Does anyone have any solid information on whether LED or T5 CFL light is 'better' for growing indoors?

You might get a larger study answer from the hydroponic sites.

LED by far assuming you get a decent light. Light output is more important in my other hobby, reef aquariums. Everyone is switching to LEDs for their output, lifespan, low operating cost, and flexibility.

Nick

I had good success with the T5 lights.

Greg, the LED would be superior to the T5's, as long as it's from a good manufacturer.  There are a lot of cheap LED's from China being sold on eBay, etc. that aren't very good.  The issue with both the LED's and T5's is that there is not much penetration, so the lights need to be pretty close to the tops of the plants to make them effective.  This also means that LED's are much better on smaller plants than on taller ones.  LED's would be perfect for your carnivorous plants and for young figs, but once the plants get more than a few feet tall, LED's (and T5's!) become much less effective.

Figaro, how do I determine the quality of LEDs?  Why do you say they're superior to T5s?

Their is an older post about the spectrum that is important, regardless of what the light source is.

I normally stick to T5 6500K growlights for my planted aquariums. The plants love it. 

A friend of mine grows medical dope and has quite the operation, Growers use MH or HPS bulbs for a reason, they outperform T5 of LED's and are more cost effective. You can get any plant to flower and be very productive under artificial lights, but some lights will be better depending on what your trying to grow. I've got 2 400watt Quantum T5 lights I use for flowers and vegetables, and a 400watt MH light for my meyer lemon tree. The lemon tree is about 4 feet tall and the MH bulb has more light intensity to reach the lower leaves. I've also had 3ft tomato and pepper plants under the T5 bulbs flowering.

Craigslist will be your best bet as everyone thinks they can make money growing dope and realize it's a science. You should be able to find a light setup for cheap money. If you do decide to go with a MH or HPS setup, be sure to get a digital ballast, as they do not making any humming noise and most can be adjusted for different wattages.

Rmike, can fig plants be grown indoor entirely with MH or HPS lights and still fruit well? How much would such a set up cost and how many small potted plants can one light support?

In my previous home I ran 1000W HPS/MH lights for wintering over my plants including fig trees. The trick is keeping everything with humidity trays to keep the moisture level up since the heat output is fairly high in an enclosed area.  Look specifically at the light spectrum for the actual bulbs you will be using. One end of the spectrum support bloooming, and the other green growth.

* Sodium lamps are generally selected for photoperiod manipulation when a significant amount of daylight is also available.

* Because metal halide lamps emit light in a broader spectrum than do sodium lamps, some growers are using metal halide in conjunction with sodium for extending or augmenting natural light in areas where winter skies are often overcast. Plants grown solely under sodium lamps have a greater tendency to stretch than do those grown under metal halide lamps (which are richer in the blue spectrum).

Many transformer light setups have both types of bulbs and can be selected together or separate.

I have migrated to T5 Ultralux type grow lights for the first stage of rooted fig cuttings. Far less heat and power consumption and the figs do better sleeping in the cold shed for two months

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/biology/ligabs.html

This is year one for me growing figs so I can't answer the question. My personal belief is that plants are programmed to grow and will do so under almost any favorable conditions. Optimizing those conditions enhances performance. Ha, Does that sound like a Cialis commercial or what?

I grew my meyer lemon under a 400watt MH light this winter. It flowered like crazy and put on some nice growth. I can assume it would have set fruit before it went outside, but cannot confirm.

My friend who is growing the medical dope uses MH lights for vegetative growth, and then switches to HPS for flowering. This is due to the light waves as mentioned in the previous post. MH puts oout more blue for vegetation, and HPS puts out more red for flowering. Again, these guys have it down to a science.

You should be able to pick up a 400W setup on Craigslist for $100 or so.

I've started all of my figs and tomatoes under inexpensive T12 (or T8, I'm not sure) bulbs/fixtures.  Can someone comment as to whether an upgrade to LED or T5 (or another option) is worth it cost-wise?  I currently run about 8 or so T12 fixtures and am hesitant to switch because the setup has worked well, produced good results, and had a low startup cost.

Thanks everyone for the useful info.  Now it's just a matter of finding the right LEDs.

Tim, the T12/8/5 refers to the shape of the socket.  When I called my local hydroponic expert about this same question yesterday he explained that T5 are significantly more energy efficient than my existing T8s.  Allegedly the lumen output is fairly consistent given wattage vs. tempK and the only difference from T8 to T5 is the energy efficiency.  

So now I need to figure out what kind of differences in terms of lumen and lux output LEDs have compared to T5s.