CMH fixtures from China?

[Loki Hiki]

Hi there,

I'm new to this forum and really appreciate all of the advice and generous help. Seems like I stumbled upon a great community here!

I'm looking into 630w CMH fixtures and have found a couple options that I'm weighing right now. One option that I'm heavily considering is to purchase the fixtures from China via Alibaba (e.g. http://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...pm=a2700.7724838.2017115.1.7beab5c3TD7EvH&s=p).

It seems like these are basically the same lights as what the branded US-based guys are selling but without the warranty and higher price point.

Does anyone have experience with these fixtures or any others from China that they could share with me so that I can make a better purchasing decision? Alternatively, does anyone have a suggestion for a US based company that isn't as highly priced? I really want to run CMH but I can't get around the $400+ per price point that I'm seeing.

Thanks so much!

 

[Avinash.miles]

i have a couple of the wellthink 315 w CMH ballasts - work fine
pretty sure they are made in china - doesn't look like the one you linked to tho

 

[Speed of green]

Clownbaby bought a few from alibaba, hasnt had any issues out of them. the bulbs they come with are cheap though, id buy a name brand bulb.

every american company is just buying this stuff from china and slapping their sticker on it. triple or quadruple the price and possibly offer a warranty.

i would do vetting of the companies by email to make sure they have decent communication, ive dealt with several chinese companies from alibaba and even had one replace a damaged item for free, so there are good ones out there. juust gotta search.