Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought this unit on the recommendation of a local dealer. The first unit I received worked great for about a week, but quickly developed a problem with a couple of the bulbs flickering and refusing to light up to their full brightness. After moving the bulbs around, it became clear that the problem was not with the bulbs but with the specific sockets themselves. Two of the sockets had failed and would no longer illuminate the bulb to its normal brightness.
We returned the defective fixture to the dealer in exchange for a second unit. Like the first, this was a brand new factory sealed fixture. After the problems, we decided to unpack the second unit and plug it in BEFORE we went through the trouble installing it in our grow room. Good thing! When we plugged it in for the first time, we were shocked and disappointed to discover that just like the first unit, this unit was also failing to light up all of the tubes properly. In this case, one of the sockets near the center of the fixture was defective. We moved the bulbs around just to confirm.
Unfortunately for us, when we returned the second unit to the dealer, he informed us that he was now sold out of this model due to several customer returns and exchanges in addition to ours! All he could offer us was the more expensive version of this fixture that had additional features we really didn't need or want. And despite all the hassle we had gone through with a product this dealer had highly recommend, he was unwilling to give us any kind of deal on the more expensive version!
Since we had a new crop of seedlings that needed a reliable light source TODAY, we had no choice but to pay the RETAIL difference for the more expensive version. At least for now, this more expensive version is working without any of the issues we encountered with the FLT44. While our issues are likely an isolated incident caused by a bad batch of parts, you would hope that basic quality control measures at the factory would catch this kind of problem. Why these units passed inspection and were shipped off to our dealer, I have no idea. You would have to ask Hydrofarm about that.
As for the local dealer who recommended this in the first place? I won't be shopping there anymore. I generally prefer to buy the majority of my products online, but since this local dealer took the time and seemed to know his grow light systems, I decided to pay a little more locally. Look where that all got me! Several hours of hassle installing and uninstalling the fixtures, driving the 30 miles back and forth to the dealer TWICE, and to add insult to injury, being charged FULL RETAIL for the a more expensive version I didn't need or want, but had to buy because the one I originally purchased was no longer available based on the defective sockets!
Next time, I buy from Amazon! Even if I had encountered this same QC problem with a factory sealed product, it wouldn't have cost me all the extra time and money to get it resolved, and I would have saved a respectable amount of cash upfront to begin with. Do brick and mortar retailers really have a problem understanding why they are losing customers in droves? You would have to be insane to continue to shop at a local merchant who puts you through a story like this!
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