Crake, I'll be giving it a go I reckon, if it has enough light to strike roots. All I need for 1gpw is a half gram bud from each plant although I was thinking about it and I'll probably want to keep these particular cuts if they do take. I'll work something out though. Maybe seed, maybe more cuts. I think there's a lot of sense going low wattage for yield (as in gpw). I've even seen knna discuss this so I know I'm not crazy. I've not seen anything approach this low of a wattage except for joke setups. And I'm 4 realz, lol. Well, sort of. 
MG, thanks, one thing I should make clear is that I always take a lot of photos and choose the best looking ones. I can make it look dim or bright, so I do go on the bright side, for the sake of great photos. In reality, it's dimmer than you guys see, by quite a bit. I'll try to take a representative shot next photo shoot, but even then it depends on many things like the colour calibration of our screens and so forth. Another factor is that they look quite high in kelvins in most pics. To my eye (in person) it probably looks around 3000-3500k (the bulbs are the "orange" ones). However, this means little in my opinion, and is possibly a good example of why kelvins are potentially inaccurate. I suspect there is not a lot of difference between the various colours, with the Bitspower bulbs, at least.
They do give off virtually no heat. I mean, they can only give off 2 to 3 watts of heat at the very most, because that's science. That's all they're drawing, and the only source of energy in there, so that's all there can be. On the whole though, these are less efficient than regular hot cathode fluoros, I believe. I got bit on the ass with my high-pod clone because I underestimated the heat these guys put out though. It's just a different way of working. The clear tube was undoubtedly the biggest problem in cooling them.
I haven't even put a thermometer in there because I can just tell it's ambient. When I open the pizza box, I mean door, I quickly feel the tips of the bulbs and it's hard to detect any heat at all. Seriously, it's like touching your skin, just faint warmth. But if I turn off the fan, or when I had it running in those tube/no-tube somparisons, they do get hot, and yes, actually hot. So as long as you have a bare trickle of air on the uncovered bulbs, there is little heat to dissipate. It takes a while for them to build up enough heat to be hot, whereas a CFL would heat up fairly instantly. If I let it build up to max heat, I can still hold the tip, and then the heat just dissipates into your hand. In other words yeah you can grow them right on the bulbs with the clear tubes, and I'm very confident I can with no tube too.
Crake, for the above reasons, I wouldn't personally use them for a "large" grow like you suggested. Put simply, 1ft 8w T-5's would be a much better choice - much easier to replicate known systems, and you can get SPDs, proper horticultural bulbs, and choice, specs, and efficiency in general. The best useage of CCFL is, in my opinion, in miniscule nano cabs where nothing else will fit. I mean, LEDs would fit but they have their own set of barriers. I could throw a 5w CFL in there but that takes up a lot of room and breaks the flow/balance. I would also have to remote ballast it, and I wouldn't have multiple light sources like the CCFLs.
What I did, eventually, was to analyse my experiences, and the others', and think, instead of trying to hammer these lights into my way of thinking, I will make the best of the situation, and let the lights decide how I use them. I worked with them. One of my favourite sayings especially when it comes to growing: It's not what you use, but how you use it. So for something this low power, it's gotta be used at 100% efficiency, and not a sliver less, and that's what I've got.
*rests fingers in ice water*
MG, thanks, one thing I should make clear is that I always take a lot of photos and choose the best looking ones. I can make it look dim or bright, so I do go on the bright side, for the sake of great photos. In reality, it's dimmer than you guys see, by quite a bit. I'll try to take a representative shot next photo shoot, but even then it depends on many things like the colour calibration of our screens and so forth. Another factor is that they look quite high in kelvins in most pics. To my eye (in person) it probably looks around 3000-3500k (the bulbs are the "orange" ones). However, this means little in my opinion, and is possibly a good example of why kelvins are potentially inaccurate. I suspect there is not a lot of difference between the various colours, with the Bitspower bulbs, at least.
They do give off virtually no heat. I mean, they can only give off 2 to 3 watts of heat at the very most, because that's science. That's all they're drawing, and the only source of energy in there, so that's all there can be. On the whole though, these are less efficient than regular hot cathode fluoros, I believe. I got bit on the ass with my high-pod clone because I underestimated the heat these guys put out though. It's just a different way of working. The clear tube was undoubtedly the biggest problem in cooling them.
I haven't even put a thermometer in there because I can just tell it's ambient. When I open the pizza box, I mean door, I quickly feel the tips of the bulbs and it's hard to detect any heat at all. Seriously, it's like touching your skin, just faint warmth. But if I turn off the fan, or when I had it running in those tube/no-tube somparisons, they do get hot, and yes, actually hot. So as long as you have a bare trickle of air on the uncovered bulbs, there is little heat to dissipate. It takes a while for them to build up enough heat to be hot, whereas a CFL would heat up fairly instantly. If I let it build up to max heat, I can still hold the tip, and then the heat just dissipates into your hand. In other words yeah you can grow them right on the bulbs with the clear tubes, and I'm very confident I can with no tube too.
Crake, for the above reasons, I wouldn't personally use them for a "large" grow like you suggested. Put simply, 1ft 8w T-5's would be a much better choice - much easier to replicate known systems, and you can get SPDs, proper horticultural bulbs, and choice, specs, and efficiency in general. The best useage of CCFL is, in my opinion, in miniscule nano cabs where nothing else will fit. I mean, LEDs would fit but they have their own set of barriers. I could throw a 5w CFL in there but that takes up a lot of room and breaks the flow/balance. I would also have to remote ballast it, and I wouldn't have multiple light sources like the CCFLs.
What I did, eventually, was to analyse my experiences, and the others', and think, instead of trying to hammer these lights into my way of thinking, I will make the best of the situation, and let the lights decide how I use them. I worked with them. One of my favourite sayings especially when it comes to growing: It's not what you use, but how you use it. So for something this low power, it's gotta be used at 100% efficiency, and not a sliver less, and that's what I've got.
*rests fingers in ice water*
A good start at least.
It seems even on minimum, I still have too much air flow.
