"--- LED lighting is much less expensive, and a couple of 250W panels would be plenty bright for a small room with no windows. Plus, their electricity use is a lot less than the old halide/sodium lamps - plus they don't make nearly as much heat, ---"
Actually a 400W LED and a 400W MH lamp will generate the exact same amount of heat (watts x BTUs). The thing to look for is lumen output per watt.
LED lights feels cooler because they have built-in fans to cool down.
You see LED claims 50,000 to 100,000 hours life. But the critical part is how long the fan will last for the lights. If the fan goes out , the LEDs will be fried in a few seconds.
dcarch
And BTW, LEDs may not come down in $ soon. Recreational "herbs" growers. :-)
