I was wondering if anyone could breakdown the pros and cons of both CFL and LED. I'm a super beginner and don't understand much of anything I'm reading on this forum. I'm trying to learn what I can so I don't waste money on plant lights that won't work. Although I'd like to get the HID lamps since they seem little less complicated to understand and use, they are totally not an option for me as I can't deal with the heat or possible electrical issues that they entail.

Right now, I'm leaning toward either getting lots of little CFLs to grow tomatoes, vandas, moringa, etc. or getting one of those giant CFLs (but I hear they bend, don't last long, and pieces of the bulb dim out?) simply because the LED seem incredibly complicated when it comes to deciding which to get for what purpose.

I've thought about learning what it takes to make my own LED strip, but I'm just way too uninformed to even think about that, and I'd like to grow sun-loving plants before the decade of time it would take to learn all the skills I'd need! haha so I'm definitely leaning towards something I can purchase and plug and play.

Please help! anything that would help a complete idiot (yours truly) not buy lights that won't work would be awesome!

Yes, I've read through several of the forums but as I previously mentioned, I have no freakin idea what y'all are talking about...I want to though! I want to understand