GalaxyHydro & Roleadro Review: Are These LEDs Worth It?

Have you been wondering what kind of grow light you need for that indoor growing adventure you want to start so bad?

With the recent explosion of hydroponics, indoor growing, and the LED grow light industry, it’s no surprise that there are a ton of companies in the market right now.  And with so many options, making the right choice can become quite a headache really quick when you scroll past dozens of lighting options.

So, in order to make your job of choosing the right LED grow light for your indoor garden a little easier, I’ve decided to make it my job to review the most popular LED grow light offerings available on the market.

Today I’m reviewing one of the most accessible generic offerings. I’m talking about GalaxyHydro, a Chinese brand that’s fabricated on Shenzhen, China. They’ve been around for a long time and have stablished themselves as one of the most popular go-to choices in the introductory market.

I’m also going to be reviewing their “replacement” brand Roleadro. Since it seems that GalaxyHydro is on the way of being discontinued and replaced with the Roleadro brand, I’ve decided it’s a good idea to keep them both together in the same Review.

So, in this article, I’m going to take a look at their product lines and give my review from top to bottom. We’ll look at:

• The features they offer
• The build quality of their lights
• All of the specifications
• Their warranty policy

…and much more. Let’s get into it.

Quick Take

This is a detailed review of GalaxyHydro and Roleadro, so it’s a bit long. If you want to skip right to my verdict, here it is:

GalaxyHydro

GalaxyHydro is a generic LED grow light brand that offers low cost solutions for the introductory segment of the market. And with their prices beginning at under $100 USD, it’s an affordable choice if you want to get started gardening indoors

Their grow light has a mixture of white, blue, red, ultraviolet, and infrared light. This array promotes photosynthesis and general plant development. It’s a suitable option for growing greens like lettuce, spinach, or basil. In fact, you can grow a bigger plants by daisy chaining a few of their row lights together. Just remember to not get your hopes too high and remain realistic.

These are very basic grow lights and their potential is limited.

GalaxyHydro is a great choice if you’re a hobby gardener and need to take care of a few house plants, veggies and cacti or if your garden isn’t too big (say a few square feet). But if you need some real lighting intensity, I’d recommend you look elsewhere, as these grow lights aren’t exactly the most efficient or intense.

Roleadro

Roleadro is the “new” brand behind GalaxyHydro. These lights have updated lighting designs and introduce the latest changes in LED grow light technology. They’re an Amazon-first company, as even their website points you to purchase them on Amazon.

Although they still offer the classic purple (red and blue) grow light, they’ve also included COB based grow lights, and are even offering COB fixtures powered by high quality COBs like the CREE CXA3070 chips.

Another important change for the company is the introduction of all white broad spectrum LEDs. They’ve updated most of their grow light offerings to replace the old red & blue mixture in order to use broad spectrum white LEDS that offer a more complete and balanced light spectrum, uniformity of color and a spectrum that can be used throughout all stages of growing without the need of changing color spectrums mid growth.

With all of these changes, I would imagine that their prices would go up, but as it seems their prices are going down. Their latest “300W” with white LEDS actually has a lower price point than their classic red and blue grow light. So you can see why I’m considering them for this review and why they’ve earned their spot in the market.

What Type of LEDs Do They Use?

GalaxyHydro grow lights are usually equipped with 3 watt Epistar (Epileds) and Bridgelux LEDS, and their spectrum usually covers the colors in the following ranges:

• 430-440nm
• 450-460nm
• 470nm
• 610-615nm
• 620-630nm
• 650-660nm
• Broad White
• IR (730nm)
• UV (380-400nm)

As you can see, GalaxyHydro doesn’t stay behind when it comes to spectrum. You can use these LEDs to grow any kind of small greens to mid-sized plants.

Roleadro on the other hand has introduced the use of all white, broad spectrum chips. That means there is no longer any need to disclose the individual nanometers of their LEDs. The white LEDS offer a complete (broader) spectrum where all colors in the PAR range are fused together which is more natural than separating light into individual nanometers.

Further Resources:

• Indoor Grow Lights Overview
• How Do Plants Use Light?

Warranty:

It looks like both GalaxyHydro and Roleadro offer a standard 2-year warranty, likely covering malfunctions, breakage, dead lights, etc. They also offer a 30-day money back guarantee. Like most warranties, I’d assume it doesn’t cover user error or intentional damage. However, that’s all I could find warranty-wise.

Product Line

GalaxyHydro 600W

A very good choice when priced under $180 USD. It consists of 200 pieces of dimmable 3W Epiled diodes with proper lenses and reflectors for an optimal plant coverage, combining white, blue, red, UV and IR to make a suitable addition to any small or hobby garden. This grow light also allows you to connect many of them in a daisy chain for easy expandability.

GalaxyHydro 300W

Usually priced right under $100 USD. It contains 100 3W Epiled diodes, combining white, blue, red, UV & IR, efficient cooling fans and the ability to daisy chain if needed. It is basically the same as the Galaxy 600W but cut in half.

Roleadro 600W

This is an upgrade to the standard 600W GalaxyHydro model, and comes equipped with everything from the previous generation along with some notable upgrades and a great price! The 600W (actually 250W) is affordable and introduces white LEDs that output natural light at 3000K color temperature. It utilizes 5W chips and 120° lenses.

Roleadro COBS

Until recently Roleadro was offering COB fixtures using CREE’s CXA chips, but they seem to have discontinued the practice.

They now offer the standard generic COBS with a broad white 3000K spectrum. It may not be the most efficient “chip on board”, but it certainly does provide the light output necessary for growing light intensive crops with an actual power consumption of 200W (the 400W model) and 400W (the 800W model).

Roleadro Panel Grow Light Series

Roleadro’s newest and edgiest product is designed with a spectrum ratio of red to blue at 2.25:1. It is recommended for an area of up to 8 square feet and around 18″–48″ away from the canopy.

Although called a 45W panel, its actual consumption is closer to 25W of high quality and good looking 5W LED chips. It’s a very cool-to-the-touch fixture that’s a good addition to any germination, seedling, or clone tray. You wouldn’t want to use this for anything that needs a lot of light, as it’s not a very intense light.