very well put, choader. the best light is very dependent on the grower - his circumstances and budget and expectations and...
good luck with your grow
hey SkyHarvest, there IS a better system for horticultural light measurement - it's called PAR (photosynthetically active radiation, i think), anyway it is a measurement of light intensity between 400 and 700 nm, and takes into account the quantum efficiency of photons (really, no shyte) in the photosyntetic process. there's tons of stuff on it around the net. li-cor has great technical docs on PAR, but you can only get them by mail.
only problem is, PAR is not widely accepted, at least yet, especially by vendors that DON'T want a decent comparison. most of the more reputable lamp manufactures use it, though.