I bought a 8 bulb 4 footer from my local hydro store for my veg room Works GREAT! 250.00
I also then bought 2 2 foot 4 bulb t-5's from HTG. 1 for me, and one for the Daughters little closet grow.
those were i think about 87.00 with both veg, and bloom bulbs.
Like mentioned you can find some deals, and i also agree the T5's are great and cheaper to run then my 600 with a MH conversion bulb..