Really, no need to be so negative.
Even if they're not as good as the best regular strains, autoflowers still can be useful for certain niche purposes. See here:
https://www.rollitup.org/auto-flowering-strains/502366-pros-cons-info-needed-autoflower-3.html#post6925856
Pros of autoflowers:
a. No need for separate flowering/veg areas or to switch light cycles. Can run 20-0 from seed to harvest.
I don't run separate vegging and flowering rooms, so that claimed "pro" is not a "pro" to me. Switching light cycles?
Gee, resetting a timer one single time during an entire grow, gosh that is difficult and time consuming, thank God that someone came out with a strain where you don't even have to change a timer one single time during a grow. Thanks to that now even "Rain Man" can grow! Again, not a "pro" to me.
Running 20-0 from seed to harvest. Again, not a "pro to me."
b. 18 or 20 hours of light per flowering day means bud mass is packed on faster than conventional strains under 12-12. More hours of light per day means you won't save electricity, but on a small plant-for-plant basis, yield can be higher than with conventional plants in a given time period.
"Bud mass is packed on faster than conventional strains under 12-12?" I can guarantee you that is strain dependent and not something universal. That is a marketing claim to help sell the gimmick auto-flowering strains.
c. Short "dwarf" plants available; well-suited for stealth "microgrows" indoors or outdoors.
There are numerous short strains, growing methods can be used to keep them even shorter, and using them can increase the number of bud sites giving you more production. If indoors they can be started right from 12-12 and if a short flowering strain they can finish as fast or faster than an auto. If grown outdoors they can be started late so they have a minimal veg time before going into flower, just enough for the plants to gain a little strength and develop a good root structure. Again, the "pro" is not a "pro" in my book.
d. Plants will mature outdoors during any part of year, including non-traditional times, like mid-summer. If you want to avoid rippers and busts, or harvest plants all year long outdoors, this is a good way to go.
"Plants will mature outdoors during any part of year,
, including non-traditional times?" "Any time of the year?" So that means I can grow winter crops outside and the cold will not effect them? Or what was said actually only means autos can be grown outdoors during normal growing climate months and they will not need the short day's of fall to flower and mature. I suppose to someone that's a "pro," but I live in an area with a long growing season and when I grow outdoors I like to make use of as much of it as I possibly can and can yield more from just one plant than a crop of autos that would have finished months earlier could give, and have a higher grade of herb to boot. So, that's another claimed "pro" that is not at all a "pro" to me.
There has been a long running argument among botanists that ruderalis belongs in the same classification as industrial hemp, largely because it's THC levels are most times on par with that of industrial hemp. So, someone takes a strain that is the virtual same quality as industrial hemp and crosses it with a good strain, thus watering down the genetics, and that includes potency, of the good strain and they claim it to be an advancement and attempt to sell the gimmick by listing "pros" that are not really "pros," because most are things that can be done using better photo-period genetics, but do require the incredible amount of effort of changing the settings on a timer one single time during a grow or possibly starting an outdoor crop later rather than earlier.
People, can't you see that auto-flowering strains are just one more thing in the line of pure gimmickry being pawned off on growers as some sort of advancement because breeders hit a brick wall about a decade or so ago when it comes to real true advancement.
There has not been any real true appreciable increase in potency and or yield in ages, even though the puppies always think strains grow better with each passing year.
So, what did breeders resort to? Gimmicks! They gave us hermie-prone feminized seeds, that they first tried to sell under the inaccurate and misleading name of female seeds. Then they gave us all sorts of pretty colors and they gave us all sorts of yummy flavors and exotic aromas. None were actual improvements, many were backward steps when it came to potency and or yield. And they they came out with the "Rain Man" strains. Strains so simple to grow that even "Rain Man" could grow them. Amazingly enough it does not matter to many if that ease of growing comes at the expense of potency and yield. Quality and quantity don't matter, not as long as you have the "pro" of not needing to be intelligent and skilled enough to change the settings on a timer one single time per crop.
When I was a boat dealer I was lucky enough to have the highest quality, best built pontoon boat of the time. No other manufacturer's product could stand up to it in a side by side 'Pepsi Challenge' situation. Selling them was like taking candy from a baby because there was so much quality, from bow to stern, that once customers learned of it they would throw rocks at the other makes they were considering.
One day I had a lesbian couple come in and look, and I lost the sale, right now the only lost sale I can remember, to the biggest 'Leakin' Lena' piece of crap pontoon boat made.
They brought it to my marina to keep in my drystack and when I saw the boat I was positive that they had decided to purchase a used boat rather than a new one. It had mismatched pontoons, and one had a long repair done to it, the top and carpet was so faded that it looked used, or at least like it had been left out baking in the sun for a few seasons, and it has a 2-stroke Suzuki outboard that was less than half the horsepower of the 4-stroke engine I had in the price I had given them for my boat.
They not only picked this floating wreck over my boat, but they paid more for it than my vastly superior product would have cost them, plus if they purchased from me they would get one year of free storage in the drystack that they then had to pay for right from day one.
I asked them; "why did you buy that boat over mine." The response was; "isn't it the prettiest color purple you ever saw?"
Their logic, rationale and reasoning behind their purchase was about equal to that of anyone who picks any auto-flowering strain over true quality genetics.