I have mostly magnetic ballasts. They run within ANSI specifications including 60Hz operation, which is what most bulbs are built to as well. Guaranteed compatibility. One of these ballasts did fail, my local shop replaced the starter in it in 2 hours and I paid like $40 or so. Never popped a bulb with one.
I have a few digital ballasts, I am quite sure they don't give more lumens on the 100% setting. My main interest in a digi ballast is the 'overdrive' setting, where I can put a year old bulb in and get nearly new lumens for an extra 10% power. Great way to get the last good use out of a bulb before replacement. Never popped a bulb doing this, either. This one is a Lumatek, for whatever reason it only runs 240. I have another off-brand digi 1000, fully switchable MH/HPS, 120/240 but it doesn't dim. No issues here, either.
My problem with a lot of this is that when I hear about people actually putting a kill-a-watt on their digi ballasts, the things are pulling 1050-1100 watts! Where's the efficiency they promised?
I plan to put my setup on a flip someday, so I didn't want any hassles with digitals deciding a flip was a line fault and shutting down until I come n babysit.
I bought ALL my ballasts used. No warranty, but if parts are standardized and inexpensive (read magnetic) then it's not such a risk.
Maybe the digital ballasts are marginally better. They're just not worth the additional expense to me.
