Modular Design
Actual Watts Drawn
X-Lens Technology
Spectral Wavelength
Price Range
User rating
Pros: 
Price.
Cons: 
Weak Diodes.

penetrator 126x-pro review

There has been a lot of buzz lately over the Penetrator Generation X lights produced by Hydro Grow LED. Today, we’ll review these lights, but before we delve into the nitty-gritty, we need to get organized. Hydro Grow LED (HGL Technologies) currently produces four lines of lights:

penetrator x-series review

The X series lights are their newest lights. To keep this all straight in your mind just remember that the X stands for their new X-lens technology. More on this in minute, but basically it’s a secondary lens that makes the lights more powerful. Also remember that the “pro” designation stands for 3w diodes instead of 1w diodes.

We’ll be focusing on the Penetrator X series today (mainly the 3-watt pro series). There are six variations of the penetrator x: the 336x-pro, the 180x-pro, the 168x-pro, the 126x-pro, the 84x-pro, and the 21x-pro. The numbers in front of the x’s actually stand for the amount of diodes used and not the watts (more on this in a moment).

Don’t get overwhelmed by the amount of lights listed here. Once you get the basics down for one of these lights, you’ll have a good feel for all of the rest of them. I’m not going to review each individual variation because that would be redundant. I’ll review the 126-x pro that covers a six (3X2) square foot area and then I’ll mention any differences in the other lights that I feel are noteworthy.

Penetrator 126X-Pro Review

I decided to review the 126x version because it covers one of the most common grow areas (3’ X 2’ or six square feet). Let’s get down to the review.

straight out of the box

Here’s the 126 X-Pro that I reviewed straight out of the box.

Warranty: A+

The 126x-pro comes with a three-year warranty. This is a good indicator that the light is built to last. The industry standard for warranties is probably one to two years. I always recommend reading all the details about the warranties before purchasing a light. This is a great warranty, but you should still understand it fully. Here’s where you can go to read the details: http://www.hydrogrowled.com/Our-Policies-C15.aspx.

One of the reasons, I give the warranty an A+ score is due to the new modular design. What does design have to do with the warranty you ask? I’ll show you in the next section

Modular Design

I don’t build LED grow lights, but if I did I would be kicking myself for not thinking of this first. HGL Tech’s modular design is a simple change in philosophy that will make a big impact on user experience. Normally, a grow light consists of one printed circuit board (PCB) and anywhere from 50 to 500 individual LEDs. If one of these individual diodes fails, then you have to send the whole light back to replace it.

Read here to see how the modular design saved one of my grows. 

The following picture isn’t your average LED grow light, but it illustrates the point very well:

normal LED

The light pictured above has 100 LEDs on one PCB. Now, let’s pretend that just 3 of these 100 LEDs stop working. You really only have two options with traditional LED grow lights: (1) Admit that life isn’t fair, curse the day that the makers of this light were born, and live with the reduced amount of light. (2) Use your warranty, send the whole light back to the manufacturer, and wait eight weeks for it to get back from China. If you choose option two then you’ll probably have to pay for the shipping and you won’t be able to grow anything for eight weeks.

HGL Technologies solves this problem brilliantly by introducing modules into their x-series lights. Note that the picture below is actually of the 84X-pro and not the 126x-pro (as I mentioned earlier they are all part of the same line of lights, they just have different coverage areas).

modularity design

There are four modules in this light. Each module has its own PCB and diodes. If, as in our example above, three of the diodes stop working you can continue business as usual and have HGL Technologies ship you a replacement module right away. Once the replacement module arrives, you just pop it in where the non-functioning module was and you’re back to full-capacity without having to stop growing for eight weeks while your light was in Timbuktu, I mean China.

Trial Period: A

The trial period for this light is 90 days. Some companies don’t offer a trial period and I would say the industry standard is around 30 days. No complaints here about a 90 day testing period. “If for any reason you are less than impressed,” you can send the light back for a full refund within 90 days.

Price Range: B+

The 126x-pro is priced at $899 (Yes I realize that $899 is a lot of money upfront, but remember LEDs last a long time–try finding a 3-year warranty on an HPS lamp.). You can visit the official site to get the pricing on all the other x-series lights. Just find the light that fits the area you want covered. As an additional tip for those of you growing in an area larger than six square feet, I always prefer to buy several smaller lights instead of one larger light. This is just my personal preference as I have found that plants seem to do better under multiple smaller lights than one large light (some of my fellow growers have noted the same thing).

This light is actually very reasonably priced, but I just can’t find it in my heart to give a $900 light a solid A score. Most of the high-quality LED grow lights on the market run about $4-$8 per watt. This light is running at ($900/200w) = $4.5 per watt. This is a really good deal for the quality of light you are getting.

Heat Sink: A+

Some companies aren’t paying as much attention to heat sinks as I think they should; HGL is not one of those companies. Having a great heat dissipation system in place will dramatically increase the life of your LEDs (and if your LEDs last as long as they should, then the initial upfront costs of these lights will be worth it).

Penetrator heatsink

Lots of thought went into keeping these LED chips cool.

 

The 126w generation X heat sink comes with all the things you normally want to see in a heat sink. It is made up of both copper and aluminum (the two best metals for heat dissipation). In addition it has lots of thin fins that help get the heat away from the LED chips quickly. Read here for my full discussion on heat sinks.

Spectral Wave-Lengths:  A

I don’t think anyone has the “perfect” spectrum yet. If someone had found it, then the LED grow companies wouldn’t be adjusting their spectrums all the time. That being said, I think that the Penetrator series is as close to “perfect” as any other LED grow light out there on the market right now. It gets an A grade for having peak wavelengths at 440nm, 470nm, 525nm, 640nm, 660nm, and 740nm.

Actual Watts Drawn: A+

I really love how Hydro Grow LED labels their lights using diodes instead of watts. The way LED grow lights have traditionally been labeled has led to a lot of confusion. For example, the industry standard is to label your light a 500 watt light when it actually only draws around 300 watts of power. I have an in-depth explanation of how watt labeling on LED lights works here. The basic idea is that a 3-watt diode actually only draws around 1.5 watts of power. So if you have a light with fifty 3-watt diodes, then you label it a 150 watt light (50*3) even though it only actually draws around 75 watts (50*1.5) of power.

Well, you might guess that people were getting confused about this and some people were getting angry because they thought they were getting more powerful lights than they actually were. HGL Technologies has decided to combat this by simply labeling their lights by the number of diodes the light has. Then they list the actual watts drawn right below the name of the light. For example the 126x-pro has 126 LEDs on it. These are 3-watt LEDs. Everyone else in the industry would be labeling this light the 378w X-pro (126*3), but HGL is simply labeling it126x. Here’s what you’ll see on their website.

actual watt draw

This labeling should clear up a lot of confusion in the industry and I personally hope that the other companies start adopting this approach soon so that consumers won’t be fooled into purchasing a light that won’t work for their needs. Customers need to focus on actual watt draw instead of labeled watts.

Anyways, this 200w light will cover an area of about six square feet (3X2) for flowering purposes. It will cover a slightly larger area for vegetative purposes. Now, I normally recommend about 200watts of LED growing power for a four square foot area, but that was before the x-lens was developed.

X-Lens Technology

The idea of a secondary lens on an LED light is not a new idea. Those using LEDs for spotlights and aquariums have been using secondary lenses for a while. However, the x-series is the first time I’ve seen a secondary lens begin used on an LED grow light.

Keep in mind that the idea is to get the plant all the light it needs using the smallest amount of energy (watts). Most LED grow lights only have a primary lens that wastes a noticeable amount of light. Having two lenses allows for more control of the light, meaning less light is hitting the wall and bouncing off into oblivion and more light is hitting the plant. This means a lower-watt light with a secondary lens can provide as much light as a higher-watt light without a secondary lens. (See image below).

x-lens review

If you are still having a hard time grasping this concept just think of your everyday flashlight compared to a lantern. Flashlights have two lenses; a primary lens at the source of the light and then the secondary lens to channel the light in the proper direction. Without this guiding light, the flashlight would waste light by spraying it out in all directions like a lantern.

By adding the x-lens to the Penetrator, HydroGrowLED was able to double the power of the light (in terms of micromole output). This means more light for your plants with even less power used.

Beam Angle: A

The Penetrators run on a 60 degree primary beam angle. It is my opinion that there is no “perfect” beam angle. 120 degree lights cover a wider area, but only work well on very short plants. 60 degree lights cover a smaller area, but are much better for most plants. The x-series LED lights work well for both short plants and tall plants because the narrow beam angle and the x-lens technology combine to make some powerful, focused rays of light that penetrate to the lower levels of the plant.

When it comes to light power (micromole output) I prefer the “better safe than sorry” philosophy. I would rather have a higher-powered beam and feel comforted knowing that the lower levels of my plants are getting all the light they need. Keep in mind that if you are growing short plants you can always simply place the light a little farther away. If your light doesn’t have enough power, then it doesn’t matter how close you place it to the plant; it simply won’t get the job done.

Conclusion

This is currently my top-rated light due to the new x-lens technology and the modularity design. It is built with quality in mind and it comes with the warranty and trial period to back it up. This way you can give the x-series lights a try without a lot of risk on your behalf. If the light ends up not meeting your expectations you can always send it back for a full refund.

Go here to check out the full series of Penetrator X-Pro Lights.