up to 180 degrees, making it small, compact, and easy to install.

· High efficiency white light Boards

· White Light Full Spectrum for better results

· Reliable passive cooled design, 4mm thickness plate

· Better canopy light penetration with diffused light

· Perfect performance for veg and bloom

· Dimmable

· Pre assembled

• PPFD 1746µmol/s 


• 2.78 Efficacy


• 3000k or 3500k + 660nm Far Red + Infrared + Ultraviolet with Independent spectrum control & dimmer 


• Smartphone Application Controller for control of Multiple Lights (optional)


• 5 year warranty ON ENTIRE FIXTURE


• 630 watt Max


• >90% output


• 47in x 43in


• 4x4 - 5x5 flowering footprint


• Meanwell Driver


• Passive cooling design 


• Extended Driver Chords to mount the Driver remotely away from Plants (optional)


• Different plug outlet options (USA, EU, AU, etc) and Voltage options for different countries (120v-240v) We will base it on the country of origin unless specified


• Comes with Driver hanger and Light Hanger Hardware, Chord S Hooks, & 2 EZ pulleys


• IP65 water resistant rating

In general, you should try to keep your LED grow lights about 12 to 30 inches above your plant or plants. Of course, the lights’ wattage, the type of LED light, and the way your plants grow will influence this distance. If you are using a strong 600W or 800W light, you should make sure that your plant’s leaves are about 25 to 30 inches away from it.

To determine the best distance for your plant, and give it the best chance of growing healthy, there is a ‘trick’ you can use.

The Hand Test

Place your hand under your LED grow lights at different heights - the heights your plants will be from the light. Keep your hand there for 30 seconds, and if the heat becomes too much for you, it is too close. You want the LED grow lights close enough to give your plants heat without actually burning them.

It is highly recommended that you do more research that is focused on the type of plant you have.

The best led grow lights are the ones for indoor plants if you want to grow fruits, flowers, and vegetables. Nowadays, the large commercial sectors are using LED lighting technology for large yields. That’s how they control the growth of plantation, crops, fruits, and flowers.

Here we only reviewed the LED lighting system that are suitable for indoor usage. The same thing goes for small or large indoor gardens, it allows you a huge control of your garden. People can now grow different types of plants/herbs that they may not even consider before in their outdoor garden.

I hope this review helps with your next purchase of LED grow lights. Get in touch if you have found a better product. I would recommend always wearing LED protection glasses when working with LED lights. And good luck with your grow!