Here's what I posted in my club forum:
To buy this product I would first need to confirm that:
1. The par/lumen was equivalent to MH
2. The fixtures were built well and replacement parts would be available at a reasonable price.
3. If one bulb went out, the others stayed lit.
Why I would buy the product:
1. The little or no heat factor
2. Less electricity
3. LED are probably very cheap to replace, which means no replacing expensive $60-100 every 6-12 months.
So lets see for analysis assuming my requirements were met.
1. Cost about 1700 for a 48" fixture. MH fixture I would spend at least 300 for a 250w unit + actinics so 600+200=800. So about a 900 cost differential.
2. Per month on electrical saving you encounter 720-300=420 watts of savings per hour, say x10 hrs a day. So 4200 a day of savings and 1,533,000 watts per year. I don't pay the electrical but lets say a kilowatt is .04 so 1533 kilowatts saved per year, or 61.32 a year. Lets say I'm good at changing my bulbs and I run 20k's just to be comparable. So I change them every 6 months, so 70x4 bulbs a year is 280. So total increase per year is $341x3 years is over 900. Assuming that each has average incedentals etc. Lets say we run 10k bulbs and change every 9 months. So 1.33 bulbs per year x 2 bulbs at 70 is 186 + 61 = 247 so about 3.5 years to break even. This doesnt include the extra air conditioning we run to keep the tank cool, or possible chiller. Fans probably don't add on a large amount of power consumption or cost.
Given that I have an average turn over of lights of around 6 months, this probably isn't a good idea for me to invest in until more conclusive research is done.
