stright cfl V's spiral cfls ?

I've used T5 before on a diff. grow(sea of green). The T5 with a good reflector is fucking awesome for the sea of green. In a close tight area the spiral CFL is good for rising and lowering to accomodate the height of the plant. Diff peeps use diff lights for diff. things. Me syself I would use the tube running vertical to the plant for side growth and use CFL spiral for the top. That my way but Like I said diff. strokes for diff. fokes..

Well, overall I think that the CFLs are - as you said - easiest to position, and more versatile than tubes. Not to mention they don't require a ballasted fixture.

Ballast is just a word to scare most folks. Its actually really easy to hook one up just DON'T HAVE IT PLUGGED IN..LOL

My new grow has to do with 3 in flower and 5 clones and 2 bagseed(presexing as we speak)...

All I meant about ballast is that the tubes need a fixture that holds a fixed amount of bulbs, whereas whenever i've got an itch and $15 i can go buy a fixture, wire it and drop another 42W if i see fit. I have no problem wiring shit, and it makes a ballasted HID a lot cheaper if you get a kit ..