SunBlaster 1600200 SunBlaster Growlight Garden Large, Black

This review is for the larger unit, not the micro unit. I posted a ton of pictures in the hope that they will help someone. When I was deciding to buy I couldn't find helpful pictures so here you go. I have had the big $800 shelf units sold by Gardeners Supply. Still, I am impressed with this unit. The quality and appearance is so much better in person. I'm very pleased with it. The construction is high quality and the plastic is quite heavy. Mine came with planting trays that were also heavy duty plastic. There are two light bulbs and mine came with two reflectors as well. The light bulbs are all or nothing in that both will light up when you hit the roll switch. There is no built-in timer however, you could plug it into a timer with no issues. The wicking mat works very well. I'm using this for African violets as you can see. If you are using the wicking mat for violets, I suggest you use soil that is made for wicking to avoid over-watering. I love the wicking feature because it eliminates me obsessively picking pots up to see if they're light or heavy. The plants are in control of whether they need water or not. I have had no problems with the lid staying up. Adjusting the canopy yourself is a little cumbersome. I'm not sure how they would improve that. But again, no issues with it falling down. The bars that hold the canopy up are metal. If your unit comes with reflectors I will save you a headache. There are no directions as to how to install these. They go between light housing and the bulb. They work very well. Just remember to peel off the blue plastic before installing them. The assembly directions have you putting the screws in the top canopy and then flipping the unit over. Oh that's silly because the screws come flying right out when you flip it over as directed. I suggest just reaching under and putting the screw in and holding it with your finger while you attach the clip and nut from the underside. If you have big fingers, you're going to fumble a little bit with the tiny nut . Also, do yourself a favor and plug the electric cords into the ends of the light housing before clipping the lights into the canopy or you'll find yourself slinging a few four letter words. The instructions could have been better. I hope this information helps someone!

Was very easy to assemble as well as well built

I read lots of reviews on this. The one thing I hesitated on, was the difficulty in adjusting the lights. When I first tried the canopy, without fully assembling, it was indeed near impossible. However, when I took it back apart to finish the assembly, the idea came to me. Per the photos, this solves a lot of issues. I used painters tape, measured, and the split the 2 rails and inserted into their holes. Now, when I want to readjust the lights, I simply find the line that matches. To easily adjust the canopy, don't try to do one side, and then the other. You will get frustrated and want to throw it out. Simply remove the canopy, remove the rails, unscrew the slider and adjust to where you want it, and replace them and then the canopy. It takes a few seconds and it's all easy. Another biggy- adding the lamp clips, put them in place, and lightly put the nuts on- but don't tighten. Once all 4 are in place, flip the canopy to the top and use a philips screwdriver to tighten them down. You will not need to hold the nuts, they will still tighten. Lightbar install- Pay XTRA attention to the light ends. the none plugged side, will need to be flush, with one end of the canopy. If you make the mistake I did, you will find it's harder to take them off, than it was HARD to snap into place-Hint, you won't be able to slide them either. Make sure that end is touching the end of the canopy before you snap anything in place. Just take your time and it will go smoother. My first one took me at least an hour, of mostly frustration. The second- 10 minutes. Oh, one more quick tip- 3 of my lights rattled and I was afraid they may not be any good, so test your bulbs before installing. All of them ended up being good. I like this thing, and would not hesitate to buy more, which I may end up doing.

This was the first time I had tried starting seeds with a grow light. It was fantastic! Ready to plant my tomatoes and squash in the ground. It was exciting to watch the plats grow!

Love this light garden! Put plants in 10 gallon aquarium, added about 1” of stones, keep water on stones, and as most plants have wicking strings, I rarely need to water plants individually. So far, just an occasional buzz in ballast of light, but it’s a minor drawback.

easy to set up, super item works much better than my aerogarden at 1/2 the price. can used supplied pots or pots from any vender with holes on bottom. you can use with jiffy seed starters, after the seed sprout in the jiffy pots put the round disks directly on the mat until they are ready to pot.I have 3 of these and grow all year

Poor design of the light bar ... It's very difficult to adjust the height of the lights. The knobs are very small and hard to turn and you have to twist both of them at the same time while pulling up on the bar evenly.The wicking pad was the main reason I got this, and it preformed well, as it kept the plants moist without having to water every day. I had a problem with bugs (gnats) so I plan to use pearlite instead of soil next time. There are no instructions on how to fertilize or to maintain the garden for vegetables.I would not recommend this only because the light bar is too difficult to adjust.

It should have been easy but directions said to attach lights to hood then plug the cord into lights. This was not possible so had to remove lights and plug cord in then reinstall lights.A separate issue was when I lifted the light unit it turned out the one of the bulbs fell out and broke.

So far the Growlight Indoor Garden works very well. I have not used it very long as I just received it and seedlings are already outside. I am trying it on some lettuce and basil at the moment. Seems to be working well. Looking forward to using it next year.

Very good. Easy assembly.

This is my second one. One for starting veggies and one for flowers. I love the product however, the most recent one had bolts which did not work. The threads were too short to slot through the hole and clamp and have enough thread left to attach nut. After trying various methods to try to make them work and trying other bolts I have at home nothing worked. I went to Home Depot and purchased ones which were longer. It is now assembled. Finally. I think the product is pricey enough that the proper bolts should be included.Because of the difficulty with assembly due to improper size bolts, I did not give it 5 stars. But otherwise the product is excellent both for seed starting and growing lettuce herbs etc.

I bought it from the warehouse deals because of a cosmetic defect which I never did find but everything works perfectly.

Love the setup, was super easy. Unfortunately only 8 months later the lights burnt out on one side. Don’t really want to have to replace that often.