Replacing HPS w/ LED?

[viper]

i read where Growing strictly under sodiums has its advantages in terms of yield per watt, but is still lacking as far as a balanced spectrum when compared to a mix of HPS and halide.Anyone that has ever seen a mixed light garden can testify that the healthiest, most crystallized buds occur where the two spectrums overlap. The UV factor, as metal halide bulbs emit a fair amount of UV while HPS emit almost none. Most growers employing halides in conjunction with HPS do so at a 2:1 HPS:halide ratio. Many growers, especially those restricted to one light, have been having good success using one of the new enhanced metal halide bulbs such as Sunmaster or son agro , which have a more balanced spectrum than either sodium or regular halide alone.

 

[fleshstain]

while this is true, usually a MH doesn't quite match up to HPS in the lumens-per-watt category that it seems most people are concerned about....

a perfect example is the 600W HPS or MH.... the Hortilux HPS bulbs are rated at 95000 which equals 158 lumens per watt.... +/- 1%.... the MH conversion bulb that i can find locally is rated at 55000 lumens which equals 91 lumens per watt.... +/- 1%....

so, basically i'd have to run 2 of the conversion bulbs totaling 1200W of power consumption to get about the same amount of usable light.... in this scenario, it would seem the wiser choice, if you had to run 2 600's, to run HPS and double your usable light output and flowering space....

also, i do realize that there are newer 600W MH conversion bulbs with a higher lumen ration and that some MH's do output more usuable lumens than the equivalent HPS.... however, as someone who used to have do purchasing of light bulbs through mail order for a past job, i do not trust any carriers with something that fragile.... i've seen even the best packaged bulbs arrive broken.... therefore, i'm stuck with what i can find locally....