I'm not a cheap basterd by any means when it comes to my plants, and I'd still purchase an HPS over swicthable's.
MH has it's uses. Very good light for veg. added uv, and what ever else I might not completly be aware of. However it lacks weight by itself. Using MH for a complete cycle is silly in my mind. I weeded out...hehe...all the MH equipment about 6-7 years ago when I switched to CFL's for veg.
What a couple of these bulbs can do in such a short amount of space is simply awsome! To think you can supply an entire bedroom sized area with healthy clones that were taken from a plant under afew of these is a very real wake up call if I say so myself.
So that was the main reason for the switch over to CFL's.

HPS on the other hand isn't all that bad for veg. i'd dare say roughy 50% if not more of indoor growers do use HPS to veg. even if only for a short amount of time. I Myself would veg. under an HPS for about 2-3 weeks, to help fill in the clones abit. Rarly did I have to veg for anymore time then this....(12 days average if i remember corret.

I could have gone the route with using a switchable. But to be honest over the years i've tried soooo many combinations from lights to space, nutes. systems, ect. I just never got around to using them. I'm confident though you could produce a beatiful mother under an HPS bulb. Done this many a times. Other then the normal growing pattern of cannabis, I've never noctied stress, or stretch!:jointsmile: GL