grow lights

OK i have researched a lot about magnetic and digital ballast i think digital is the way to go i'm thinking of getting the sunburst 250 watt e ballast but on the hydrofarm web site it states To avoid lamp compatibility issues, do not use standard Metal Halide lamps ​so is this a problem with all digital ballast because i was thinking of buying Philips 250 watt mh and hps bulb at home depot cant beat the price

Digital ballast is the way to go... I used digilux HID lights(MH & HPS) as they're the only brand whose bulbs are designed specifically for digital ballasts(so my old hydro shop told me) also used hortilux which a lot of people use so can't go wrong with either. Digilux has a higher spikes in their spectrum compared to hortilux but again both worked great for me. I used both lumatek(run pretty hot) and quantum(my suggestion) with good success

The only thing I can say is grab a 400 or 600 watt Lumatek digital ballast. If you need to only use 250 watts both ballast have "dail-a-watt" and dimming options to 250. Meaning you can either dim a 400 or 600 watt bulb or you can use an actual 250 watt bulb in either ballast. You never know when you will want to upgrade.

That warning is just telling you to use wide spectrum mh bulbs. I do not see that home depot bulb on that ballasts safe list. You can use
http://www.hydrogalaxy.com/growing-lights/hid-bulbs/hortilux-blue-daylight-super-mh-bulb-250w/

or a much cheaper option here
http://www.hydrogalaxy.com/growing-lights/hid-bulbs/bulb-mh-250w/

Here are the bulb models you can use.

http://www.hydrofarm.com/downloads/fc/Digital Sunburst Compatible Bulbs_3868.pdf

Just copy and paste the numbers in google search and add the word "bulb" after and it should bring you to each bulb.

The Count-Digilux bulbs rock!