Quote Originally Posted by Bree1978
I've heard those big butt CFL's put off quite a bit of heat too....Isn't that true? So wouldn't you really want to go with like the 85w or less? Not only cheaper but less heat probs which is mainly why you are going with CFL's in the first place. S
I donâ??t have any personal experience with large cflâ??s but I can safly say they will give off no where near the heat that a HPS or MH does

CFLâ??s work by putting an electrical arc through a gasâ?¦ not going to go into it
End result- electricity is turned into light. Heat is produced as by the inefficiency of the transition.

HPS and MH- work by using electricity to create heat (very efficient) then heat to light.
So the heat is purposely created. Thatâ??s why the lights get brighter as they heat up

And consider that if you buy small CFLâ??s you have to buy all the fixtures, reflectors, wiring etc. So that can add up.

Here are the prices and efficiencies from a few CFLâ??s

105Watt Compact Fluorescent
5000 and 4100 Kelvin None around 2500-3000 Kelvin
Equivalent 400Watts
Lumens 6900 or 65.7 LM/W
Cost 25$ Per Watt= 4.2 Watts/$

150Watt Compact Fluorescent
2700 Kelvin
Equivalent 650 Watts
Lumens 9200 or 61 LM/W ***
Cost 60$ Per Watt= 2.5 Watts/$

200Watt Compact Fluorescent
5000, 2700 Kelvin
Equivalent 850 Watts
Lumens 12000 or 60 LM/W for 2700 K
Cost 70$ Per Watt= 2.85 Watts/$

85Watt Compact Fluorescent (looking like best purchase)
3000, 6500, 5000 Kelvin
Equivalent 350 watts
Lumens: 4200 or 49.4 LM/W
Cost 20$ Per Watt= 4.25 Watts/$

65Watts Compact Fluorescent
3000, 6500 Kelvin
Equivalent 250 Watts
Lumens: 3400 or 52 LM/W
Cost 20$ Per Watt= 3.25 Watts/$