I'm thinking one advantage over the other methods though is that the led lifespan should be more? or am I wrong?
Oh, leds will last several years in any decent design. What we're hoping is the current production will be obsolete long before that time. Lotsa companies making streetlights, residential lighting, car lights, etc. Technology will trickle down. :thumbsup: Still, for some, leds make sense now, for any of the above three reasons.

forgive ignorance what do you mean by driver (led)?
I guess when I talk about a driver, it's like a Mean-Well brand unit. They have an A/C plug on one end, and two wires, + and -, on the other. Very simple and neat. You wire that directly to the leds --nothing else is required.

It's a power supply, but it's also got current regulation built in. You can dial the voltage up and down, and limit the current to dim the leds. You can run your leds exactly as hard as you want.

With highpowered leds you can power each color with its own individual driver and have total control of the spectrum.

The "current controlling electronics" part itself can also be referred to as a driver, too, but you have to add a wall-wart or some other kind of power to them. That's pretty simple, too. Real cheap, but not real efficient. :rastasmoke:
DreadedHermie Reviewed by DreadedHermie on . LED grow lights... input please. Hello guys, I'm exchanging eMails with a representative from a LED company. I asked him if they could produce a custom light for growing, and here's what he told me: Our options are as follow: 940nm, 850nm, 660nm, 630nm, 610nm, 590nm 570nm, 530nm, 510nm, 470nm, 460nm, 400nm and a total of 64 LEDs in the bulb. Rating: 5