25 mostly stupid pages later . . . you know, it's really quite simple. CFL's are relatively new and "green" so the blitz is on to replace every incandescent bulb on earth.
When I moved indoors in 77' straight shop lights were about all there was that weren't cost prohibitive. Folks used these and they worked, albeit not ideally.
IMO, too many cfl's are needed to be practical. They get hot and I can't imagine trying to route all those wires and fixtures and other bullshit. It just seems like a lot of hassle for basically the same results an experienced grower can get from a bank of 2 or 3 shoplights. BTW, $12 w/2-40W tubes per 2 light fixture, at W-Mart. (Always?)
I use banks of three 40's (6 tubes)and can't imagine better veg lighting that would allow a grower to comtrol the rate, so things don't get out of hand and you aren't forced to flower a "pre-teen" plant at a foot.
As for the expense of HID, because I'd always been able to keep me and mine in stash for 30 years without upgrading, I never even looked. It's NOT that expensive to get a hps for flowering, or a mh for veg, if that's your want. I was shocked at how affordable they actually are and it was foolish for me not to have looked years ago.
That said, I'm doing my first ever HPS budding right now, one 600W over 9 2' diesels, in a 4.5X4.5.
I dunno that CFL's are stupid (IMO, they're ridiculous) but they certainly aren't for any serious med-cash cropper, simply because the buds are generally lessor n' looser than those grown by the connosaur/exotic profit (or stash) grower.