I'm in a similar boat, I started a little over 5 years ago growing indoors and outdoors with all photos, but this year have gone full auto (and am now outdoor only). We are finishing up the last jars of my last ever photo indoor grow from the 2019/2020 winter. As we smoke our way through them, we are noticing small differences. There is no doubt that the photo buds are denser and seem to have less and/or smaller stems in the buds, making them a little easier to pack bowls with (not requiring being cleaned up as much). But the quality, flavor, and potency of top tier autos is equal to the photos I was growing. And I can say that with the Mephisto strains I've grown, they produce rosin in a NugSmasher at least as well as any photo I've tried.
I came to autos because they fit our outdoor grow season. If we had a longer dryer grow season, I'm not sure what would have pushed me to experiment with them. They have been a real game changer for me though. With photos is was feast or famine and the whole season came down to how wet and cold our fall was that particular year. Either I had literally extra pounds of awesome buds that I didn't know what to do with, or we ended out losing large percentages of the crop from mold and bud rot, and harvesting the rest before it was fully ready just to save it. The autos consistently tend to finish while the days are still longer and dryer, avoiding our often harsh and unpredictable fall weather. So, in terms of the title of this thread, for my region at least for any novice intending to grow outdoors, it's autos hands down.
For an indoor grower, in some ways I would say that photos can be easier for a novice and more forgiving than autos. Mostly, what I've found is that a photo can have a "rough childhood" and bounce back strongly by extending the veg time, thereby absorbing rookie grower mistakes. Some autos, on the other hand, are sensitive to and react badly (for instance) to cold temps and/or low humidity in their first weeks, and they won't have time to recover as robustly. That has varied between strains and it's just an observation. The other nice thing about starting a beginner from photos is that you can give them some clones, and it doesn't cost anybody anything (but time). But it's all shades of gray, no right or wrong here.
I might be overlooking it, but I haven't found a US supplier for Dinafem, and Mephisto is totally hit or (mostly) miss on availability. I found a source for Dutch Passion seeds and blew this year's budget on those, so next summer I'll see how they do. With so many states and countries going legal, and autos great outdoor potential for higher latitude/shorter grow seasons, I hope the worlds seed producers can adjust to the growing demand.
I'm experimenting a little with CS and feminization, making my own seeds is somewhere between a fun hobby and a last resort, since for all the time and work the quality is not guaranteed.
Geez that was long, sorry.
