T8 or T12?

Before I go and buy the lights at HD in a few hours I wanted to see people's opinions on which would be better for vegging.
I have enough room for 48'' fixtures, so between T8s and T12s only, which would you guys pick?
As for flowering I already have a 400Watt HPS so no need to recommend something for after vegging.
Thanks in advance.

T-5's seem to be the best but they are kind of expensive. One with a fixture is around $25 at my grow shop. I have read that if you can't get t5's then go for t8's but I haven't used either one. I got a 10k lumen t5 of ebay for pretty cheap that will be used for clones/ a little vegging / maybe a mom if she will fit.

Anyone else wanna give their opinions?

t5s are quite a bit more expensive than t8s and the t8s definetly do the job with allot more light output than the t12s..... make sure to get 6500kevlar for vegging !!!

The only T5's I've seen, sell for more than my HPS system was Jon Dog.
Which is why I was asking between T8s and T12s.

I also don't have any hydro or grow shop within a twenty mile radius, so I would have to order from some place online and pay shipping.

Mobby(Or anyone for this matter) are the T8 ballasts harder to find or more expensive than the T12 ballasts? Is everything I need at Home Depot or Lowes?

This is what I got.

Compact T5 FLUORESCENT GROW LIGHT Fluorex 2 TEK 400 hps - (eBay item 180178297773 end time Nov-25-07 19:00:00 PST)

Now if you are looking for something even cheaper than that, it will be hard to find once you buy the t8's and then the fixtures, and everything. I tried looking at different hardware stores but I had no such luck. It would have came out to be at least $60 for anything worth it, and it would have been maybe have the lumens. Just a thought though, good luck finding something.

Interesting, I like what you showed me considering that was the same math I calculated.
Nice find! Thanks.

No problem. It's hard deciding between all the lights and cost/benefits ect. Good luck!

I agree. Goodluck to yourself.
I'll be ordering that T5 within the next 2 days and I just moved my flowering cabinet into the garage so this is all working out great!

im running my t-8 bulbs in a regular 4 foot t12 florescnet fixture..... the only problem with what im doing is by turning the light on and off frequently will shorten the life of the bulb.... the bulbs for my 4 foot fixture at 5 $ each.... i just leave the lights on 24/7 as they are for veg only...

also those t5s that you pointed out on the ebay link are like 2 bulbs connected to one? maybe hard to find replacement bulbs?

the t8s are great if your on a budget, they work very well !!

im running my t-8 bulbs in a regular 4 foot t12 florescnet fixture..... the only problem with what im doing is by turning the light on and off frequently will shorten the life of the bulb.... the bulbs for my 4 foot fixture at 5 $ each.... i just leave the lights on 24/7 as they are for veg only...

also those t5s that you pointed out on the ebay link are like 2 bulbs connected to one? maybe hard to find replacement bulbs?

the t8s are great if your on a budget, they work very well !!

It is two separate lights connected to one fixture. The company (HTG) that sells those lights are very trustworthy and really popular. They actually have replacement bulb auctions on eBay too, where you can buy bulbs without the fixture. I think they are only about $20. I am sure t8's work well too.

Good to hear you're ordering one. I actually just had a problem with one of my fixtures, and HTG is sending me the replacement part for free. So you don't need to worry about customer satisfaction either.