Lights

If the only option for lm301 was 2x as much, you probqably made a good choice. The LM301B is cheaper and the exact same thing, for future reference. LM281B+ https://led.samsung.com/lighting/mid-power-leds/2835-leds/lm281b-plus/ lm301b https://led.samsung.com/lighting/mid-power-leds/3030-leds/lm301b/ Now, this initial tech spec is for a high cct than you'll probablay find on your device, but i'm being lazy and doing this the fast way. It'll be close enough to actual because it'll scale similar but not exactly with the right CCT ranges. 176lm/w vs 226lm/w -- You need about 128% of watts to produce the same number of photons. This would only translate 100% of you had 2 light options both providing the same umol/s but different watts of power The LM281 would need 128w and the lm301b would need 100w. How long would 28w/hour take to pay off the difference of the two lights? That's your break-even equation. This is not always cookie cutter context like that in real life given available products. Compared to a generic led bulb, yes, it's probably better. Best way to buy a light -- work bacward from area of garden and hours of operation (i.e. 12 hours if you eve grow photoperiods). reference a DLI table and work backward from roughly 35-40 DLI to get PPFD for that range over 12 hours of operaiotn, then convert PPFD with the area of your garden to umol/s. This value will be given with any self-respecting light. That umol/s is what you want. Any light that has greater efficiency will provide that many photons per second with fewer watts. Any small value will take many years to "pay off" the difference. It becomes a lot more imporant when you run more watts to get efficient lights than a context with small lights. Efficiency will not impact quality. If you give X DLI it will have expected results no matter how many watts you used. No worries on that. Focuse on providing 35-40 DLI or as close as you can to that. Definitely don't go below 25 DLI. This value is what will impact your potential yield. read wiki on daily light integral (DLI). get the gist even if not good at math.