Mars Hydro SP-6500: Powerful 650 Watt Bar Grow Light (2023)

The Mars Hydro SP-6500 is a new and improved grow light in the Mars Hydro SP Grow Light Series. It’s ideal for growing cannabis or other plants in a 3×5 or 4×6 foot grow space.

Keep reading to learn about the SP-6500 features, how it compares to other grow lights you may be considering, and where you can purchase one.

The SP-6500 is very similar to my SP-3000. Mars Hydro is a brand I’ve owned in the past (purchased with my own money), and I’ve also heard from several other Mars Hydro owners who are happy with their grow lights.

Mars Hydro SP-6500

SP-6500 Features:

The SP-6500 is 42.5 inches long and weighs 20 pounds. Unlike the less expensive Mars Hydro TSL-2000, this SP-6500 has a heat sink, and it’s also IP65 waterproof. The LEDs are Samsung LM301B plus Osram 660nm red diodes.

The SP-6500 consumes 650 watts of power, which is too strong for a 2×4 foot area, but better for 3×5 feet or even 4×6 feet during veg.

Removable Driver

One great feature that’s been carried over from previous Mars Hydro grow lights is the removable drivers. I haven’t seen this on other brands and I think it really helps set Mars Hydro apart.

I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me about getting grow tent temperatures under control, and being that the drivers produce a lot of the total heat, being able to keep the driver 5 or 6 feet away from the grow light (and outside your tent) really helps. You can do that with the SP-6500 as well.

What’s New:

Mars Hydro says they created this grow light after receiving a lot of feedback about their best selling SP-150 and SP-250 grow lights. Upon inspection, the SP-6500 is more user friendly, and more plant friendly.

Specifically, the SP-6500 includes a daisy chain capability (the ability to plug the power cord into another SP-6500 light instead of running the cord to a power outlet), an easy dimming knob, an extra 350 watts of power, and 1,396 extra LEDs compared to the Mars Hydro SP-3000.

The SP-6500 is an incredibly powerful grow light

Most modern LED grow lights ditched the daisy chain feature that used to be popular on blurple LED grow lights. But if you’re growing in a larger area, the daisy chain capability can still be convenient.

The SP-3000 also makes use of Samsung and Osram LEDs compared to the Epistar LEDs used on the SP-250. I don’t think there’s a major difference because Epistar and Samsung are both widely used brands. Using the best brand name LEDs will continue to create confidence with growers.

Light Strength, Hang Height, and Coverage Area

Above is a light intensity PPFD map for the SP-6500, as well as my recommended hang height chart. To learn more about the mechanics of grow light hang height, read my full article here. You can also learn about the full mechanics of light intensity here.

In short, the SP-6500 is strong enough to grow any plant in any situation. The very high 650 watts of power makes this grow light ideal for CO2 growers, or as an industrial cannabis grow light. If you’re using CO2 your plants can withstand extra heat and light intensity, up to 1500 ppfd.

Click Here to View or Buy the Mars Hydro SP-6500 or Browse Other Quality Grow Lights at LED Grow Lights Depot

Coverage Area

What size space is the Mars Hydro SP-6500 good for? Mars Hydro says this grow light will cover a 4×6 foot space for plants in the seedling and vegetative phase of growth.

You can also grow autoflowers in that 4×6 foot veg space because they receive 18 hours of light at the veg light intensity for the whole lifecycle. For flowering Mars Hydro says it flowers 3×5 feet.

Looking for a grow light that flowers 4×4 feet? Check out the Mars Hydro TS-3000, or consider two of the less powerful SP-3000s.

Light Spectrum Details

Ultraviolet Included

Another feature I did not expect to see on the Mars Hydro SP-6500, but I’m happy it’s there, is the ultraviolet wavelengths in the light spectrum. Most modern grow lights and even a lot of the older blurple grow lights, do not offer ultraviolet (UV) light as part of the spectrum.

Ultraviolet light is known to increase THC production in cannabis plants¹. Even though high THC does not necessarily make cannabis better, it’s well known that dispensaries have a harder time selling cannabis with lower THC content.

That means the Mars Hydro SP-6500 is a great grow light for people who want to grow strong cannabis. It’s also ideal for industrial cannabis growers aiming to grow top shelf cannabis, and who can also take advantage of the daisy chain capability.

Full Spectrum White Light

The rest of the spectrum is made up with 3000 Kelvin white, which contains a lot of red wavelengths for flowering, 5000 Kelvin white, which contains a lot of blue wavelengths for the seedling and vegetative phase, and 660nm red wavelengths for flowering.

In total, the light spectrum on the SP-6500 will grow your cannabis (or other plants) from the seedling phase all the way to harvest, and you’ll end up with top shelf product so long as all your other growing factors are kept in check.

 Video Review:

This is the video review of my SP-3000 which is the less powerful version of the SP-6500. You can take a look at the video and get an idea of how your SP-6500 would be.

How Does the Mars Hydro SP-6500 Compare to Other Grow Lights?

If you’re shopping for a grow light you know there are a lot of options out there. So how does the SP-6500 compare to other grow lights?

Looking around at other grow light options I found that the SP-3000 is a good bang for your buck priced at $399, as you’ll read below. Let’s take a look at some other grow light options.

Scynce Dragon SL – 600 watts

Above is the Scynce Dragon SL – a 600 watt bar style LED grow light. It looks similar to the Mars Hydro SP-6500 but when you compare the two lights, there are some important differences.

The SP-6500 uses 650 watts compared to the 600 watts on the Dragon SL. But the Dragon SL has a larger coverage area of 4×4.5 feet for flowering, and 6×5 feet for vegetative growth. That’s likely due to the special optical lenses used on the Dragon SL to spread light more widely.

In addition, the Scynce Dragon SL allows you to adjust the light spectrum, intensity, and light schedule via mobile phone app. For this extra performance and features, you’d need to pay an extra $200 for the Scynce Dragon SL compared to the Mars Hydro SP-6500.

The SP-6500 includes ultraviolet light, and the Scynce does not.

Enlite Hera 660 watt

The Enlite Hera is another similar 660 watt bar style LED grow light. This grow light uses 660 watts from the outlet, the close to the SP-6500. But there are a few differences to note between these similar grow light models.

The difference with the Enlite Hera is you can’t detach the drivers and it doesn’t include ultraviolet in the spectrum. But it does include an extra amount of infrared light in the spectrum, which results in strong stem growth, proper node placement and larger yields.

It has two advantages over the SP-6500 that you should consider – You can connect a controller to several Enlite Hera at once, making it easy to control several of these lights from a distance – maybe in a large space or industrial setting.

The Hera also uses wide-beam lenses which results in a larger flowering coverage of 4×4 feet.

Click Here to View or Buy the Mars Hydro SP-6500 or Browse Other Quality Grow Lights at LED Grow Lights Depot

Final Thoughts

The SP-6500 is an incredibly powerful grow light considering the amount of space that it covers. Because of the high power, this grow light is a great option for CO2 cannabis growers, or industrial growers that need maximum light intensity.

I have to say I’m impressed with the performance of this grow light, and as I mentioned earlier, the TSL-2000 used to be my favorite grow light for 2×4 or 3×5 grow space, but the SP-6500 is now my favorite for that size space. I would definitely recommend this grow light for people looking to grow top shelf cannabis in a 3×5 or 4×6 foot grow space.

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