Top 5 Best LED Grow Lights for Indoor Gardening

One of the most essential pieces to a successful setup is having an adequate LED grow light. Without quality lighting, your plants may never reach their full potential and will certainly take longer to mature.

That’s why in this article, we’ve put together our list of top 5 picks for the best LED grow lights available for purchase today!

AC Infinity IONGRID T22 - LED Grow Light

Highlight: The AC Infinity IONGRID T22 is a full-spectrum LED grow light that features Samsung LM301H diodes, designed to provide deeper penetration and halo coverage for indoor plants and includes a digital dimming controller, making it ideal for use in grow tents and greenhouses.

Helpful Reviews:

"As an indoor gardener I am always looking for ways to reduce the hours necessary to manage my multiple grows, and, I decided to try AC Infinity. I've ordered their grow tent, exhaust fan with controller, oscillating fan and this grow light.

After installing it and measuring the spectrum and strength of the light, it is what was described and expected. The whole in the middle of the light does prevent some of the center high intensity light, but not all of it so I still have to be somewhat careful about the height of plants in the center of the tent; however, that has not proven difficult at all.

The entire grow has been automated using their controller and the light definitely made the plants happy and definitely saves me time!

The only downsides to this light are that it takes quite a bit of height to hang and you cannot use the controller with the fade-in/fade-out lighting feature. In order to combat the hang height concern I've resorted to using wire ties to mount the light to the top bars of the tent.

At this time you cannot use the "fade-in/fade-out" automation with the AC Infinity controllers" - A P

 

"This light is powerful enough to be the only light source for my 2'x2' tent. The electrical cord is extra long, so you'd probably find it difficult to need an extension cord. It comes with everything you'll need to get this running, including the built-in controller. This controller is quite basic, providing brightness, manual, and timer-controlled operation -- it doesn't control anything else beyond other lights. There are cables included for connecting this to other AC Infinity lights or other manufacturers' lights with the included adapter. It also includes all of the hanging hardware, including the rope-ratchets that you need to get it set up.

The LED driver panel, the part that gets the hottest during operation, can be removed and placed outside the tent if desired. It includes the longer cable that would be needed to make this happen, so it's just a matter of following the easy directions in the manual. Even the controller is removable and can be placed outside the tent, with cables and directions also included. I've been running in my tent since it arrived a little over a week ago and it is doing great. My plants are blooming and seem to be enjoying the strength/brightness and the wavelengths have the blooms thriving.

There is a mode where it can be used with an external timer, too. When the timer is not set, the light will come on and off with application or removal of power. Using the built-in timer is not a requirement -- it would work fine with traditional timers, if necessary (multiple lights into one outlet, maybe?).

Whatever your use for this light, I'm sure you'll be happy with it." - B. B.

AC Infinity IonFrame EVO3 - LED Grow Light

Highlight: The AC Infinity IonFrame EVO3 is a high-performance, full-spectrum LED grow light equipped with 840 Samsung LM301H EVO diodes and a schedule controller, delivering 280W of power for indoor growing in grow rooms and greenhouses.

Helpful Reviews:

"So far so good. I don’t know if it’s hotter overall but because the diodes are grouped closely together the frame definitely gets pretty hot. But near the buds it stays in proper range. I just added a fan pushing the heat up toward the exhaust but near the top canopy i can get it down to 73-75 degrees. Obviously it looks amazing with the black finish and after doing some par test with my phone app(not to sure the accuracy) it definitely had a better spread than my Mars hydro tsw2000. When I first got into grow tents I read a lot a reviews and slowly everything I end up getting is ac infinity. From light, humidifier, pots, fans, controller, and exhaust… it’s made growing so easy and eliminates room for human error. Keep it up AC!!!!

Update: previous I thought it raised my temps but that’s just because it’s summer time and my outside temps are naturally hotter. It stays around 4-8 degrees above outside temps with the tent closed. When I open the door and it’s 72 in the house it’s around 75 on the plants. When outside temps drop even lower I can get it to around 70 with lights on and door open. Started with it under 8-12 inches from top and didn’t burn plants, due to heat (above 78) though I raised it to around 12-16 inches from top all at 100% power and still responding well. 3 weeks from harvest and I’m expecting a really high quality run." - Derek

 

"Got a second tent and was looking for an upgrade from my first light - spider farmer sf2000 that I’ve been running with great results for the past 2 years. Everything else I have is ac infinity- Tent , in-line fan , 2 clip on fans and the Controller 69 pro which is a game changer for me. I did a lot of research on a new light and pulled the trigger on the EVO-4 .

Well let me tell you this light has been amazing and so far has exceeded my expectations. Very sturdy, light is very nice to look at and Super bright! ( much brighter than my spider farmer light) I would definitely recommend wearing sunglasses when looking at this light. Right now I only have it on 30% because my plants are in the seedling stage and it’s still extremely bright. Plants seem to love it so far. I have the driver inside the tent but I may move it outside depending on how hot it gets when I need to turn up the brightness for veg & flower. At 30% brightness with a fan blowing on the driver my temps have stayed between 75-80. I also have central air in the room so that definitely helps keep temps down as well.

Everything about AC infinity screams quality and this light is exactly that! Extremely happy with this light so far. It was very easy to setup and you don’t have to put it together like some other bar style lights. My only concern right now is will this light last . My spider farmer light still works great after 2 years I’m hoping this light will last as well.

Very interested in seeing how this light performs from seed to flower as it just came out a few months ago so they’re aren’t any full grown grow journals on this light yet. A few videos on YouTube but that’s about it. I will update this review in the next couple of months and share the results of my first grow with the ac infinity evo4 ." - Time Traveler

Spider Farmer G3000 - LED Grow Light

Highlight: The 2023 Newest Spider Farmer G3000 offers cost-effective LED grow lights with a full spectrum, dimmable bar style growing lamp, specifically designed for indoor plants and providing a 3x3ft coverage at 300W.

Helpful Reviews:

"Ive been using this light for 2 weeks and some change, Im very happy with it.
Par: Before I moved plants into the tent I tested the par out with an app on my phone, Par was very even across my tent, I didnt find any areas where I was lower or higher. my plants pray all day with this thing..I love it!
Heat: Ive not noticed any heat from the light, I do have the controller outside the tent as thats how I prefer it but the light its self does not give off much heat.
Assembly: Very easy, I had the G3000 setup and hanging in my tent in under 240 seconds. The lights clip in to preinstalled clips which I thought was a very nice touch.
Design: I love it. it's very minimalist but very sleek at the same time.
I'll add more to this as I use it totally a full 12 month review. I grow auto flowers with the light so that should be at least 4 grows.
I 100% recommend this light, you cant beat that price for what it offers. I could see this light being powerful enough to fill a 4x4 with auto flowers and be fine. or 3x3 with photoperiods." - LD

 

"First time SF buyer, and this light is worth the money! It fills my 2x4, I keep the driver outside, the sides of my tent do get warm, as they are against the light but I haven't noticed any wear or damage yet, def keep an eye on it." - Richard Floyd

Mars Hydro TSL 2000 - LED Grow Light

Highlight: The 2023 Mars Hydro TSL2000 is a 300 Watt LED grow light ideal for indoor plants, offering a full spectrum, dimmable daisy chain growing lamps perfect for hydroponics seedlings, veg bloom in 4x2/5x3 grow tent greenhouses.

Helpful Review:

"Mars Hydros lights are working exceptionally well for my garden and I! I love the fact that you can tell how well the plants thrive under their light compared to flourescents I have used. I am also very pleased with the design of the light as it is very efficient in the light output and area light saturation. The suggestion for using a fan works perfectly as it keeps the lights very cool.

I love the capability to dim the lights to the intensity you want as well. This dimming option allows your light to be the right intensity in all stages of growing and is an exceptional option to have! The ability to dim was one of the buying points, which brings me to how much I enjoy the "daisy-chaining" capability! It's nice to know your lights are all set equally the same. I was actually so pleased with the exceptional quality and design, that I talked myself into purchasing another model, the TSL-2000. I can literally say that, I've never seen anything more magnificent! As before mentioned, I love the "daisy- chaining" functionality!

In conclusion, I would greatly recommend your products! I enjoy both the TS-1000 and the TSL-2000 that your company has created, as do my plants! They both carry efficiency on not only cost but light output as well! I also greatly appreciate the suggestions on hanging distance, cal-mag supplementation and climate information. I only hope to one day enjoy the experience of your more expensive models for helping create the beauty of life that we know as plants!

There's a BIG difference between just growing plants and growing plants with something seemingly extraordinarily from out of this world!" - Nathan Nava

Mars Hydro TSW2000 - LED Grow Light

Highlight: The Mars Hydro TSW 2000 LED Grow Light offers full-spectrum growing lamps, complete with a dimmable daisy chain, perfect for seeding, vegging, and blooming stages of indoor plants; it provides efficient coverage for a 4x4ft area at 300 watts.

Complete Review:

"I.

The Mars-Hydro TSW2000 arrived well-packaged absent any damage. I have heard growers report their lights arrived dented or bent, and I believe them. For this particular line of LED lights the manufacturers decided to use a thin metal for the reflector as I'm sure this allowed them to cut costs without sacrificing the light's efficacy. My light, however, arrived with its vulnerable edges protected by rigid Styrophoam.

My light came with a timer, which would have been extremely welcome had I not already owned one from prior grows, as well as a pair of ratchet hangers. It's always nice to have a fresh pair of hangers since they seem to be universally made from crappy alloy, which rust after one or two grows.

The assembly instructions were unclear. At first, I was a little dismayed to see the instructions did not have a step-by-step breakdown. It was basically three illustrated panels with almost no annotations. Fortunately, this is not rebuilding a jet engine. If you just sit back and study the parts for a few minutes you'll realize there aren't too many ways it can go together wrong, but you'll want to pay attention to how you orient the drivers for optimal cable management.

Once the new light was installed and turned on to full power, it filled my 3x3 tent with a nearly blinding level of light. This is obviously a meaningless way to judge the efficacy of a light, but nonetheless I was glad it worked and wasn't DOA.

My Equipment:

1. 3x3 grow tent
2. Mars Hydro TSW2000
3. 4" 190CFM Exhaust Fan w/ charcoal filter
3. 4L Humidifier
4. (2) 6" clip fans
5. Four 3-gallon nursery pots (sturdy pro-cal type, might even be pro-cal brand) I drill extra holes in the bottom FYI.
6. Digital light timer

II. Some additional info for grow enthusiasts:

1. I direct sowed into 3-gallon pots* and used no seed starter or rooting solutions.

2. Seeds planted are a 3-pack of Blue Dream Autos and my last Gorilla Glue Auto seed. I only water the immediate area over and around the seed, wait for it to almost dry up, and then gently water again. All four girls popped by the end of the 4th day. I am 20/20 sprouting seeds in this fashion.

Finally, and very importantly, during the seedling stage I set the light at 75% and kept the light 30" above the pots. Any lower or any stronger and they would have suffered heat stress.

*Pro-Cal pots with four extra holes drilled through the bottoms for additional drainage. Soil Used: 75% Roots Organic Original, 25% Coco. I find that Roots Organic Original already has enough perlite.

I'll add to this review once the plants are leafed out some.

III. I am currently mid-way through veg and all four plants are doing very well. I can now confirm that this light is quite strong, and is more than what vegging plants need in a 3x3 tent. At 24" and 100% power the tent climbed into the mid-80's (it's very hot where I live right now, even in the basement, so my extraction fan was a little overwhelmed I think). To remedy this I lowered the power back to 75% and the plants seem to prefer it. I had edge curling on the leaves of one of my plants before backing off the brightness, but that has ceased. At this hanging distance and power level there is zero stretching and their growth has continued unabated. I'll update this review during flower, and again, one last time, to report yield.

IV. Plants are now in mid flower and have stopped the pre-flower/early flower stretch. I still consider myself only a late-beginner/intermediate grower, having only grown 20 plants so far, including these, but so far these plants have the best internodal spacing of the plants I've grown. Up until now I've used only two different burple brands--and they've worked--but they tend to invite stretching because their wattage and spectrums were not ideal. If anything, these lights are inhibitory for stretching because they include plenty of blue light and at least in my case, for my current phenos, the light is strong enough so the plants don't want to get closer than they have to. This has made for some pretty compact budding sites. I'm excited to see what the colas will look like in another few weeks.

The TSW2000 is obviously strong, and provides a nice, bright sun-like spectrum. I believe it will prove out to be an ideal 3x3 tent light, as it is clear now it would have completely flowered all 9 square feet of my tent if I had added a 5th 3-gallon pot, which I plan on doing next time for sure. How big will the buds be? How much will its dry weight end up being? Only time will tell! I'll add a final section to this review once it's all chopped, dried and weighed.

V. My four plants have been chopped, dried and cured. The yield of each plant was fairly uniform around 2-2.5oz. Total yield was 9.6oz of buds. Popcorn buds would push it to 11 most likely. The Blue Dream'atic potency was subjectively believed, by two different heavy cannabis users, as slightly stronger than the Gorilla Glue Auto, but both were considered quite potent. I barely smoke so of course both were quite strong to me. I generally only do edibles.

Conclusion: This light is more than adequate for the home cannabis grower, and an excellent upgrade for anyone currently using old-school burples or other lesser grow lights." - CD

Conclusion

In conclusion, investing in a high-quality LED grow light is critical for indoor gardening success, whether nurturing small seedlings or cultivating full-grown plants.

It's worth noting that the best option for you will largely depend on your specific needs, including the size of your indoor garden, the type of plants you're growing, and your available budget.

Each of these LED grow lights offers unique advantages, so carefully evaluate what they offer and choose the one that suits your indoor gardening needs the most.