The ceramic is a great light overall. 315w LEC running at 42% efficient you will get 132.2 PAR watts before any losses from the reflector. This is much higher than the norm hps and close to double what a Mars hydro puts out. Even kind led which I just read is 22.5% efficient. Doing the math a cmh is 32 par watts less than a 1000 watt kind k5 which sells for 1695 msrp.
I have one in veg and one in flower. Veg plants liked the light and thrived in a 4x4 space. The one under the cmh in flower was a little questionable. I did a comparison against my Amare which is around 50w higher and the difference was definitely in favor of the Amare. But price wise they have dropped tremendously which a huge factor when choosing a light. Close to 350 all included with a bulb of choice, flower or veg. Additional bulbs are close to $85 each.
It was tough for me to believe till I saw it first hand but I have a friend who is a commercial grower using 16 of the cmh in total. 4 in veg and one over each plant in flower. They are photo period plants but he pulls over a pound per light which is close to 2gpw. If I were to make another room and initial cost was an issue I would absolutely go all cmh. They are flexible enough to use in flower and when or if time comes to upgrade they make perfect veg light. So nothing is really lost.
Sorry for the long rant but I do love lighting and lighting that's efficient. I absolutely hate claims and all the bs associated with them. Low heat, high par best spectrum, then they don't even list a single number.
