Well, I guess maybe this is the place for a warning. Ebay seller APlusChoice a.k.a. LAShops just sent me my new lights -- in a box that is printed HPSMH-1 and also has hand written in big letters on it all of the contents of the box. WTF! I sure hope the UPS guy and all of the people at the UPS station in my small town are cool. I know my regular driver and my guess is that he is alright but I don't know that he is the one that dropped it off and who knows who else noticed it at the local distribution hub. I am in there pretty often shipping stuff myself. Fuck! Don't buy from these retards!
I always buy from wholesalers/online hydro shops. They are always discrete. And everything coming in one or packages is much better than price hunting on eBay/Amazon and having 100 several boxes of grow equipment coming to your house. Could raise suspicion especially in an apartment complex. I like HTG Supply and Monster Gardens. 1000bulbs is also a cheap site to order bulbs from. I go to local garden supply stores like Home Depot to get what I can. But I live on 5 acres and can't even see my neighbors houses unless it's Winter when the trees are bare. I don't have much to be worried about, besides the electric company doing anything. But I'm getting solar panels installed in a couple years anyways, once I save up. Gonna cost me $28K. Only saved $2K so far.
Yea, I'm actually in a similar situation in terms of local geography. I guess that is maybe why I wan't too worried. I'm still not too worried but definitely am more concerned than I was. I am in a "reduced penalties" state which makes me hope that LE is maybe less interested in little folks like me but still... I'm also a bit of a newb (if that is what a 20+ year hiatus makes me). I sure learned a lesson though. The thing is that I normally buy all kinds of stuff on ebay and it isn't normal for anyone to write on the box what you ordered -- no matter what you buy. It is almost like these folks are trying to fuck people up. I hadn't even tried the light when I first posted but come to find out that it is total crap. I tried the MH bulb first and it immediately failed in less than a second. Then the same happened to the HPS lamp. So either they sent two bad bulbs or a bad ballast. Reputable sources only from now on! Thanks for the word on HTG and the like. I like Amazon too as long it is actually coming from them and in one of the ultra ubiquitous Amazon boxes when it arrives.