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This product review is for the Sunblaster NanoTech T5 High Output Fixture Reflector Combo, used for an indoor seed starting and plant growing station. We purchased ours on Amazon, and links in this review point to the particular product we purchased. I was not paid to write this review, and all opinions shared are based on my own experience.
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Sunblaster Nanotech T5 Grow Lights
Buy Now βA few years ago we set out to build an indoor growing station. We wanted to expand our growing space for both seed starting for our garden and growing microgreens. We are somewhat space constrained in our current house so we settled on an 18″ x 24″ wire rack.
After determining your space, the next important consideration for setting up an indoor growing station is the type of light to use. Read more about our choice for T5 high output bulbs in this article on how to make a compact indoor seed starting / plant growing station.
Once we had settled on T5 high output bulbs, we set out to find a fixture setup that would work for our planned growing station. As noted earlier, we needed something to fit in an 18″ x 24″ space. A lot of the common indoor grow setups use 4 foot light fixtures, so we had to hunt around for something smaller to fit our 2 foot length shelves. We also didn’t want to break the bank with our purchase. There are a lot of expensive grow light options out there! We finally found and purchased these Sunblaster Nanotech T5 grow lights. We have four of these fixtures split between our two growing shelves.
What’s in the package?
The Sunblaster Nanotech T5 High Output Fixture Reflector Combo comes with:
- Ballast
- T5 high output bulb
- One short cord to connect an additional ballast
- One longer cord to connect to a power outlet
A few useful features about these light kits
- They have a built in reflector on the underside of the ballast. This efficiently bounces the light back to your growing area.
- You can link up to 8 of these lights together, so if you have wider shelves you can easily include multiple lights spanning the width of the shelf.
- The ballasts include two mounting loops, one on either end. This makes it really simple to connect a chain (via S-hook) to hang the light from the shelf above.
- The power cord includes an inline switch to turn them on and off, so you can control them from near the mounting location. (Or for a more hands free option, check out the Kasa smart power strip that we included in our setup.)
Functionality/Durability of the Sunblaster Nanotech T5 Grow Lights
These lights function exactly as expected. The fact that they come in different sizes to fit your specific space is really convenient. They were very straightforward to setup. The kit came inclusive with everything we needed except for a method to hang them. We used a length of chain connected to the top mounting loops by an S-hook. This allows for easy height adjustments as plants grow taller.
At the time of writing this review we have been using these light kits for more than 15 months. They get near-daily use, at 12-16 hours a day. We just recently had our first bulb start to flicker, and easily ordered some replacements.. We ordered these T5 replacement bulbs by Vivosun, and have been happy with the results. Aside from a bulb replacement (to be expected with lots of “on” hours) we have had no issues with these fixtures. We would definitely purchase these Sunblaster Nanotech T5 grow lights again!
Jeannine
Great review! Going to be investing in a few lights, so a review like this really helps. Thank you.
Kristi
You are welcome Jeannine – so glad to hear this was helpful! Happy growing π
Katja
Hi there! How was the heat? I just bought some myself and had been worried about leaving it home alone on while at work (and coming home to a blaze), did you have any worries about that at first? Mine seem to heat up quite a bit but haven’t had them on longer than 4hrs a day so far! I have a similar set up!
Kristi
Hi Katya,
We haven’t had any problems with heat at all! If you have a setup with good airflow, I would expect your experience to be the same. We have the lights plugged into the Kassa smart plug, and they are on about 11 hours a day every day. We have never had any issues. I hope that helps!
-Kristi
Sab
I would recommend buying the led t5 conversion lamp if you are worried About heat.