This is for starting veggie garden. Our season is VERY short, here, so I start a bunch of stuff indoors, or overwinter things. Deepest darkest part of winter the sun is low and shines into the house very well, but daylight hours are short. As days get longer, the sun is higher in the sky, so we have less light shining in. I can see using supplemental lighting for most of the year. This year we started about thirty kale plants, on top of overwintering a few tomato plants. Turns out, kale is a darn easy 'houseplant'. Hubby got an Advanced Platinum that did very well, so he was going to order another, but I said to hold on, I would ask about less expensive units. One thing that I noticed that could make a big difference in cost, is the warranty.