Mogobe Octopus 300 Review

The Mogobe Octopus 300 is a unique grow light. It is a quantum board style light with corner plates that extend away from the center. It seems like a gimmick, but it performed very well in my tests and has excellent distribution and power for a 3×3 space. The price is incredibly good – one of the best cost efficiencies I have measured among all lights and certainly the best among smaller lights.

You may not be familiar with Mogobe, but I have confidence in their products. I have recommended their trim trays for a year. They are all stainless steel and feature removable replaceable screens. Many members in our community have one and the reviews are great. I have also tested and will publish a review on the new Mogobe Dab Press. The Octopus 300 is the first Light that I have tested from Mogobe.

The design of the Mogobe Octopus 300 is certainly distinctive. There are grow lights that fold, those that disassemble, and now there is one that stretches out. There is a square Quantum board in the center with an outer ring that consists of four corner segments. The corner plates can slide away from the center square on two metal rods. The plates slide fairly easily and lock into position with a set screw. It is a different approach to getting more light out toward the corners.

Spreading more light to the corners makes sense, but the need to retract the corner plates is limited to storage and shipping. Just as foldable lights should be unfolded before use, the corners on the Mogobe Octopus 300 should be extended. When fully extended the fixture is 62 x 62cm (24.5 x 24.5in). It is well suited for 3×3 grow spaces.

The build quality is solid, and the components are great. The Mogobe Octopus 300 has a Mean Well driver and diodes from LEDestar. LEDestar diodes test comparably to Samsung diodes and Mogobe uses a lot of them. There are a total of 1056 diodes, which is 3.52 diodes per watt. They include 3000k and 5000k Full Spectrum diodes along with 660nm deep red diodes.

I tested the Mogobe Octopus 300 in a 90 x 90cm (3 x 3ft) space with the Apogee SQ-500 PAR sensor (400-700nm) and the Apogee SQ-610 ePAR sensor (400-750nm). There are no diodes dedicated to Far Red (700-750nm) light, but the full spectrum diodes put out a small portion of their energy in those wavelengths.

I set the hanging height for my tests based on the maximum PPFD in the PAR range. The Octopus 300 hit a maximum PPFD of 1000 µmol/m² at a hanging height of 41.5cm (16.5in). I kept the fixture in that position for both tests.

The distribution of light across the 3×3 space is excellent. In the PAR test the lowest corner PPFD was 607 µmol/m². In the ePAR test the lowest ePPFD ticked up to 636 µmol/m². Along all four sides in both tests the densities were in the mid to high 700s.

The Average PPFD in the PAR test was an excellent 770.5 µmol/m². That converts to a Usable PPF of 624.1 µmol. I measured a power draw of 295w (@120v), which gives the Mogobe Octopus 300 a Usable Photon Efficiency of 2.12 µmol/w. In the Extended PAR range, the Average ePPFD was 801.4 µmol/m². That converts to a Usable ePPF of 649.1 µmol and a Usable ePAR Photon Efficiency of 2.20 µmol/w.

After running the PAR and ePAR tests, I measured the temperature. The ambient temperature during my tests was 24C (73.4F). The Mean Well driver had a maximum surface temperature of 61.7C (143.1F). The heat sink on the center square LED panel hit a maximum temperature of 54C (129.2F). The satellite LED panels ran cooler at 45.4C (113.7F).

The performance of the Mogobe Octopus 300 is excellent across all three dimensions: distribution, Usable PPF, and Photon Efficiency. It is also a real leader in terms of cost. It is sold through Mogobe.co, and we have a stackable discount code for 10% off. Use code: CocoLight. That will make your cost as low as $0.33/µmol. Micromole per micromole, it is among the best deals in horticultural lighting. It is a shockingly good cost efficiency for a fixture of this size. It is easily the best deal for a high efficiency fixture that will fully light up a 3×3 grow.