Compact flourescents - boom or bust?

[magooba]

I have a 200W that throws out 800-1000W . I think they are great. I hang it and place my plant around it. It's about a foot long and is really bright. I hope it also fights the winter blues!

[delilah]

I have 3 85w fluorescents that give lots of light and some warmth- I guess proportionate to what Magooba gets with the 200w fluor. It suits my plants- they grow leaves and spikes- but I am supplementing natural light from 2 corner windows in my main growing area.

[garyb]

Wow.... lots of watts. do you grow everything on a shelf? how far from the leaves? does it hummmm/buzz?

These types of fixtures have electronic ballasts - ho hummm/buzz

[garyb]

I have a 200W that throws out 800-1000W . I think they are great. I hang it and place my plant around it. It's about a foot long and is really bright. I hope it also fights the winter blues!

The "Some Number Equivalent" refers to incandescent lights.

CFLs produce less light (lumens) per watt than other fluorescent technology. T5's and T8's are around 90 lumens/watt and CFLs run 50-60 lumens/watt.

Your 200W compact fluorescent throws about 10000 lumes; about what you would get from 4 T8s.