"I aint hating and I didn't say you couldn't grow with them, but basically the only tangible advantage to LED's is lower heat...that's the simple fact"
You just completely contradicted yourself. You aren't saying they wont grow, but the fact is they are only good for low heat?
Oh, and yes, a 240W LED does in FACT show on a LUX meter the same and more lumens than a 150,000 Lumen 1,000W Digilux because it uses the LED's in the BIG BOYS. It DOES NOT have the "Coverage". You have never tested output with an LED unit have you?
Again, you will need 660 Watts of LED (and that's draw with 18 fans) you will in fact yield 6% less than a 1,000 Watt 150,000 Lumen HPS. These are 2011 model panels that now incorporate UVB which MH & HPS do not. Both a new veg and the bloom only panels have UVB. There are MANY hours you would need to research before posting.
Oh, (I just keep on forgetting stuff). I was talking about 1,000W and you own a 600W and how much you draw from the wall "is not much" because of the low heat in your area. Okay, your Bulb is 600W. Your Ballast pulls more than both of your fans in conjunction & then add in your fans and you are pulling more wattage than the 660W draw that was tested against the 1,000 HPS with the 6% size reduction but around 20% more crystal production.
Do a side by side with just 330W of LED (1X 500W considered panel in LED speak) against your 600W HPS (or should I say a draw of 700W+?) and lets say you will obviously not even have the LED advertising to beat your HPS. So, comparing 500W to 600W would reduce your size 21%, but you would (again) have 20+% more Trichomes (the medicine in the plant). So, do that side by side, and then take 1/4 Ounce and grind it upside down so it doesn't fall through the holes. Only twist it 2 to 3 turn to each direction and leave upside down in the freezer for 14 minutes. Take it out and grind it the rest of the way while upside down and then turn it on its bottom to knock the leaves & trichs down to the grate at the bottom. Hit it on the floor about 120 times (allowing gravity to drop only the trich's in the bottom of the grinder.
Now, take 2 of the same size medicine bottle and weigh them and 0 out your scaled. Take a funnel and drop the trichs down in there from your HPS 600W, and then your 500W LED (330W Draw), and the weight of actual GOODS in the bud should come out to exactly 6% less actual intensity than what you are running to draw 700+ from the wall.
In other words, you would only have 6% less med's out of 330W, but with the new model you may get more than the average 20% increase in Trichs and may beat out your HPS altogether. I've seen people test Advanced Nutrients and dog it because they didn't notice much size difference between another fertilization method they've been using for a year. Well, no one seems to understand that it is the TRICHOMES that medicate, and not the SIZE of the flower. If he did the same test with freezing the trichs and measuring he would see a % difference even if they were EXACT weight flowers before seeing how much weight he had in actual medicine inside each flower. Such a simple test that no one wants to do.
If you grow in an Air-Pot (NOT Smart Pots) it is averaged a 15% increase in yield because it stops root circling. Don't get me started on scientifics and facts to explain every single thing I just told you, please. Do some Google/Yahooíng.
So, if you are growing in a regular container and swapped to the 330W LED & use Air-Pots and increase your yield by 15% you would almost identically weigh out to what your 600W does, BUT, remember the extra Trichs and resin from the LED would make it far superior. This could not be said about LED's a year ago. If you simply want to stick with HPS go for it, but I've seen the outcome of a friends liquid cooled 1,000W dropped 5X closer (because of its cool to the touch) & it isnt going to really get better than what you got by to 1,000 unless you want more coverage. Of course with MH/HPS being Sphyrical the HID's arent going to give any direct beam of their lumen rating. About 30% of the light you recieve is all watered down relection from Mylar, and thats not to mention the 87% of unuseable light from both MH & HPS that is documented all over the internet like glue. Anyone can post those articles, and not 1 article goes against this fact. Put 97% reflective Mylar in an LED unit and I bet you would make up that 6% difference right there. The are running much less reflective Mylar in the Black Star LED's and every LED unit for that matter. You can then surround your LED with 97% reflectivity & shape it how you want (while measuring lumens and side light hitting by not allowing the LED's wider angles, and wider degree LED's get out of range, and force them back down, and to the sides, and who knows.... You may kill a liquid cooled 1,000W Digilix at 5X closer distance than conventional possibilities, and to run that liquid cooled takes 1,000W Bulb+over a 100+W Draw from the ballast+2X 90 Watt water pumps (one for water chiller and 1 for the fixture) + 460+W Water Chiller+ a Vornado fan on the radiator on the chiller and you'd be quite impressed to see more trich's coming from 330W opposed to 1,900 Watts Minimum to run a water cooled 1,000 that makes majorly better outcomes than a standard HID by being able to basically sit on a plant.
I can write a book. This is a short and sweet explanation without getting scientific.
