Hydroponic Full Spectrum CFL Grow Light Bulb 60 Watt Bulb 5500K H60

Recently purchased one of these Hydroponic Full Spectrum CFL Grow Lights for my new Tower Garden after reading another recommendation on Amazon about it. I am working on an urban garden project, and will be growing veggies and herbs year-round completely indoors. Thought I had plenty of light in a corner of my kitchen, with plenty of windows, but I live in a densely forested area, and - while there is plenty of sun in Summer - with Fall and Winter the sun comes in from another direction...and sometimes, not at all. After 2 weeks of plants dying, I purchased a Sylvania Grow Light from a local store. Although better, I was still having dismal results. My plants were germinating quickly, but then were weak, spindly and leggy. After about a week of using the Hydroponic Full Spectrum CFL Grow Light on them, leaving it on all day, my plants all showed signs of improvement - AND the newer seedlings that were germinating were noticeably stronger, thicker stems, less leggy, more leaves and more color. I have since ordered a two more, and I keep them on the Tower Garden all day. (about 12-15 hours) While it is a big bulb, it does not get overly hot, fits into a standard light socket, and I am using them in inexpensive clamp lamps. It obviously is producing full spectrum light. It IS BRIGHT! Neighbors think spaceships have landed here! But it is a clean, lovely white light - don't need to turn on any other lights in my kitchen! I have supplemented the lighting; I use the TaoTronics Led Grow light Bulb on my seedling trays at night. The addition of it has produced even greater results and I think chaging off between the two types has been very effective. Yes, I definitely would recommend this bulb. I am posting some photos so you can judge for yourself some early results. The first photo shows how much the the seedlings have improved. The second image was what they looked like with the Sylvania Grow Light. The third photo of Arugula shows the younger plant on the left, that was exposed to the grow light next to a plant 2 weeks older (right), but not exposed to the light.

This bulb lasted 20 days before it quit working. Very disappointed because my plants loved it for the short time it lasted. I bought a second bulb before this one burned out and hope it lasts much longer.

This light is not necessarily the prettiest kind of light out there in the world, but it thrusts out tremendous amounts of some kind of light, not sure how to characterize the light in the language an engineer might use. After reading reviews, I could absolutely see how a painter/artist/John Cougar Mellencamp and his now divorced wife, Elaine/Photographer might benefit from a lightbulb such as this. My best guess is that this kind of bulb could provide a benefit for the photographer that angles the light indirectly in a clever match with science. Describe it as you will, disperse the light, fray the light, splotch the light, buffer it, I think this will really light a room, it will achieve the aim of the consumer. Probably it would be wise to have several lamps with this kind of bulb (if you need to do photography set-ups on the cheap) in order to illuminate a space and the object's face, form, or image. Big light. Much bigger light than I was imagining, thus I am a pleased Amazonian shopper. I'm shopified as a result of this purchase. I'm a happy customer after buying this device. I recommend others to consider buying this here device. I give it my approval, but I am not picky about the specifics of the light needed for the space I am trying to illuminate. Read other reviews to get into the details of the light as it fits in/on/within the Electromagnetic Spectrum. Buy it. (Follow-Up edit from Jan 22, 2013).. I thought it might be important to mention that I am using this device with a 10 1/2" Clamp Light with Porcelain Socket (built by Continental Electric) - I bought two of these clamp lights from the local Home Depot (maybe paid $18.00/each after taxes, without the lightbulbs). I purchased this because it can handle a 300 Watt lightbulb. The last thing I need is a house fire because I didn't take enough care to use the proper gear (sockets, decent gauge extension cords, etc.). Also, to the touch, when the lightbulb is seated in the socket and has been turned on for many hours, the aluminum of the clamp light is at room temperature, nearly coldish - absolutely zero transfer of heat, as far as I am concerned from observation by touching of the hand to the metal surface. This lightbulb is indeed a CFL. Finally, the discussions about the quality or efficiency of the lightbulbs that I notice in other reviews, or on lightbulb websites, I think the strict purists simply take it too far. Indeed, if you get a headache from a certain kind of light, then simply don't use it. I prefer incandescent illumination because it feels softer/homey to me, but I value the energy savings of the CFLs. There are tradeoffs and you've gotta be willing to adjust to them. Try the lightbulb then make your opinion after. But, trust me, you are going to see a marked expansion on progress toward your attempt at illuminating a space. It IS a different quality of light, but it is effective in the projection of light. And that is what I wanted. I got what I paid for. After nearly a week of usage, I am still a pleased customer. I would still recommend this lightbulb. Yes, yes.

Originally, after reading many reviews, I purchased this bulb to start seeds in Grodan starter cubes for my hydroponic grow system. Although the bulb was larger in real life than I realized, it did fit nicely into my reflector, although it does protrude quite a bit. The light is very bright and the seedlings did well with it. I would recommend it to anyone. A great bulb at a great price. The only negative I noticed is that if you screw it into a reflector like I did, you have to be careful and turn it holding the white part closest to the threaded end. If you turn it on the lower section below the green stripe, the bulb base came apart on mine. I just snapped it back together and it works fine. I have used it off and on a few months with no problem. I have also used this bulb when I take close up pictures of items that I sell. It is nice and bright and leaves no shadows, really a nice day light color to the photos. So it is good for that too.

I plugged it into one of my stand up floor lights I bought from Wal Mart or Target. It works well, emits heat, but I can't tell if it is making any difference to my plants. They aren't dying so that's a plus. I have been using it for about 1.5 months now, on an infrequent schedule. I only turn it on when I am home which can be from 3-6 hours in the evenings and about 3-5 days a week. I have noticed a difference in my electricity bill though, and it seems to save about $2 each month. It's not very expensive so I think it's worth the test. Hopefully, I will be able to keep it on more often after I move.

This is my first product review on Amazon, that's how strongly I feel about this bulb. Before I purchased this bulb a couple weeks ago, I did a lot of shopping around on Amazon for grow bulbs. I was looking for a bulb to grow some Ghost Chillis and Scotch Bonnets in my wardrobe. The only constraints I was limited by were the price of a bulb and the heat it produces. Standard HPS bulbs tend to be a bit more pricey and produce a ton of heat, something I wouldn't chance with my (wooden) wardrobe garden. CFLs (this bulb) produce less light, but also less heat. With that being said, you are able to safely move the bulb closer to your plants to make up for the lack of light. So after all this consideration, I settled on this bulb. The price is excellent and I already knew the bulb was going to be huge. Well the bulb came in and I rigged it up in my wardrobe right above 3 Ghost and 4 Scotch Bonnet sproutlings. A week ago when this was all put together, my pepper plants were maybe 1" tall with two tiny leaves. I lined my wardrobe with aluminum foil (to capture light and heat) and put the light on a timer that allowed 4 hours of darkness per day. I placed my peppers in self-watering pots about 8" under the bulb and went on vacation for a week. Well here I am one week later. I came home, opened my wardrobe and I was stunned. Every last plant simply exploded in lush greenery. For a $11 product, I was not expecting this level of success. I don't expect this bulb to actuate flowering in my peppers, I will probably have to purchase a more "red-spectrum" bulb for that job. But as for producing beautiful, green leaves... This bulb absolutely does the trick.

I order this bulb to help me start growing some bonsai trees. Upon initial inspection I was a little surprised at how large this bulb is despite reading the few reviews that commented on this aspect. I guess I had to see it to believe it. I am disappointed, however, that this lamp only lasted one month. I gave this product two stars instead of one because it really does work at giving plants the needed energy to grow but it didn't last nearly has long as I would have liked. I also did like the fact that it didn't put off a significant amount of heat. The amount of light the bulb puts off is impressive, which is great for my light thirst plants. They grew like crazy until I noticed one morning that the lamp had a very subtle flicker. Later that night I noticed it was worse and that the bulb was just a little dimmer than usual. An hour later the lamp was significantly dimmer as I couldn't even tell if it was on with the other lights on in the room. I tried moving the bulb to another lamp, thinking that it might by a bad connection. The bulb remained dim in the other lamp as well. Just to be sure I grabbed a good bulb from the living room and tried it in the lamp I have been using to grow my trees and sure enough the lamp was just fine. I had the bulb on for 16 hours a day for just over a month, say 5 weeks, which is about 560 hours of life. There isn't anything on the product information page that eludes to lifetime but I think that it should last much longer than this. Other reviews have stated that theirs have gone for a year or more. The bulb does give off some heat but it isn't anything I would consider a fire risk. I wouldn't let my plants touch the bulb but I was comfortable with them about an inch away. With the bulb on for a few hours I could still hold my hand against the lamp comfortably. Too much heat was a big concern of mine as I was leaving it on for long periods when no one would be home. Overall this bulb will grow your plants and, from my experience, it will do so without the risk of fire but it doesn't last long.

The bulb arrived intact and worked in the medium (standard) socked without issue. If you are using this bulb with the intention of indoor gardening/hydroponics, I would recommend not getting this bulb or any bulb for that matter that has a color temperature or Kelvin rating of 5000-5500K. The reason being is that plants contain two types of chlorophyll (a and b). Chlorophyll a absorbs light peaks at 642nm and 662nm and chlorophyll b that absorbs light peaking at 430nm and 453nm .The nm (nanometers) is wavelngth and using Weins formula those wavelengths translate to 4672K and 4531K (chloro a) and 6976K and 6622K, respectively. A bulb rated at 5500K does not cover that spectrum well. The goal is to mimic the sun and saturate your plants chlorophyll with the most amount of light in the above spectrum. Simply put, for vegetation (growing/increasing the size of your plant) stick with a bulb that is at least 6500K and that has a high wattage (above 100 watts). At this Kelvin rating the bulbs peak spectrum will be 461 nm, right where chlorophyll b's absorption occurs. Chlorophyll a becomes more tricky due to the fact that it requires a bulb with a Kelvin rating of approx. 4500K (667 nm). Currently, this wavelength can only be achieved with a high pressure sodium, mercury vapor, or metal halide bulb hooked up to a ballast kit, which can cost upwards of $400 in some cases, ouch. So if your just starting out or looking for a good hydroponic bulb, grab a high watt CFL bulb with a Kelvin rating of at least 6500K and your plants will thank you!

These bulbs have an internal ballast. If you use these bulbs mounted horizontally, stresses on the ballast will cause the bulbs to burn out. Always mount the bulbs vertically. Mine are vertically down and they last 3 years or more!

love this light, it’s Really bright! Within 1 week I can see big difference in my plants..

Good for its size and value.