Aerogarden Elite 6+ Review

I'm an aerogarden lover. One thing I particularly love about aerogardens is that it is a fairly green product. The nutrient tablets are organic(according to the makers of aerogarden) and the system uses CFL bulbs as opposed to traditional lightbulbs. The makers say it costs under 3 dollars to run an aerogarden per month. Someone who reviewed this one said it smells. Well, it is made of plastic, so anything fresh from the factory may have a plastic-y smell for a couple days, it wears off. Personally, I noticed it getting it out of the box, but never again after that and I do have a particularly sensitive nose.

We love to cook and really enjoy the herb kits most. I kill plants/flowers/veggies otherwise, but I easily figured out the aerogarden and it takes VERY little time to keep it flourishing. Now I realize my review is long, but there were a lot of things to consider for me in picking my new aerogarden and hopefully they will help you in your decision!

I have previously owned an aerogarden classic 7 pod for about a year - I thought it was great, but with a pretty significant problem which lead me to make an upgrade.
My issue with the classic 7pod:
- some of the herbs grow so high they grew into the light and burned. They have rectified this with your choice of the deluxe, pro200 or this model I choose, the elite 6+ which goes another 12 inches or so higher then the original 'classic' model. But for people who bought the original, You had to pay $109 or so dollars for a upgraded light arm, which was ridiculous and spending way more $$ then just selling my classic and upgrading.

So, I decided to upgrade, but I had to make the choice between the 3 models with the extra tall light arm. I did a lot of reading up, including visiting a popular aerogarden forum and seeing what other people thought about the different models. In the end, based on price, I eliminated the 'deluxe' model($209) and made a choice between the pro200 and the elite 6+. The reason I ended up going with this one is for a couple of reasons.

both models are equipped for a trellis system(though it does not come in the box) and have the 36 inch light arm. They both also have the updated lighting system with 3 flat CFL bulbs instead of 2 rounded ones, so they pack a larger punch with delivering light.

these were the big differences that I noticed:
- what comes in the box. This model has less, coming with just 2 seed pods with mega cherry tomatoes, the actual aerogarden, manual, and 3 CFL bulbs. The other one had a few kits with it as well as the other things.
- it has a new style pump. It's an air pump instead of a water pump. They say it's more reliable then the water pump and also doesn't require as much maintenance and cleaning. With the water pump the roots can weave their way in and when your seed kit is at the end of it's life cycle and you're cleaning, you do have to dig in that and it's not fun.
- having had the 7 pod, I felt it was a bit crowded. So in my opinion the 6 pod will allow the herbs, etc to flourish and have enough space to grow nicely without overshadowing the smaller plants as much. Technically you could block off a hole in the 7 pod(though I hadn't really thought of that at the time of my decision, whoops!). Also it seems the 6 pod seed kits are more easily found in stores these days, and I like not having to hunt things down.

Something I didn't realize is that the elite 6+ does not have "adaptive growth intelligence" aka AGI like the pro200. In conversing with people who have multiple different models(one with AGI and one without) they all say it doesn't really make any difference at all.

So I've just started a 'Tuscan' herb kit and things are progressing nicely. I have noticed that with the 6 pod model compared to the 7 that the actual seed pods are shaped differently and are longer, going into the water more, as well as having a peet moss type material to house the seed vs. what seemed more like grey sponge material in the 7 pods. I don't know if this will make a big difference, but I'm eager to see how it does.

Some great things about aerogarden that keep me feeling secure in the $$ I'm shelling out for seed kits which are usually about 20 dollars a pop. If a seed doesn't grow in the reported time span, they will send you a replacement. There's a 1 year warranty on your aerogarden and they also warranty the bulbs for 6 months. Once you learn to use your garden and get really comfortable with it, you can branch out by getting a master gardener kit and choosing your own seeds to plant.

I plan to update as I use this new model but I'm very confident in aerogarden and look forward to having some awesome herbs and veggies in the near future!

UPDATE: I still love my aerogarden, but wanted to make a quick note for those with well water. Don't know if it's crossed your mind, but well water and the aerogarden do not mix. I'm now learning this thru my mom - we got her an aerogarden for xmas. We had thought filtered well water was fine, it isn't. So you either need to be using city water -- most people seem to do fine with it. Or if you do have well water, you've got to buy distilled water(not spring water either). I've heard it's not a huge expense, anywhere from 79 cents to 1 dollars for a jug of it. This whole water thing just wasn't something I had thought about before so I figured it was worth a mention.