CFL vs HPS

So i can get a 150 watt hps for $80 out the door.
or i can get around 240 watts of cfl(about 800watt incandescent equivelent) for a little less money.

what's going to get me a better harvest on an already vegged plant.

The lumen to watt ratio of a HPS light is a little higher but not enough to make the 90 watt difference. CFL's will allow for more coverage as well, depending on the type.
Plus this is the CFL section so.....the winner is 240W CFL.


I actually just picked up a 150W HPS and it's working well with one monster plant.

I also run 8 4" T8 32W CFL tubes wich is 256W total, with a 4 plant scrog setup, I will be harvesting both soon but from the looks of of things CFL's will produce about 70% - 80% more than the HPS. The plants were all clones of the same strain.


It's gonna depend on your space availability and what you do with the plants though. The light penetration is much better with the hps, but the overall area it covers is smaller. I don't have a decent reflector though....

SilverSerf

Brendanb: it's not the cost out the door that hurts as much as the monthly electric bill. HSA

HPS has better penetration and you can supplement with CFLs.

Juggling CFL placement is quickly becoming a nuisance.

THAT LIL 150 HPS WILL BE BARLEY ANYTHING ON THE ELECTRIC BILL... IM NOT HURTIN RUNNING 2000 PLUS... and i dont really get rid of much, but why are you startin so small? are you that limited on space??

dude if your going to spend 80 bucks on a 150w HPS just toss in 10 more bucks and get a 400w.
I got mine off craigslist but if you cant find any locally HTG Supply sells refurbished 400w HPS with new bulbs and a 30day warranty for 90 bucks.
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-REFURBISHED---HTGSupply-400-Watt-HPS-Grow-Light.asp

HPS all the way. It all comes down to Lm/W (lumen per watt) the HPS watt for watt is going to give you way more lumens than the same wattage of CFL's, also like electronug said, HPS has far greater penetration than CFL's. That means those lower popcorn nugs are going to have a better chance at becoming mature flowers when using an HID light.

So for example 400w of HPS is not the same as 400w of CFL, that's like comparing apples to oranges. If you wanted something comparable then you would need to be looking at ~600w of CFL to even come close to what a 400w HPS gives out.

Using CFLs u wont grow your plants to their full potential, as buds would not fully ripen and you will see much smaller yields with CFLs. Go here for the light http://www.htgsupply.com/Category-250---175---150-Watt-Magnetic-Grow-Light-Systems.asp
and they except money orders & prepaid cards. I sent out a money order to them, as soon as they got it they sent it the next day and it was all done in less than a week! HTGsupply has the best service, ships on time, quality lights and other product.

Not only is HPS 20-30% more efficient on a watt-per-watt basis in putting out light, but the spectrum of light from an HPS is better too.

Contrary to popular belief, on a watt-per-watt basis CFL lights DO NOT run cooler than HPS lamps. Both will convert most of their power draw into heat, and if you're running a few hundred watts of either one, you're going to be making a lot of waste heat.

CFLs will give you a little more flexibility in setting up really tiny grows, and the low cost of the bulbs and sockets mean the STARTUP costs are lower. If you need to get started with only $30, yeah, you can do that with CFLs, but that's really the only advantage.

In the long run, whatever savings in money you have setting up a CFL system, you'll more than make up with increased yields and improved quality with an HPS system.

150w HPS = 16k lumens
240w CFL = aprox 16k lumens

However, dropoff of light is SIGNIFICANTLY more drastic with CFLs. HPS, hands down.

Lets not forget remote ballasting.