Lights which 1 would u get?

I think you should have went with the digital ballast myself, like was said, they run cooler, the bulb burns brighter and cooler, and they are quieter.
Let us know how long before the HTG starts buzzing, and you have to get a digital ballast anyway.

Really I hope you are happy with it but after I switched to digital I will never buy magnetic again.

here is something to read for future reference.

Brightest Ballast on the Market

The Lumatek Ballast is the brightest ballast in the industry. Light meter readings indicate the Lumatek ballast is 10 to 20% brighter than common core and coil magnetic ballasts on the market. The Lumatek is 8% to 15% brighter than the other electronic ballasts out there.

Over time core and coil ballasts degrade, become louder, use more electricity and produce more heat while the lumen output declines. Digital ballasts do not degrade and maintain lumen output and efficiency over the life of the Lumatek ballast. Magnetic ballasts output can fluctuate by up to 10% during a 12-hour cycle. Lumatek ballasts will give you a constant output without any fluctuation.

Magnetic ballasts can use up to 75 watts (hence 675 input watts) converting the electricity while the Lumatek is sending the FULL 600 watts to the bulb lighting it to its fullest potential. Lumatek ballast achieve superior light meter readings in comparison to other digital ballasts on the market by using microprocessors to detect the precise type of lamp being run and supply the correct power necessary. The microprocessors are “chips” inside each Lumatek ballast. Some lamps are able to use slightly more than 600 watts. The Lumatek ballast will detect this and increase output accordingly.

if i cant afford a new ballast right now for my 1000w hps and i already have 4 CFLs setup for my plant to vege on will it be alright to flower my plant if i add a few more CFLs to my grow box.

i can get CFLs for free and as many as i need. i just need to know whats sufficient so i dont ahve to spend another couple hundred dollars on a new ballast.

well you'll need alot, from what i've read if you really want to flower with cfls you need alot of lumens, 25k+++ in order to get the job done, and you will still likly end up with fluffy, airy buds!

You can go with CFL's but remember it will take extra weeks to flower.

For what you are going to spend on CFL's you can get an HPS

http://www.e-conolight.com/Product/EProductDetail.asp?ProductFamilyID=7&FGNumber=E-MT6H151G

$20, can you afford that ? I hate to recommend 150 watts but it will beat the crap out of CFL.

Splurge and get 2 of them.

Magnetic lights are fine and they have proven to last a very long time.. I bet 10 to 1 that, that cheap looking digi balast would have mad rf interference..

I doubt i would have bough either of those they just look too cheap. Are those ballasts even UL listed?

I have a couple of those digital ballasts and they are working fine, plus they are in a rough environment, salt water aquarium.

You can get a magnetic ballast and be happy. To each their own.

This thread is scewed up anyway, looks like some people might have posted in the wrong thread by mistake and others didn't read the thread to know what was going on.

as my first i dont know if ive spent a bit too much or not but ive found this tube to be perfect for my small closet ..with a fan u never have any heat issues

Cool Tube 400 watt HPS system with Xtrasun ballast and 400 Standard HPS

I think u spent smart money on that set up. I would say you paid for a bit higher quality. Ur ballast would be more appealing to me since it is UL listed. Cool tubes are the shyt too. Im not a fan of cheap electronics. I mean really the only thing that could wrong is u burn ur house down but hey some say its worth it to save some coin eh.

All the fires I have read about are because of the wiring job shorting out not because of the electronics that was bought.

If you know of any specific incidents point me to them.

The cool tube does do what it's supposed to so you spent your money well like was said.

Why would you spend the extra 25 bucks on that system for ?

Just wondering because I boutght awhile back but made the other choice.

Say ur house does burn down and ur insurance find out a non UL listed appliance caused the fire? Yep ur negligent.. And gets worse u wont be covered..No? check ur insurance papers!!!

There is a lot if stuff that isn't UL listed, I just looked at my GE toaster and couldn't find a UL sticker.

I haven't looked at the digital ballast yet but we never decided if they were or not.

I bet there is, did u look at the bottom where the printed manufacture details are. Anyways man im not making this stuff up.There is a reason why the UL listed ballasts are significantly more expensive..

I looked at the bottom, I know you aren't making it up.

I was thinking a long time ago that everything sold in the US had to be UL certified but nowadays since testing has to meet government regulations which makes it cost a whole bunch I don't know if it is as important as it used to be or if many people are still getting their stuff certified since we are competing in a world economy....

After all I think motorcycle helmets aren't getting the SNELL certification because it costs so much, I believe that even DOT is way too much to get put on the helmet.

It's just hard to tell anymore.

Hey at least if a guy died from a motorcycle accident that the SNELL helmet would have saved him from, he dont gotta worry about insurance!