Nicely packed with Styrofoam all around. They took particular care in packing this item and you will receive it in two packages. Mine came a day apart. Perfect condition and I assembly it in 5 min like they said. I am very pleased with this purchase. I peaked in the inside of the main flow box and they did a very professional job sealing the cabinet insides. High quality fan and nice looking. This unit cost twice as much anywhere else (different brand) but you probably already know this if you did your prepurchase research. Anyway; Nice, nice nice. Thank you Midwest Grow, Nicely done.
Cortland here from American Mushroom & Spice Co. We have a 7 foot wide down-flow unit we use for main block production on XLSA bags, but it was never ideal for fine culture work. This unit (18x 24) nailed it! It’s tall enough to be workable with 14A grain bags and 10 stacks of plates plus all your needed tools. Love it. Sure, it might be big enough for two people, but this one is all mine.
I recently got into mycology work and was initially using a SAB. While the SAB worked ok, it was time consuming to setup. I decided it was time to take the plunge and get a flow hood. I did days of research on flow hoods vs FFU's and looked at various companies who make them. I decided on the Bonzai XL because of its larger size and the fact it provides true laminar flow. I'm the type of person that if I buy something, I want the best and I can honestly say this is one of the best flow hoods you can get. The assembly as many mentioned is very easy and it took me under 30 minutes to assemble. It does require using silicone to seal all the seams, so once it's together you can't really disassemble it without having to silicone it again. The silicone is provided in the box though so you don't need to buy anything additional. There are a couple caveats to this flow hood though that should be noted. This thing is borderline too powerful. Doing the "lighter test" it's a bit turbulent even when not close to the sides. I know the working area is close to the center, but even 3-4 inches from the sides it still gets a little turbulent. I expected a bigger working area. I was able to solve the issue with a router speed controller that I got at Harbor Freight for $18 and that allows me to turn the fan speed down a bit and at 50% power I get perfect laminar flow edge to edge. Here is where it gets interesting. The speed controller worked perfectly, but the company who makes the blower for this flow hood says "not recommend for use with speed controller" and I don't really know why? For that reason I stopped using it out of fear of causing damage to the blower. Despite the working area not being as wide as expected, I use this thing all the time and have been contamination free. Despite the Bonsai XL being slightly over powered, I would still absolutely recommend it, if you have the space. If you want true laminar flow and not just a box that blows filtered air get this one! You definitely won't be disappointed with it!
Great build quality. Wood looks to be of better quality than I thought it would be with the soaring costs of lumber. Assembly was quick, my first tests are good, so I would say this is well worth the price!