ronnie
Acro addict
What do you think?
Here is my perspective:
I moved away from MH a year ago or so. Mostly because I didn't like the color of the bulbs I was running, and I could get a T5 fixture for a bit more $$ instead of replacing brand new MH bulbs. Plus, the draw of being able to change color by replacing a $20 bulb versus an $80 bulb was big for me. I was getting phenomenal growth from MH, but coupled with the VHO bulbs I was running, the setup was a massive power hog, running over 900w daily. So again I saw the attraction of T5s. My fixture currently runs 4x54w for 10 hours and 4x85w for 4 hours. Compare that to the 500w I was running for 6 hours (MH) and the 440w I was running for 12 hours (VHO), and you can see where I'd be more than happy to cut my lighting in half at least, and probably more like two thirds.
I sold my MH with relative ease. They weren't the best of the best, but they were nice fixtures/ballasts/bulbs. I had several offers quickly and didn't have any trouble selling them locally.
Fast forward to today: I'm now moving away from T5s, and going to LEDs. I've beaten the power issues, and now I want to nip the bulb replacements as well. Thirteen bulbs every fourteen months or so adds up ($260ish). So I can justify the payoff costs pretty quickly (less than four years pretty easily), and I might even be able to cut some more power usage out as well.
So I've been selling some old MH stuff I've had laying around, and cannot "give" the stuff away. Perhaps the economy is playing a part, but I'm more inclined to think that metal halides are just a fading technology. People aren't interested in big electric bills coupled with high cost bulb replacements any more. LEDs are coming. I'll be the first to admit that I thought I'd stick with T5s for quite some time. I always scoffed at the LEDers - thinking they'd jumped too soon, invested too much. But they are showing growth, giving great power savings, and are cutting costs in our hobby.
Anyways - I know there are a lot of people still running MH, and they will be around for years to come most likely. To me, though, the giant has fallen and LEDs/T5s are the replacements, and T5 will likely follow suit in the next five years or so.
Rant over.....
Here is my perspective:
I moved away from MH a year ago or so. Mostly because I didn't like the color of the bulbs I was running, and I could get a T5 fixture for a bit more $$ instead of replacing brand new MH bulbs. Plus, the draw of being able to change color by replacing a $20 bulb versus an $80 bulb was big for me. I was getting phenomenal growth from MH, but coupled with the VHO bulbs I was running, the setup was a massive power hog, running over 900w daily. So again I saw the attraction of T5s. My fixture currently runs 4x54w for 10 hours and 4x85w for 4 hours. Compare that to the 500w I was running for 6 hours (MH) and the 440w I was running for 12 hours (VHO), and you can see where I'd be more than happy to cut my lighting in half at least, and probably more like two thirds.
I sold my MH with relative ease. They weren't the best of the best, but they were nice fixtures/ballasts/bulbs. I had several offers quickly and didn't have any trouble selling them locally.
Fast forward to today: I'm now moving away from T5s, and going to LEDs. I've beaten the power issues, and now I want to nip the bulb replacements as well. Thirteen bulbs every fourteen months or so adds up ($260ish). So I can justify the payoff costs pretty quickly (less than four years pretty easily), and I might even be able to cut some more power usage out as well.
So I've been selling some old MH stuff I've had laying around, and cannot "give" the stuff away. Perhaps the economy is playing a part, but I'm more inclined to think that metal halides are just a fading technology. People aren't interested in big electric bills coupled with high cost bulb replacements any more. LEDs are coming. I'll be the first to admit that I thought I'd stick with T5s for quite some time. I always scoffed at the LEDers - thinking they'd jumped too soon, invested too much. But they are showing growth, giving great power savings, and are cutting costs in our hobby.
Anyways - I know there are a lot of people still running MH, and they will be around for years to come most likely. To me, though, the giant has fallen and LEDs/T5s are the replacements, and T5 will likely follow suit in the next five years or so.
Rant over.....
