Grow Tent Reviews: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Part Two)

This post is continued from Grow Tent Reviews Part One

Lighthouse grow tents

Not as expensive as Gorilla grow tents and by far less costly than Secret Jardin, Lighthouse offers solid light dense fabric. The edges are sturdy and can withstand teardowns and setups. Additionally, the structure can take some stress.

Heavy handed users might find Lighthouse Grow Tents a bit too tender for their style of grow. Reddit Microgrowery user OriginalPounderofAss writes, “Mine has stitched edges and when I have spilled some water and checked it does stop splash etc but not a complete soak/ trying to fill up. You would be better off getting something more rigid and guaranteed watertight.”

Rating: Good

Secret Jardin grow tents

Pretty much everyone growing within the walls of these tents speak of Secret Jardin in almost hushed adulation. (It can get a little weird.) But there is no doubt that Secret Jardin is grow tent royalty.

The price is high, much higher than other brands out there. But they will last a good long while. Touring Funk Band posted on ICMagazine forum: “Gotta second or third Secret Jardin here. If the 4x8's are as good as the 4x4 (DR120) you'll be a happy grower. Thick material, quality seams and zipper. I've been happy with it for over three years now.”

But not everyone is easily swayed. Rocketman420, the lone dissenter, said: “I wouldn't waste money on a Jardin, I cant count the light leaks on all three of mine, i got a 4x8 4x4 and 2x2.”. The Rocketman stood alone.

Rating: Good

Gorilla grow tents

If Secret Jardin is the royal family of indoor horticulture, then Gorilla grow tents are the badass mercenaries.  With 1680D dense nylon you don’t get much better light economy. Gorilla boasts that it has the thickest, most durable canvas available but it is the adaptability of the design that gets major praise from most growers.

On the Rollitup.org forum Edgar 9 wrote, “I have a Jardin and I like it but if I get another tent I'd get the Gorilla b/c they have so much more headroom. With the extensions, the 5x5 Gorilla can be 9 feet tall.”

The adjustable height cuts down on heating bills. When your plants are just starting out they don’t require much headroom which allows the grower to keep the ceiling low and limits the amount of space to heat. As the plants grow, the tent expands with relative ease.

The only ugly bit? Some growers, probably anxious and excited to get their hands on this primo tent, cut their thumbs when sliding the canvas over the skeleton. Ouch. Calm down. Wear gloves.

Rating: Good

Everything Else? Mostly ugly.

There are many, many brands of grow tents. The ones not mentioned  in this post (HydroHut, Grow Cube, Hydrobuilder, Virtual Sun, Milliard, Xen-Lux to name a few) are either ugly or haven’t received enough grower feedback to warrant a full review. Try these only if you are feeling experimental or if you are really into DIY projects.

See more grow tent brand reviews in Grow Tent Reviews: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Part One. 

Grow Tent Reviews: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Part One)

Grow Tent Reviews, Part 1

Though many grow tents come with extras that experienced growers enjoy for idiosyncratic reasons, there are a few basics every grower can agree on. Grow tents must have excellent light economy (no leakage), be durable, easy to set-up and tear-down, and have a skeleton that holds weight.

Which common grow tents are good, bad, or downright ugly? Read these grow tent reviews and choose your poison:

Agromax grow tent

When it comes to quality, many growers agree this tent has been bashed with the ugly stick. In a thread on ICMagazine’s forum, user eastbeast wrote, “I'd had the big agromax for about a year and a half. I had to take it down twice and it didn't survive long after the second takedown. Shoddy/cheap material and the vents and zippers were terrible. Threw it away a few months ago. It was probably about two years old.”

Although other growers have used Agromax for small grows or as supplemental growing space, if you have plans for future grows then you might want to avoid this brand.

Rating: Ugly

Geneva Barns (Aviditi) grow tent

New growers frequently choose this grow tent because it is cheap and easy to find online. Again, if you are first starting out and don’t mind using your first crop as a learning experience, then you might consider playing around with this one.

Justintime233 posted an excellent startup guide over on Reddit. He had this to say about Aviditi:  “The ventilation holes are kinda in weird places which limits how you can set things up. It doesn't say but most Avitidi tents are 600D material the lighthouse hydro ones are 900D so thicker and stronger.”

Hush posted on ICmagazine’s forum: “The one I got is fine, it will work for my purposes, but the quality is totally subpar. I absolutely plan on eventually replacing it.”

Rating: Ugly

GrowLab - Homebox grow tent

There’s a lack of consensus among growers about Growlab - Homebox’s durability. Before purchasing one, weigh your lights, can fans, and other equipment so that you have an accurate measure of how much weight you’ll suspend from the frame. Otherwise, it can get ugly.

According to Hubcap (THC Farmer), “HTG homebox tents will work, but… imo, i feel, the frame is sub par, at best. i lost a few [plants] because the frame isnt strong enuff to hold a can 60 and it dropped onto my plants.”

DonJuanMatus (THC Farmer) agreed: “i ran a homebox xl a while back and had to place the filter on the floor because the rods were bending just from my air cooled hood”

Despite the weak structure and several complaints about small ports and difficult to access entryways, others swear by the brand. Butler420 wrote on rollitup.org, “It's got to be Homebox and / or Growlab every day of the week for me. Build quality, materials, design. Hands down winners. ”

And knowing what you need definitely helps when it comes to choosing the best grow tent for you. Caress of Steel (THC Farmer) is happy with their Homebox, stating,“The zippers on the HB's are tough as nails, and what gets more work than the zippers. Steel frame is tough enough for my Sun System 2 and 6 in Vortex.”

Rating: Ugly, if you don’t know what you need. Good, if you do.

LED brand grow tent

Growers who have gone this route reported some problems with peeling, non-water-tight floors. There are other deficiencies as well. Green2Green commented on Reddit, “I have a 4x4x7ft LED grow tent I got from amazon for $99 but after 6 months of use the zippers are starting to come apart and I am looking at some more better quality tents. ...  I would recommend something other than the LED brand grow tents on Amazon simply because mine is starting to fall apart after a few months use.”

A Frankenstein grow tent cobbled together with gorilla tape is pretty ugly.

Rating: Ugly

Although there are many cheap and crappy grow tents out there that fall straight into the ugly category, there are a few out there that are good. 

Check out the second part of Grow Tent Reviews for more brands!