Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is a very strange "new product" and I've trying to figure out what it is. Check out the less expensive Aerogarden 3SL which as far as I can tell is identical to this one, but around $20 dollars less. (You can find it for $49.99 dollar regularly). I own 2 Aergardens Ultra (the LED variety, which light lasts 3-5 years before needing replacement and grow 7 plants each). When it was first offered to me, I checked and it read that this was an LED. So I thought the Aerogarden Sprout, was just an LED version of the Aerogarden 3SL, sadly to say, it is not. This is a CFL bulb with mercury, that you need to dispose ever 6 months, and buy another one for around $15. Amazon appears to have fixed their product description and LED is now not mentioned anywhere. But again, this product looks identical on every way to the 3SL, which is cheaper. So it begs the question as what exactly is this? The box or instruction manual it came with does not even list the Aerogarden Sprout anywhere. There is no branding anywhere that tells you which Aerogarden this is. So my suspicion is that they had an overstock of the 3SL and are trying to rebrand them as Aergarden Sprout, which sounds like a better name that came from the marketing department to try to fix slow sales of the 3SL. Ok, that rant out of the way, lets start with the pros and cons: Pros: - Occupies very little space. Can fit between the kitchen counter and cabinets, even when fully extended. - Very easy cleanup. (Cleaning up the Aerogarden ultra after a big season is like a half an our job. This one is like 2 minutes.) - Grows herbs fine. - Simple operation, just 2 buttons to set the light and the nutrients, thats it. Cons: - Replace propietary CFL bulbs every 6 months. These contain mercury and need to be disposed properly. It's not that simple and it's time consuming depending on where you live to do this properly. - It doesn't extend very much, so not only do you only grow 3 items, but they won't grow very big. Basil can take up the full extension of the Aerogarden ultra which reaches about twice as much as this one and product a ton of basil. This one will produce much less, even if I plant only 3 basil plants on the ultra and 3 on this Sprout, the Ultra would produce about 3 times as much basil. Overall, I am not a big fan of corporations claiming they are releasing a new product, even though they are just rebranding a poor seller. If this product was an LED, I'd feel better and give it a better rating, but as it stands, it's wasteful and to top it off, it's more expensive than the 3SL which is its twin. So, if you have very little space and need a small aerogarden, and you live in a town which makes it easy to dispose lightbulbs with mercury, this might be a good fit, otherwise, I'd get any of their LED products. I've changed the review from 2 stars to 1 star based on the following additional issues: - it's loud. I thought I'd get used to it, but it sounds like if you're must've boiling water in the kitchen and it's on an unstable pot that vibrates. By comparison, the much larger Ultra sounds like more like a pleasant water fountain and it is not nearly as loud or have all the vibrations this one does. Main problem is just that it's all plastic, there is no rubber to reduce vibration, and pump is at the edge, while the ultra pump is deep in the center under a lot of water so it's significantly quieter. - the other disappointing issue is that there is half a finger of space between plants (after the domes/seeds are in) basically not much space at all. I'd be shocked if this produces more than 1/5 (20%) of what the ultra produces. The ultra has 6 times as much space in between. (I can fit 3 full fingers in any direction, while not even 1 fits in the sprout) - Another issue for all CFL lights, is that they burn what they touch. So if you don't watch your plants closely, the taller ones will get burnt. LED versions do not get hot, and you can forget for a few days, then trim and you get perfectly fine produce, even the one directly touching the LED for over 24 hours. Updated back to 2 stars, because their customer service is excellent and that adds value to any product. I actually talked to an account manager, and I wanted to point out what they said: - This product is identical to the 3SL but with an improved pump. apparently the 3sl had bad reviews mainly due to the pump which made for little growth and high failures. They changed manufacturer of the pumps and now all the issues of the 3SL should be improved. - contrary to some people who still insist (view comments section) this product is NOT an LED. Manager confirmed this as well. - 3sl is getting phased out due to the pump issue, so soon you'll no longer be able to buy it. The sprout is the replacement product fixing old issues. UPDATE on growth: * With my other Aerogardens, each pod usually produces around 3-4 starts, which typically end up as 2-3 strong growing plants (when doing basil, which is what I started here. * It's only one sample, but I got just 1 start on 2 of the pods, and 2 starts on the other. So 4 total plants growing out of 3 pods. This is virtually the equivalent of just 1 of the pods on the Ultra LED. Aerogarden introduced 9 new Gardens, all very decent products in their fall 2015 revamp. This Sprout is the only one they retained with CFL bulbs. All the rest are LEDs and much better. Spend the extra money on the Sprout Plus (this one but with LED bulbs) you'll get better growth and save money in the long term. (yes, better product that in 1.5 years is already cheaper than this one, based on power consumption and cost of replacement bulbs). Plus you don't need to deal with mercury every 6 months trying to find a facility that can properly dispose of these. Honestly, they just wanted as cheap as possible entry level product, and a way to keep selling their huge stockpile of CFL bulbs. The LED gardens are the way to go. No toxic elements, and no replacing every 6 months. Disappointed.