Apples and oranges, in my opinion. LED guys seem to fixate on graphs and efficiency numbers to "prove" everything. Some people like me aren't as concerned about all that. I just want a bright light that grows my marijuana. If you grow during the hot time of the year, then LEDs can be your friend by not adding a lot of extra heat to the grow space. If you grow during the cold time of the year, then an HID system might be your friend because of the heat they add. T5s are great, too, but you'd probably need to be a good scrogger to get the most out of them for flower -because you need to keep the tubes very close to the top of the canopy...but Hell yeah, they are user-friendly/spectrum-customizable and they can grow cannabis!