Grower's Choice ROI E720 vs Gavita 1700e
The short version: if you are choosing between the Grower's Choice ROI-E720 and the Gavita 1700e, the ROI-E720 is the better all-around buy for most rooms because it covers a full 5x5 on standard 120V power and ships with onboard dimming. The Gavita 1700e is discontinued, and its current replacement is the Gavita RS 1900e, a higher-efficiency 4x4 bar that needs commercial 208V or higher service.
I have hung both of these brands over flowering canopies, and the old "ROI-E720 is the cheap one, Gavita is the premium one" framing misses what actually matters now. The 1700e you read about in 2020 reviews is gone, so the real decision today is the ROI-E720 against Gavita's current RS bars. Here is how they line up, with the historical 1700e numbers marked so you know which figures are still buyable.
ROI-E720 vs Gavita 1700e: Specs at a Glance
The table below puts the ROI-E720 next to the discontinued 1700e and against the RS 1900e that replaced it. Figures marked with a tilde are the historical 1700e numbers, kept for reference only. The 1700e is no longer carried, so do not size a new room around it.
The headline most older comparisons miss: the ROI-E720 and the 1700e were always closer than their reputations suggested, both landing around 2.6 µmol/J. Where they split is footprint and electrical fit. The ROI-E720 throws a true 5x5 on a standard 120V circuit, while Gavita's current RS 1900e trades a tighter 4x4 footprint for a higher 3.0 µmol/J efficiency, but only on a commercial 208V or higher feed. Both belong in the same conversation as serious commercial LED fixtures, not hobby panels.
Who Wins on What?
About Grower's Choice: Is It a Good Brand?
Yes. Grower's Choice is a horticultural lighting maker best known for the ROI series, fixtures that pair a fixed full-spectrum output with genuine commercial certifications. The ROI-E720 is UL 8800 certified and Horti DLC listed, which is the paperwork utilities want to see when you file for a lighting rebate, and it is rated for an L90 life beyond 54,000 hours. In forum threads where growers cross-shop it against Gavita, the recurring line is that the ROI-E720 is "a direct competitor of the Gavita 1700e and much less expensive," which matches what I have seen in the field.
The ROI-E720 is the flagship of the lineup, sitting at 720W with a passive, fanless body that has no moving parts to fail. That fanless design is a quiet reliability win in a sealed room. If you want to automate it, it pairs with the Grower's Choice Master Controller for sunrise and sunset ramping and high-temperature auto-dimming, but the onboard 0-10V dimmer means you are not forced to buy a controller just to turn it down. To understand why the PPF and efficacy numbers above matter more than wattage, our explainer on why PPFD matters indoors walks through the math.
About Gavita: Is It a Good Brand?
Also yes, and Gavita is arguably the most recognized name in commercial horticultural lighting, with deep roots in the double-ended HPS era that most large facilities grew up on. Its LED reputation rests on efficiency and consistency, and the current RS line delivers exactly that: a market-leading 3.0 µmol/J on both the RS 1900e and the step-up RS 2400e. The catch worth knowing is electrical. The RS 1900e runs on 208 to 480V service, so it is built for commercial rooms with three-phase power, not a garage on a household 120V circuit.
About the 1700e specifically: it is discontinued. The single most common complaint I saw from owners was the E-Series adapter and Master Controller stack the original 1700e needed for dimming. One commercial grower summed it up bluntly, saying he sold a room full of 1700e units "to get away from those damn adapters." The RS 1900e fixes that with native RJ45 0-10V dimming through the Gavita EL3 Master Controller, no separate adapter required. If you specifically wanted a 1700e, the RS 1900e is the fixture to buy instead.
Coverage and Electrical Fit
This is the dimension that actually decides the choice, and it is the one spec sheets bury. The ROI-E720 is engineered for a 5x5 flower footprint and accepts anything from 120V to 277V, which means it drops into a standard North American outlet or a 240V dryer-style circuit without a second thought. For a home or small-commercial grower running on single-phase power, that flexibility is the whole ballgame.
The Gavita RS 1900e is a tighter 4x4 fixture, and it requires 208V to 480V service. In practice that rules it out of most residential rooms unless you have had commercial power run. After wiring up both, my take is simple: if you are not already on 208V or higher, the ROI-E720 is the only one of these two you can realistically plug in, and it covers more square footage per fixture besides.
Efficiency, Spectrum, and Yield
Efficacy is measured in micromoles per joule (µmol/J): the higher the number, the more usable light per watt and the lower your power bill over a multi-year run. Here Gavita has a clear edge on paper. The RS 1900e posts 3.0 µmol/J against the ROI-E720's 2.6 µmol/J, so over thousands of hours the Gavita will draw meaningfully less power for the photons it delivers. In a large facility paying commercial electric rates, that gap compounds into real money.
On spectrum, both are fixed full-spectrum white designs, not tunable. Grower's Choice uses its GC-3K full PAR spectrum tuned for veg through flower, while Gavita leans on a broad white base with an enhanced blue weighting that it markets as a boost to terpene and cannabinoid development. Neither lets you change the spectrum mid-grow. In my experience the yield difference between two well-run fixtures at matched canopy PPFD comes down to your environment, your CO2, and your hang height far more than the logo on the bar.
Value and Operating Cost
At the purchase counter the ROI-E720 is the more accessible of the two, and it covers a larger area per unit, which lowers your fixtures-per-room count in a 5x5 layout. Gavita asks more up front and returns it slowly through that efficiency advantage on the power meter. So the value answer hinges on scale and rates: a one or two light home room rarely runs long enough at residential rates to claw back the Gavita premium, while a multi-room commercial build on commercial power can. Both sit comfortably inside our wider LED grow light lineup, so you are not choosing between a toy and a tool, you are choosing between two real fixtures with different sweet spots.
Which Gavita Replaces the 1700e?
Since the 1700e is gone, here is the clean mapping from old to current, with every model linked to its exact product page.
How They Compare to Other Brands
The ROI-E720 and Gavita's RS bars get cross-shopped against a handful of other commercial names. Luxx and Fluence both sit in the same premium commercial tier, with Fluence in particular targeting the same efficiency-first buyer as Gavita. We do not carry every one of those brands, so rather than chase a logo, I would shortlist by the two variables that decide real installs: the footprint you need to cover and the voltage you actually have. For the full field of fixtures we stock and how they stack up by tent size, our side-by-side roundup of the best LED grow lights for 2026 is the place to start.
The Verdict by Grower Type
- Home or small-commercial, single-phase power: Grower's Choice ROI-E720. It is the only one of these that plugs into standard voltage, and it covers a full 5x5.
- You wanted a 1700e: Gavita RS 1900e. It is the direct replacement, more efficient than the original, with native dimming and no adapter stack.
- Commercial 4x4 room chasing efficiency: Gavita RS 1900e on 208V+. The 3.0 µmol/J advantage pays back at scale.
- Max intensity for CO2-enriched flower: Gavita Pro RS 2400e. The most photons of the group for a packed 4x4.