Best LED Grow Lights Under $200 – Reviews & Top Picks 2021

Last updated: April 7, 2021

Budgeting when getting into growing cannabis is a difficult task.

Prices add up quickly and it can become pretty scary worrying about cheap parts failing during a grow.

This is why growers often turn to LED grow lights.

We’ve taken some time to go through the best LED grow lights that won’t break the bank, but will still work reliably and well for a Cannabis grow.

Our reviews are based on several factors, which we’ll get into, but we try to find the best products for any Cannabis grower. Take a look at what we came up with this year.

A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites

	Image	Product	Details
Best Overall		KingLED LED Grow Light	High-power Multiple light spectrums Good warranty	CHECK PRICE
Best Value		BLOOMSPECT B1000 LED Grow Lights	Really good price point Powerful-full spectrum LEDs	CHECK PRICE
		BESTVA DC-1000W LED Grow Light	Great build quality Available in very high-power Spectrum for every stage of growth	CHECK PRICE
		MARS HYDRO TS LED Grow Light	Sunlight spectrum works on all stages Run cool	CHECK PRICE
		iPlantop LED Grow Light	Dual-channel LEDs on a budget	CHECK PRICE

The 10 Best LED Grow Lights under $200 – Reviews 2021

1. KingLED LED Grow Light – Best Overall

A high-power, full-spectrum LED that takes into account both UV and IR needs, and switches easily between different plant growth stages. Also, the price isn’t too bad either.

KingLED is a really solid piece of equipment as well, with a warranty for 90 days to take care of any manufacturing defects that may cause issues.

The fans and radiators do their jobs cooling down the light. As long as there’s ventilation in the room already, there won’t be a lot of additional heat to contend with. However, it is a 1000W equivalent system, which means growers should be careful with it in small, enclosed spaces.

2.  BLOOMSPECT B1000 LED Grow Lights – Best Value

So, the KingLED is such a good design that even its knock-off makes this list. Luckily, the BLOOMSPECT B1000 is still pretty good, which makes this one of the best LED grow lights under $200 for the money.

Very, very similar to the aforementioned product, except quite a bit cheaper but loses some on the build quality. This has a 30-day warranty on it, so any manufacturing defects should be detected ASAP so getting this up and running as soon as it is delivered is ideal.

Being said, we had no issues with this product. It feels a bit flimsier than the more expensive version, so be gentle, but it’s still a solid budget purchase.

3. BESTVA DC-1000W LED Grow Light

A quality brand with multiple wattage options, ranging from 1000W to 4000W equivalents, BESTVA has put together a very nice product. The build quality is solid and they back it with a 90-day warranty and great customer support for any potential issues.

The DC-1000W is designed to be operated for up to 18 hours a day, which is ideal for most grows and can be adjusted via switches depending on the growth stage the plant is in. The higher wattage lamps tend to the warmer side of things, which means hosting this lamp in a grow room will require some preparations.

This keeps it out of the top two, just because the higher-wattages need a bit of preparation to deal with, but it’s still a solid choice for just about any LED grow set up. They also come with some nifty glasses so you don’t burn out your retina looking at your plants, so that’s nice.

4. MARS HYDRO TS LED Grow Light

MARS HYDRO TS is a sunlight spectrum LED grow light, meant to work for all stages of plant growth that works well, but only on small setups. This one needs to be kept a fair bit closer to the plant than the previous ones on the list, but it does run fairly cool.

It’s not a bad budgetary option but lacks some of the growth potential as other options around the same price.

5. iPlantop LED Grow Light

iPlantop LED Grow Light offers two channels of light spectrum for a fairly low price, but misses out on overall light penetration and build quality.

This is a great choice for a low budget grower looking for a dual-channel LED, but if a bit more money can be scraped up there are better choices on the market. The aluminum housing on this lamp feels fairly flimsy, which won’t affect things in the short term but may cause issues after multiple grows. The heat sink also isn’t the best, though the low power of the light stops it from becoming too big of an issue.

This does come with a 36-month warranty, so the diodes are safe. It doesn’t make the top of the list mostly due to us having questions about the quality of the housing, it’s still a decent budget light.

6. Spider Farmer SF-1000 LED Grow Light

The Spider Farmer SF-1000 is a full 1000W sunlight spectrum LED that works well in a lot of grows, but that energy could be better placed with better cool and warm settings for vegetative and blooming plants.

This is a quality product, but from experience, we’ve always preferred LEDs with adjustable color temperatures. Potentially, this could be used as an amazing supplementary overhead that adds a bit of full-spectrum to a larger grow, but as is, adjustable lights tend to win out.

7. Fauna LED Grow Light

The Fauna LED is great supplementary light that can reach the sides and bottom of a growing plant unlike that of overheads, however, it may not have enough juice on its own.

These are very fancy, sci-fi looking lights that do a great job helping to spread light around. They are on a stand that is bendable and can be aimed anywhere on the plant that light isn’t quite reaching as you may like.

We like these as a supplementary light, as it doesn’t heat up or cost a lot in electricity, but it can give an edge to parts of a plant that otherwise might be getting too much shade.

8. Durolux DLED848W LED Grow Light

A solid sunlight-spectrum light that loses out once the plant reaches more mature growth stages, but does have a use for seedlings and young vegetative growth.

It’s a bright, but lower power, daisy-chain overhead set up that is actually pretty reasonably priced. There are no fans involved, so it’s nice and quiet.

Everything about it is pretty solid except for the fact that it will not be of much use to flowering plants, making it a great additional light to have in an arsenal but not worth making any sacrifices for in a standard grow.

9. Barrina 504014650Dc LED Grow Light

Barrina is the choice to make for growers looking to upgrade their CFL system into an LED, however, it has limited appeal for those without structures already in place.

Barrina makes a great CFL replacement light. These have no downside compared to fluorescent tubes while having a wider spectrum, and a lower power cost. The only reason we don’t recommend these to new growers is due to having to purchase CFL ballasts to rig these into. For anyone that already has these, then go for it.

Otherwise, other lights can do the job without having to purchase fluorescent ballasts.

10. Monios-L 4FT LED Grow Light

A T-5 LED replacement that has some potential use for seedlings but is underpowered for much else. The Monios-L 4FT LED Grow Light looks alright from the packaging, but the actual build quality here is fairly lacking. The reflector included, at least, was dinged up and flimsy on arrival.

The actual lights are fine, but they aren’t really enough for heavy growth and are more suited for nursery use.

I wouldn’t recommend these to many people, aside for someone who needs a quick and cheap T5 replacement for seedlings, but definitely not for general plant growth.

Buyer’s Guide

There are quite a few considerations that we take into account before going all-in on a lighting system.

Efficiency

Using LEDs is a bit different than the thought process with HPS lights. More power is not always equal to bigger plants, due to the light efficiency of the way the diodes are set up.

A big consideration with LEDs is using as little power as possible to get plants to thrive. Throw enough light at a plant and it will grow, but we use LEDs because we aren’t trying to break the bank on electric bills.

For a small to medium-sized grow, which is the vast majority of them, anything above 1000W is overkill and seems like a backward way of going about an LED grow. Instead, we look for lights that are arranged for a good spread and can cover all the spectrums our plants could want, using as little light as possible.

Color

Cannabis responds better to cooler colors as a seedling and warmer colors once it is blooming. This means we want lights that can adjust throughout the growing process. Full-spectrums do work, but if the energy can be redirected to more appropriate colors depending on the stage of growth the Cannabis is in, then that is always better.

Image: LED Grow Light/KingLED, Amazon

Sun-light spectrum lamps tend to work best as supplementary lights, though they have a use in nurseries. Good quality full-spectrums, even though they aren’t ideal, do tend to be readily available and are not actually bad. It’s just less than ideal.

Great grows can, and do, come from full-spectrum LEDs, it’s just when the option to adjust is there always take it.

Quality

Diodes burning out halfway into a grow used to be a big concern for growers a few years ago. It still haunts us today, to a certain extent, but there’s a lot of more quality products on the market now. Good warranties are usually a sign that the company believes in the product, as well as the perspective of other reviewers.

Image: LED Grow Light/MARS HYDRO, Amazon

The products listed here have a good track record with diodes and generally come with a good warranty in case of any issues.

Conclusion

We’re looking for a good all-around LED system under $200, and the KingLED LED Grow Light fits this bill nicely. When doing these reviews, this was the best version of this style of light and it’ll be our go-to recommendation in this category for a while.

Working on a budget is pretty difficult, so we hope our bit of research here can help you make a better-informed purchase.

Featured Image: LED Grow Light/BESTVA, Amazon