Budmaster II 1200 G.O.D LED Grow Light Review

Budmaster has created an LED grow light for those who are serious about indoor horticulture and producing some fantastic yields. They call it the Budmaster II 1200 G.O.D, and it’s quite impressive what they’ve packed into it. With notable features that are designed to outperform any other grow light in it’s class, this panel is Budmaster’s best light currently available – but it does come at a bit of a steep price. That being said, if you have the budget and want an LED grow light that won’t underachieve, be sure to look into the Budmaster II 1200 G.O.D. We had the opportunity to get our hands on one of these panels ourselves, and we must say – WOW!

Optics and Power Consumption

Budmaster touts this panel as producing better light dispersal, thanks in part to the precise optics that they gave it. The lenses are set to 90 degrees with an input of AC85~264V that drives the diodes to their optimum level for performance. They’re never over-driven in order to boost the lifetime longevity of the panel. In fact, Budmaster calls this a 1200 watt panel, but it only uses 780 actual watts from the wall, when plugged in.

Size and Weight

With any indoor growing environment, there may be certain weight and size limitations to take into account when setting up your grow light. The Budmaster II 1200 G.O.D LED Grow Light measures 60 x 60 x 9 cm, or roughly 2 feet x 2 feet x 3.5 inches. Weighing in at around 18 kilograms, or just under 40 pounds, the panel is a bit heavy. The good news is, that the coverage is fantastic, so you likely will only need one panel to cover a small to medium size growing area.

Coverage

According to Budmaster’s own website, the II 1200 G.O.D. LED Grow Light is suitable for all stages of growth including seedlings, clones, vegetative, and blooming. It’s best to have it hanging around 2 meters above the canopy of your garden. If you’re growing seedling and clones underneath it, they recommend that you turn off half of the light to reduce the intensity. Young plants simply don’t require the same intensity as a large flowering plant.

For vegetative growth, turn on all of the lights and you should be good to go – you won’t need to move it any closer. For the blooming or flowering phase, keep all of the diodes turned on, and leave the panel where it’s at. According to their own advice, you don’t need to adjust any additional settings to move from vegging to flowering, simply keep it where it’s at. However, when and/or if your garden starts to reach the light, you may want to keep a close eye on it – don’t let them grow too close!

Modularity

Unlike a lot of LED grow light manufacturers that have permanently fixed or soldered parts within, Budmaster prides themselves on producing fixtures that include modular parts. Specifically, you can remove and replace the power supply, optical lenses, fans, and LED printed circuit boards for maximum flexibility. This helps to ensure a long lasting panel that can easily be upgraded or changed when improved and/or newer technology is released. Additionally, should you have any mishaps with the panel itself, these parts can be swapped out for quick fixes. Budmaster makes it clear that the modularity of their grow lights is similar in simplicity to changing a hard drive to your computer – it’s simple and easy, and doesn’t take more than a few minutes. You don’t even need to open up the case!

Osram Diodes

It’s often heard and known by many that the Germans know how to produce a fine product. Budmaster uses diodes made in Germany from a company called Osram. What makes Osram different than most LED manufacturers is the quality control that goes into developing and producing them. In fact, each individual diode is given a BIN number – something similar to a birth certificate that enables an exact profile of when and where the diode was manufactured. You can literally trace this number and find out specific details. Because of this, you can rest assured knowing that the quality is bar none.

Made in the UK

All of Budmaster’s LED grow lights are made proudly in the United Kingdom. You’ll find that most manufacturers take the inexpensive way out and outsource the production to places like China or other Asian countries. Because all of the panels are made in-house, you can trust that the quality control is superb over other manufacturers. In fact, the longevity of Budmaster’s panels is said to reach 100,000 hours – twice the typical 50,000 hour lifespan that’s given to most LED panels.

Spectrum and Wavelengths

In many grow lights, you’ll see a massive spectrum that’s widely ranged for growing. Budmaster took a new approach to this and designed a specified spectrum that concentrates it’s wavelengths around Chlorophyll A and Chlorophyll B. Specifically this is a sufficent range between blue 445nm – 475nm and red 615nm – 675nm. With this, the spectrum is much more efficient that most panels on the market – there’s an ideal balance of 3000K (HPS white), 7000k (Halide White), and 9000k (Far Halide White) to assist with proper photosynthesis at any stage of growth.

Overall Thoughts

We are big fans of the Budmaster II 1200 G.O.D LED Grow Light – it’s built with all of the essential traits to produce phenomenal yields and superb quality for indoor horticulture. With the use of Osram diodes, and a modular approach, Budmaster has created one of the top rated fixtures in it’s class. Although it comes at a steep price of over $3,500, it will surely do the job, and do it right. Quite expensive for most, but a great LED grow light panel nonetheless.