mdhydro/californiahydro.. yay or nay?

[SEEDYNONO]

i'm about to upgrade my cabinet to a new setup and i'm thinking of ordering it from one of the online retailers.. i know this can be an iffy kind of thing so i'm looking for more feedback on the one retailer that seems to have the best prices for the stuff a lot of us cab growers want.. mdhydro.com.

i've been looking for posts around and have found mixed feedback in them on the store. some say they are fine, discreet, etc. some say they heard things about them giving information to leo and shipping in original boxes with no stealth. the website is kind of weird in that it looks like its barely updated.. they have sections for stuff with nothing in them like some products but also the 'guarantee' section of customer service and the 'about us' section. i also saw one post saying they advertise on television.

also in their 'ordering info' section they state that "We use a sophisticated form of address verification for all credit transactions to protect both of us against fraud. If the billing address for the credit card does not match the shipping address for a customer, we hold the order for verbal, personal verification."

what the hell is that? if i try to ship it to a different address than that which is on my credit card i have to go drive up to maryland or california or whereever and personally verify for them to ship it to the other location i supplied them in the first place? haha very strange wording imo.

anyways just give me some feedback i know a bunch of you have to have ordered from them they have amazing prices on this stuff. too good to be true/safe/reputable?

 

[stretchpuppy]

I've purchased all my exhaust fans and filters from them. I've also been to the shop and they are legit. The site and the store are vastly different, he runs specials on the not-well-maintainted page whereas in the store they have everything you can think of.

Call them about that shipping. Most places online do require some kind of authentication, verbal doesnt mean in person, to ship somewhere other than the address on your card. This is normal in my experience.

 

[SEEDYNONO]

ok one for the yay.. thanks stretchpuppy.

hey you say you got your filters from them.. the setup i'm looking at is a 600w hps and 6" vortex fan.. i'm trying to figure out if the can66 will be a good choice for odor control with that setup. i was told a can50 would be a good match but md seems to skip that one in their online lineup? the specs on them seem almost identicle expect the dimensions and weight.. the can50 is shorter but has a larger diameter and weighs more.. the can 66 is longer and has a slimmer diameter and weighs less. i wanna know
which one works better.. should i try to find a 50 somewhere else or call md and see if they can get me one or is the 66 just as good? they say no orders over the phone though..

 

[stretchpuppy]

It's up to you and your space. I use the 9000 for my 3x3 and 400 watter.

Call and ask... because the 66 he has listed at 420 CFM matches up with the 50 on the CAN site, not the 66 which is 412. Not too big of a difference. He knows what he's talking about. For the sale price they want you to use the online system... yep.

 

[SEEDYNONO]

cool thanks again. i think i'm gonna hold off on the carbon filter for now and maybe look at getting a vaportek unit.. i forgot to think about how much shipping costs for these bad boys.

 

[MTF-Sandman]

If you're concerned about security, just mail them a MO for payment.

 

[Omega Rasta]

Here's one for the Yah.....


Mr B is a great Shop Owner and knows his stuff.
Ive also bought everything I own from him except my 2 400w switchable ballasts.
Those were purchased on ebay because a friend payed 1/2 of the price.
....and after 3 harvests, they are now mine.

He can answer any question you have within reason ofcourse.
If you visit the shop he has a lot of the items setup, operational and on display. If it's not showing on the site....well look under the search feature; a lot of the items show that way. His move to this present shop is a big improvement from the old shop too.

Way way more storage space.
Do yourself a favor, MDHydro....they have an 800# Ask for Mr. Brian

 

[Guest]

I`d like to know the dealio also.........I`ve been followin this site for a while and to say it`s not updated is crazy...........In the last 3 weeks their front page has changed as far as different items and prices every week at least if not every 4-5 days.....They just dont have a lot of products in their categories or at all in some of them.....I`m very glad this thread is here as I too am very concerned about ordering from a website that`s kinda vague and almost too good to be true as far as their prices compared to other online hydro sites..........The 600 Lumenace`s have gone from $289 with free reflectors and hortilux bulbs to $199 with the reflector and bulb upgrade being extra now and 1825 watt timers for $10 ............Is this guy for real?....I`m ready to order thru a remailing service if necessary to heal my paranoia cuz the prices are too hard to turn down .......Anyways..........good thread..........Need to hear more input from people with more post numbers than what I`ve seen........PEACE.........DHF.........

 

[xero]

I just checked them out and they're running a specail with a Lumatek 400W digital ballast, reflector, and bulb for $280 after shipping. If there's a problem getting it to me, I'll be sure to let everyone know, but here's hoping for the best.

 

[HIDEyourBUD]

I have used MD hydro for a number of orders to include a 6"vortex and a CAN50 carbon filterer. They had turned the original box inside out so the filter looked like any other box. I'll use them again if I'm unable to refill the CAN50.

 

[Ncogneato]

They where good for me. And they have the best deals on cool-tubes on the net.

 

[EastCoast]

mdhydro is run by one guy B .. if youve ever been in there he's... not exactly the most friendly guy and not customer service oriented at all!

But B seems to be a great business man, He's been there I thnk for 10yrs, Has an insane selection for the area in the store, and the prices are not cheap.

on line everythings different!
Where he's a great business man is.. he's sells only the products that he makes the most money on, that he needs to spend the least amount of time answering questions for, and that usually get shipped by an outside company straight from the warehouse(ala ebay super sellers), it looks like this allows him to run the business solo, undercutting other bigger places on the ballasts.

If you go into the store he'll charge you 400 maybe 550 for the same light w/ reflector and bulb. His reasoning is.. he pays for it and it sits as inventory w/ shipping on him... if you buy it online he drops the price to get everyone in.. but doesn't have to do much but change his price updates and let the warehouse ship. Either way,, his sight does look shady that its only half working.. but trust me its that way by design and its been that way for years!

 

[SEEDYNONO]

well so far so good. i put in my order with them on friday about 1 p.m. their time and it was confirmed within five minutes.. shipped out that evening and is in route to me with next wednesday the expected arrival time using ground shipping.

i really can't believe the prices. and since i'm not in state i get no tax to boot! sweet. shipping cost is nill compared to savings. i'll be starting a diary for my third grow [flo & lisa marie (elvis diesel)] very shortly.. should be pretty sweet.

thanks for the posts guys

 

[fuzygrowth]

i have to say, mhydro is the shit. reason for their website being so sparse is because they only put up stuff that is the cheapest on the net. you can call and ask him directly. done several orders with them and have never regreted it. g'luck

 

[SEEDYNONO]

well wouldn't ya know.. i'd get stuck in a confusing predicament..

last night my order arrived in the form of two boxes from dhl. md hydro had not shipped in complete discretion as they claim as there was a huge 'GRO-DAN ROCKWOOL' sticker on the outside of one of the boxes.. but whatever.. they looked in good condition. when i lifted the boxes i was somewhat suprised by the fact that neither of them was very heavy.. only a few pounds each. what about that heavy 600w ballast? i thought..

so i get them inside and open them up and find everything i ordered.. except of course.. the ballast. there was no documentation of any kind.. no explaination.. no checklist.

well.. maybe they had to send it in a different shipment.. i look up my email and see the two boxes that were shipped last week.. but no new shipments since.

needless to say i can't do anything without a ballast to power the light bulb. i have sent a reply email to the one that confirmed my order.. but the reply has not come yet. strange.. when i sent them my credit card number they had no problem getting that first confirmation out.. in less than 10 minutes i'd say.

i'm hoping for an answer soon.. i hope this transaction doesn't go south.. everything seemed to be great until now.

words of wisdom, anyone?

 

[SEEDYNONO]

well i finally got through on the phone.. they said that the ballast portion of the order is the *special order* component that is shipped to me straight from hydrofarm.. hence the no dhl ship notification and the no show.

guess i gotta wait a few more days.

 

[stretchpuppy]

edit:

Cool. You're gonna love the digi...

 

[SEEDYNONO]

nope just a good ol hydrofarm xtrasun 600.

i don't mean to sound like i'm disappointed.. i am actually quite happy. they had great turnaround on this first part of the order and everything looks good.. and once i was able to get a hold of them in person they were prompt with letting me know the deal.. that they don't actually ship the ballast part from their warehouse because its shipped straight from hydrofarm to my doorstep in a totally seperate shipment.

other cool part was with the glass lens for the daystar hood. when you select the setup from md's website it asks if you want to add safety glass for $17. this makes sense with the other hoods but when you select the daystar ac (which everywhere else is advertised to come with its own glass) the $17 option doesn't disappear.. making it misleading whether you need to add the option or not to get the glass. i decided to not add the option.. and was stoked when sure enough inside the daystar a/c box was the glass already. good thing i didn't get an extra lens.

 

[stretchpuppy]

oh word. yeah I hear you... I'd rather not have Grodan stickers on the outside of my boxes either, I was lucky and "B" wasn't as stoned the day I ordered or something...

 

[xtrahot_OG]

what ever happened with this? did you get your ballast?