I have no experience with these, but, from the description, I would avoid the first because the wattage of the bulb is not disclosed and a reviewer said that a replacement bulb is unavailable.

"Supplemental lighting" suggests that you want to supplement light from a window. Windows often have curtain rods from which you can hang lighting, hence, I question the need to buy support equipment, other than chains. You can buy 2 bulb T8/T12 shop lights for as little as $10 when on sale at Menards.

Two of the linked lamps have only one T5 bulb (I can't tell if the other one has a single bulb or two). That's not a whole lot of supplemental light for the price.

As aruzinsky mentioned, T8 shoplights are relatively inexpensive and should provide more coverage than those T5s. You could probably find a four-tube T8 fixture for the price being charged for the single-bulb T5.

There are also LED "flying saucer"-type lamps available in the $90-100 range that are decent quality and have good light output, offering potential for supplementing window and/or fluorescent light.

I just bought 2 led shoplights at Sam's club(4 footers) for $37.00.It is made with a allunium housing. I could buy a few more for that price. I have not install them yet.

I'm looking for a way to start my vegetables indoors. I checked those lights sold on Amazon too and at first glance you think the 4 or 4 1/2 stars means they are good, until you see the bad reviews.

One thing I always do is check the bad reviews first, and then the most recent reviews. You'll notice that on 2 of those lights that you listed, that all the recent reviews are 1 star ratings.

I have the Hydrofarm Jump Start T5 grow light. It grew me awesome transplants this Spring, I have no complaints, other than the price, but it comes with a nice adjustable stand and on/off switch.

Have you had any issues with the bulbs?

None. It is nice and cool too, you can adjust it right on top of the seedlings no problems.

Also they do sell replacement bulbs, and the 4' ones are 54W T5HO and I believe so is the one that came it.

http://www.amazon.com/Replacement-6400K-Bulbs-case-4-FLT5464/dp/B0055F50HS

For growing seedlings it was more than adequate. I did have them on a sunny windowsill, though (which in no way is enough on it's own - the year before I was unsuccessful without it - leggy stunted plants.)

However, I don't doubt there are more cost effective alternatives.

Pictures of my seedlings grown under the light are here: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2993293/tomatoes-and-eggplants-growing-fast?n=178

I will be adding a fan next year... help make them a little stockier and ready for the wind.

Thanks guys. I actually ended up going with the same setup Peter has! After inspecting the reviews more thoroughly, I found several for the first where there were electrical problems, and some sleuthing revealed all the reviews on the last option to be fake (!). I only have a handful of succulents and recently a polka-dot plant that I have underneath it but so far the plants are really happy (except for the polka dot plant which wants to be watered a lot more often than I'm used to). My graptoveria has had two tiny little babies on it since springtime, and they are finally getting bigger! My echeveria has stopped leaning, as well. I want to say I have about 4 or so inches away from the plants and I put it on before I go for work and turn it off when I get home (about 9.5 hours which I know is a lot, but I don't have anyone to turn it off during the day while I'm gone). I tried moving it closer but surprisingly my echeveria showed displeasure at this. It was a little pricey but I like the convenience of it (I find the technical stuff behind making my own setup extremely confusing - I am not engineer minded), and it's very well constructed. The housing for the light is designed to reflect back as much light as possible which the others didn't seem to be concerned about, so I think the one bulb is fine. I went with the 4 ft one so I still have room underneath for additional plants (so enabling!).

Glad to hear your Echeveria and Graptoveria are improving!

I don't think 9.5 hours is a long time, since there is 10 hours of daylight currently in my zone. I normally run my lights sunrise to sunset for my photoperiodic plants.

Glad to hear you are happy with your purchase.

By the way for future readers, the box clearly indicates T5HO, I checked.

The hydrofarm jump start is definitely a good entry level light. Love mine!

Peter: "Pictures of my seedlings grown under the light are here: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2993293/tomatoes-and-eggplants-growing-fast?n=178"

I call your attention to your tomato plants, 37 days after sowing,

http://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/4a62a4f0054222c2_8-7648/home-design.jpg

That's much better than I would expect for only 54 watts. I normally grow my tomato plants in slightly less than a 4' x 2' area under five 40 watt T12 bulbs (200 watts). These are Big Zac tomato plants in 4" pots, 27 days after sowing:

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/BigZac3.6.jpg

Left to right, natural daylight in greenhouse, Gro-Lux, Gro-Lux Plus Incandescent. Notice the fat stems. For more details see

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2005610/how-to-easily-supplement-fluorescent-with-incandescent-light?n=47 (I was Struwwelpeter)

Every year, I do something different to learn something. Next spring, I plan to use 145 watts of LED in the same growth chamber.

As an experiment for you next Spring, might I suggest that you try this $9.45 54 watt T5 bulb?,

http://htgsupply.com/Product-AgroMax-4ft-T5-Pure-Bloom-Bulbs

and report your experience in this forum.

IDK, there is no reason to fix what isn't broken and go with a flowering bulb when that isn't what I am after, just for experiment's sake. I will definitely check out the supplementation link though.

The plants also got sun on a south-facing windowsill.

Your plants have much stockier stems than mine did - at least the ones you grew under lights. Did you use a fan?

They definitely grew very fast under the lights, no comparison to just the window. I could huge harvests from all my transplants, very happy.