why get hps??? go with cfls god im soo sick of all of you wanting those. get cfls saves the earth, lowers your electric bill no heat problems!!!!!! i swear i post this like 80 times a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes you can grow with cfl's. But if you grow with enough lumens to see really good growth, you need to use more than just a few. Even Garden knowm/seemorebuds used 8-42 watters to grow 3 plants. That is 336 watts and he is a grow genius. I did this so I am not talking out of my arce. I had 10-42 watters. So 420 watts which puts out WAY fewer lumens than my 400w hps. Where did the energy go if not into photons of light...They went to heat period. There is no magic in cfls. they work very well if that is your only option. If you live off grid and can produce enough power to run 6 you can grow some head stash.
All I know for sure is what I can see myself. I am using less electricity, while producing LESS heat which is centralized and easier to deal with rather than spread all over with their little ballast heat monsters 3" from buds, with more light. Much more efficient=greener in more than one way.
I really wish I had all the cash back that I spent on bulbs, fixtures, splitters and fans to chase the pipe dream. HTG sells 400w hps for $99 with a shitty reflector. 400watts of cfls for just the bulbs best case (wal-mart) $85 plus another 20-$40 for shop lights and splitters.
CFL's are great I use them in my veg box still. If I had nothing else I would use the shit out of them. But the idea that they are cooler is not only a falacy, it breaks the law of conservation of energy...excess energy not converted to light=energy converted to heat energy.