I only have T5's as a frame of reference which i used to veg. They seem to be doing the job great for me, but i have not used HID so i can not really say one way or the other. What i did find tho was the HD set up i was looking at was about the same price as the Mars II 1200 i was looking at, so i just went with that, instead of messing around with ducted hoods and more ventilation and ballats, less hassle in my mind. I have found that the buds i have near harvest are very dense as well, didnt get the airy buds that you sometimes read about with LED grows.
