Grow Tents: The BudBox Test

Ever wondered how much light your tent walls reflect?

We have…and so have the guys at BudBox. In fact, they wondered so much that they put three bestselling tents to the test. And they’ve shared their results with us.

Here’s what they found out…

The guys wanted to find out:

• How much light is reflected by their white and silver tent interiors
• What the light distribution is like in their white and silver tents

They weren’t interested in measuring any old light - only the good stuff - wavelengths of light from the PAR range.

Light from the PAR range (wavelengths between 400nm – 700nm) is what’s used by your plants growth. Read more about it here.

While they were at it, the guys decided to test the interior of a leading competitor’s tent to see how theirs compared.

The guys at BudBox went all out on this one. To make sure results were reliable and fair, they got an independent company to:

1. Use a sample of 3 different reflective materials
2. Illuminate each sample with an Illuminant A spotlight
3. Take an image of the light intensity & distribution using a Radiant Vision System l8 photometric camera
4. Calibrate the source for PAR values with a JETI spectrometer
5. Measure the PAR value on a 600mm spot size of each sample

Sample A (Used in BudBox silver interior tent): 2.061 micromoles per sq. m

Sample A: is very red and yellow, showing you just how much PAR light it reflects (with some blotching to show hot spots).

Sample B (Used in BudBox white interior tent): 1.694 micromoles per sq. m

Sample B: is still very yellow and has a very even colour – you’ll get a great amount of PAR light in this tent and very even light distribution.

Sample C (White interior used in bestselling competitor’s tent): 1.584 micromoles per sq. m

Sample C: isn’t bad at all, but you can see it’s much greener, reflecting a lot less light than the other two samples.

If there’s one thing you should take away from this, it’s that BudBox make really, really reflective tents!

Both their silver (A) and white (B) interiors came out top. Remember, the test was carried out by an independent body.

If choosing between a white or silver interior tent, it’s a case of horses for courses:

• Silver interior tents reflect more PAR light (at least 21% more in this test!), but some of the reflected PAR is very concentrated in hot spots in the materials creases. This means that the light is not evenly distributed to your plants.
• White interior tents give you a very even light distribution – great for preventing hot spots and fighting heat problems. And the BudBox Pro white reflects 7% more than there closest competitor.

As for us, we only sell the BudBox Pro White tent – you’ll still get an amazing reflection of light, and our own tests show the temperature in a white tent is 1 – 2oC lower than in a silver tent of the same size.

Combine this with BudBox’s super strong structure, easy access ports and light tight canvas, you can’t go wrong.