New USB PAR sensor from Apogee

Apogee are now offering a PAR sensor with USB connectivity and software for 195$:

http://www.apogeeinstruments.com/sq-420-smart-quantum-sensor-usb-output/

That's great. Not to bad on price point either

very affordable gardening tool for data & dialing in a grow.nice

Data logging and all fancy features with great price.
I wonder why they had to call it 420
sq420

@Growmau5 I remember you were looking for one. This looks like a good option to consider.

Ya, very nice that you can interact with the program.
Seems like you can input/digitalize different spectrums and get the specific correction factor.

sethimus said:

Apogee are now offering a PAR sensor with USB connectivity and software for 195$:

http://www.apogeeinstruments.com/sq-420-smart-quantum-sensor-usb-output/

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Nice find!

Thanks for sharing this. Just ordered one. Should prove useful. Just hope it arrives here before I fly back to Europe.

Cheers,
Will

Just got email says should be delivered today. I am excited.

Cheers,
Will

Nice price point. A word of caution, pay attention to the spectral errors table in the manual: http://www.apogeeinstruments.com/content/SQ-420.pdf

Also, if you check out the SQ series quantum sensor response curve, you'll notice that the sensor doesn't pick anything up above 670nm.

Other than that, this is a great deal for a data logging quantum sensor. We need more low-cost products for growers.

Sow to Grow said:

Nice price point. A word of caution, pay attention to the spectral errors table in the manual: http://www.apogeeinstruments.com/content/SQ-420.pdf

Also, if you check out the SQ series quantum sensor response curve, you'll notice that the sensor doesn't pick anything up above 670nm.

Other than that, this is a great deal for a data logging quantum sensor. We need more low-cost products for growers.

Click to expand...

You should tell lumigrow to make some low cost products as well..........Ha

Everyone knows the sensor's inaccuracies by now?

SQ-420 - could that model number be a coincidence? I think not. They know who their target demographic is.

New toy arrived. z

Will Thayer said:

New toy arrived.View attachment 3531439View attachment 3531440 z

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congrats on the new instrumentation for ur grow will.u got me wanting 1 too!

Hello Path of Light,
I will have a play when I get home. Maybe do a review for those interested. I thought the price was reasonable compared to the
Funds I sent to Jerry in China.
I do a lot of aquarium lighting for friends so I will get some use out of it.

Cheers,
Will

what is the correct distance from the bulbs to get the PPFD reading? Plant canopy level?

Will Thayer said:

Hello Path of Light,
I will have a play when I get home. Maybe do a review for those interested. I thought the price was reasonable compared to the
Funds I sent to Jerry in China.
I do a lot of aquarium lighting for friends so I will get some use out of it.

Cheers,
Will

Click to expand...

Will, its been a few days now. Have you had a chance to whip out that little probe and play with it yet? I am looking forward to your initial impressions & ease of use.
cheers

Growmau5 said:

Will, its been a few days now. Have you had a chance to whip out that little probe and play with it yet? I am looking forward to your initial impressions & ease of use.
cheers

Click to expand...

Hello Growmau5,
I have just returned to Europe today. I will whip out my little probe and have a play with it over the next couple days.
I need to finish wiring up my Veg light and Jerry is sending me some CXB3590s on Friday for the flowering room.
Cheers,
Will

It is super easy to use. The user manual is good and has the error corrections for some light sources. You can download the manual from their site. If you have a battery with USB port (like vape battery or mobile phone backup battery) then you can use that to walk around without lugging your laptop everywhere.

It automatically saves a CSV text file with all the results.

The light sources are only "Electric" or "Sunlight" but you could apply error correction in the app or also in the CSV spreadsheet easily.

If you want me to try anything let me know....

Yeah and once you have more than one color temp it's about as useful as a $10 luxmeter.

the data logging makes testing easy as hell with new lights. now need to make a thermocouple logger